#walkwiththegaisers
Every. Single. Day.
We’ve got a streak going over here!!
The basics of an activity streak are:
You decide your own rules and how they apply.
Pick a minimum amount of time that you agree to be active in order to keep your streak.
Fulfill that commitment to yourself every single day - without fail - or start over at day one the next time you do.
What’s this all about?
Well, John started it… sort-of. He used to run and has longed to dive back into it, so he still reads articles from publications like Runner's World magazine. Near the end of 2017 he found a story about a man who had run every single day for MANY years. Recognizing that a streak removes the ability to “put off” days in the gym or on the pavement, he thought he’d give it a try… but with his own twist. He decided to walk a minimum of 20 minutes every single day. We put a dry-erase marker next to his bathroom mirror to keep track of how many days he had built on his streak. Every day he walked, and that number got raised. Right now it’s July of 2024 and not only is he still going, but I jumped in six months later and we’re both into our seventh year of a daily dedicated activity of at least 20 minutes. We’ve ridden our bikes, and sometimes I swim laps… but rain or shine, hot or cold, sick or well, at home or away, we’ve managed to keep going. … and we think you should give your own version a try.
Our recommendations:
First of all, you have to make it attainable enough to manage every single day without fail. We set our requirement as an amount of time we are supposed to be moving. That means that we can shuffle our feet in a loop around the inside of our house for 20 minutes in a pinch, and we get to keep our streak. That comes in handy if it’s thirteen degrees outside, or your fever just broke. Even when we’re really tired, ten minutes out and ten minutes back is always something we know we can handle.
Especially at first, keep up with your number. The streak reinforces itself. Every day that you add to it makes it loosing it less appealing. Raising the number on our mirror with dry-erase marker worked really well for us and several friends that have built streaks (eventually we quit tracking it… but until you have several weeks under your belt, we encourage you to up the motivation by keeping it visible).
Tell people about it!!!! You don’t have to partake in the “accountability culture,” but even the act of bragging a little can give you another reason not to give up on the days it’s really hard to find the will you need. It also introduces others to the concept - and we think it’s worth spreading the word.
You’re welcome to make this about getting fit. Fitness is a fantastic goal! However, streaks are really interesting because it’s about a commitment to, and expectation of, yourself. The more you show up and fulfill that commitment, the more it expands inside of you. That’s the part that bleeds over into other arenas of your life and it’s really powerful stuff.
Use it to slow down and unplug to whatever extent makes sense for you. After six years of doing this, I believe that the reset it provides our nervous system is one of the most valuable assets my life gained. We were not made to sit still - and yet move … let alone at speeds of 20-80mph. When we sit in our vehicles with the windows rolled up and the music on, the movement we are experiencing with our eyes is not matching any other signals such as wind in our face, or sounds. However, if we walk - especially without earbuds in - with our feet on the ground, the motion equals the pace of stuff that passes by. We are hearing and smelling and taking in all sorts of stuff that helps recalibrate our bodies back to more natural input and calculation of what’s happening. If we walk on uneven ground instead of paved surfaces then it seems to get even better. I’m sure that within safe parameters, walking barefoot would increase the affect too. In reality, our practice varies according to what is practical day-to-day. These are things that I have noticed, though.
Because of these reasons, and many more we encourage any streaker to get outside to whatever extent is possible. Don’t wait for crazy weather to realize that you don’t have something warm enough, or an umbrella big enough, or night-time safety items. Dig through your stuff and figure out what you will wear so that you have one less hurdle to getting out the door and raising that number. Get in the habit of looking ahead at the forecast and be thinking about where you’re fitting your activity in each day. There are seasons we’re not walking until after the Arkansas sun is down below the tree-tops. There are winter weather days where I don’t think it’s worth the effort of layering up and I just walk indoors somewhere - often inside our house.
If you can walk in your neighborhood, I think you should. Maybe your neighborhood is different, but there are plenty of places where people don’t know their neighbors and don’t feel a sense of ownership in their spaces. I know that over the years I have met so many of the people who live nearby. I know where different cats live and have become “friends” with dogs. I’m familiar with what cars belong to what houses, and when something seems off or out of place. I witness the seasons change and folks coming and going. All of that makes me a better neighbor.
There are endless ways that my streak has helped me, and whatever you choose to set up will be amazing for you as well. Dive in! And if you want to tell us about it, drop us a line: