Running is a funny business, because it can be a team sport, an individual sport or simply a personal challenge.
Yet what’s my lesson for the 1st kilometer?
My biggest learning for the 1st kilometer is that anyone and I mean anyone can do it. 1,000 meters or 3,280 feet depending on what you are used to, is about taking between 1,200 to 1,500 steps.
And how my 1st kilometer happened, it’s a really funny history.
I had always been very inconsistent with exercise, usually would go to the gym at the start of the year and by February I wouldn’t had the time, or traveling happened and missed the momentum or I would found the perfect excuse for not having the time, then the continuity.
What changed is that starting 2015 my wife, which I would always be grateful to asked me: “Why don’t you use the treadmill that you give to me in 2014 and do some walking in the room, if its so hard to find the time to exercise.”
So I started walking, yes walking in a treadmill in our bedroom. And probably for the 1st year, I would only walk.
And how did I manage to stick to a routine, by eliminating the excuses.
- It’s raining. It’s cold. It didn’t matter I was walking indoor 1.5 meters from my bed.
- I’m tired. I don’t have time. The sneakers slept by the side of the bed and I started waking up 30 minutes before my usual time. Those 30 minutes allowed me to walk something between 1Km and 1.5Kms. Just for sake of comparison my best Km running today is 4 minutes and a half.
- It’s boring. We installed an Ipad on the treadmill and Netflix became my best friend. Actually during my 1st year walking I was able to see the first 6 seasons of Supernatural, complete.
Then we have our first lesson, to start anything you have to eliminate the excuses. And eliminating excuses can be something as simple as putting a pair of sneakers by the bed side, to as complex as I’m assuring that my sales team has the best locations in store so they can not use execution as an excuse for performance.
Now it’s your turn to share with me. What you want to start. It’s a new business, a new routine, a blog. What´s moving you, and lets build it together km by km.
Hope to see you in the 2nd kilometer.
