When I began health coaching full time a little over a year ago, I also began doing 30 minutes of non-negotiable movement/exercise every.single.day.

It’s one of the core goals I have for myself with coaching – to eventually get my clients to 30minutes of daily activity. 

It can be SUCH a difference maker, not just in health, but in mentality and confidence, so I knew I had to walk the talk.

Thus began my adventure of over one year of moving my body for 30 minutes every day, come hell or high water.

And you know what?

I did it!!!!!

I began in December of 2019 and despite snow, rain, travel (I’ve walked for MILES in airports – seriously), and days where I just wasn’t feeling it, I completed over a year-long streak of moving my body for a minimum of 30 minutes each day.

Every Day… Really?

Yes, EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.

Really.

It literally became part of who I am, it was non-negotiable.

It’s like being a brunette – I wake up each day and when I look in the mirror, “yep, there are those long brown locks.”

I don’t always wake up knowing what I’m going to do with my hair each day, but I know regardless of what I do, I know it’ll be brown that day.

Same went for moving my body for 30 minutes – when I woke up, I KNEW I was going to move my body that day.

I didn’t always know how or when throughout the day, but I knew it was going to happen.

A lot of days it was easy – I looked forward to getting out of the house, listening to some run jams or a captivating podcast, and being out in nature for a refresh.

So I ran, walked, did a circuit, or completed a lift.

A few days it was hard – where I forgot/time got away from me or I just wasn’t feeling it.

So I stretched, did yoga, and meandered (the least intense walking ever hah!). But I got it done.

Become, Don’t Do

It was that shift – making it part of who I am – that was the difference maker.

As habit guru, James Clear, puts it – the goal isn’t to run a marathon, it’s to BECOME a runner.

“True behavior change is identity change. You might start a habit because of motivation, but the only reason you’ll stick with one is that it becomes part of your identity.” – James Clear.

So when I woke up knowing I was going to move, it didn’t require motivation or willpower or the latest (and oh so cute) pair of Nike running tights.

Nope, it just WAS because it’s who I am. I changed my identity around moving – I don’t just move for the sake of exercising, I am now the type of person who moves their body every day.

Which is also why, when on December 31, 2020 I chose NOT to move my body for 30 minutes, it didn’t even phase me.

Wait, what???????

Yep, on the very last day of 2020 I didn’t move my body.

No run, no walk, no stretching, no nothing.

And there isn’t a single tinge of regret, shame, or failure associated with it – I knew I’d fall off the wagon at some point, I knew the streak would break eventually.

But the next day – January 1, 2021 – I was back at it like clockwork with a 5k.

Because it’s who I am.

So as you’re still dreaming for 2021, don’t just dream what you want to do, but rather dream of who you want to become!