Here we go again….but this time it’s different!

I hate exercise.

But you know – I’m full of good intentions. The beginning of the year, the beginning of the month, even the beginning of the week, there I am all fired up and thinking “This time I’m going to get an exercise programme in place, and this time I’m going to make it stick”. And sometimes I do – for a week, for a month, and once or twice I’ve even done it for several months. I’m out there, jogging my little heart out, all active and keen, and I even start seeing results.

But inevitably, somewhere along the line, it all goes wrong. I miss a day here or there, then it is a week, and then I go on holiday, and before you know it, months have gone passed and I’m back where I started.

So – having done some reading, I’m trying something new this time.

I’ve figured out that I am always trying to do too many things at one time. I start the year with a load of goals I want to achieve – I’m going to get fit, I’m going to learn Spanish, I’m going to make my own bread and I’m going to write that novel. And that’s just to start….just wait until I get going. I can do all this and hold down a full time job, and start an internet business and remember all my friends’ birthdays – just you watch me! I’m superwoman. Only I’m not. And I’m sure you know the end of the story. I do a bit of all of them, quite a bit on some of them, but come the end of the year, I’m not really that much further along than when I started. And more importantly, I haven’t actually fully achieved any ONE of those things, which would be all I need to do to make me believe I can keep going and may one day manage the rest.

So, I’m testing a new theory, and I’m hoping you will join me as I do it. Inspired by a the ‘little bit and often’ theory, over the next year, I’m going to achieve one goal, one minute at a time.

Let’s break that down.

One goal. I’m not going to stop having lots of goals, and I’m not going to stop working on lots of goals. I am far too impatient for that. So I will merrily go on my way, writing bits of that novel, learning a bit of Spanish etc – but there is only one goal that I MUST achieve over the next year, and that is my first priority every day – and that is this goal – to exercise every day until I have a routine that involves 52 minutes of exercise every day. Anything else I manage to achieve this year is a bonus. But by hook or by crook, I will reach my ONE GRAND GOAL by April 12, 2010. If I want to give it up after that, so be it, but I will get there first.

One Minute That’s right. I’m going to spend one minute a day on my goal. And then the next week, I’m going to add a minute more. And so on, and so on, until at the end of the year, I am exercising for 52 minutes a day. And that is plenty in my book! No need to go overboard!! “What can you possibly achieve in one minute?” I hear you say.  Not a lot – in terms of actual physical improvement. But I have finally figured out, this is not about the body – this is about the mind, and my absolute inability to stick at any kind of exercise routine for the longterm. And it is the mind I am intending to trick with One Goal One Minute.

Here’s how it is going to work – there are three rules!

• Rule Number One -  One Minute+ On day one, I am going to do one minute of exercise. This will continue for a week. On the first day of week 2 (Day 8), I will aim to do two minutes of exercise, but if I can only do one minute, that is fine. I just have to do AT LEAST one minute. If I do that, then I get to put a tick in the box and the day is a success. Week 3 I am aiming for three minutes, and so it continues. But the main thing is that I do at least one minute, so that I get into the habit of exercising, no matter how small an amount. I am calling this system ‘One Minute+’

• Rule Number Two – Every Day. This is an experiment in 365 parts. One part each day for a year. That means I am going to be partaking in this experiment EVERY DAY for one year. Weekends, holidays, birthdays, rain, snow, sleet – the experiment doesn’t stop.

• Rule Number Three – First thing in the morning. I don’t want to have that dreaded “I must do my exercise” feeling every day. There’s nothing worse than feeling guilty all day because you haven’t yet got round to doing that exercise you know you need to do.  Instead, I want to have that virtuous, holier-than-thou, I am SO much better than everyone else feeling for as much of the day as possible. And that means doing my one minute+ FIRST THING in the morning. Out of bed, get dressed, heart rate up and exercise. Then in the shower and back into bed with a cup of tea….but it will be done! And I can enjoy the rest of the day in peace.

So there we have it. I start tomorrow, Monday April 13th. I will weigh myself tomorrow morning, and we’ll see what kind of progress we make on that over the year. I eat a reasonably healthy diet, but enjoy a glass of wine or two most nights, and am particularly prone to good cheese. I’m not planning on changing any of that as part of this experiment, so if you are coming along on the ride with me, you can breath a sigh of relief! Maybe we’ll tackle excessively healthy eating as a goal for another year!

I’m working tomorrow and leaving the house at 7.00am, so will set my alarm for 6.00 am – with my exercise clothes all laid out and ready for that one minute goal.  Surely I can manage just one minute…………

Suzi