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Two Ways To Get Better At Something

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For whatever reason, whenever I resolve to get good at something, I habitually take a “boot camp” sort of approach. I draw up a challenging regimen, to be followed by hell or high water—for 30 days or so.

The regimen is always way too much to sustain forever, and I know that. The hope is that an intense period of focused striving will catapult me to new, higher realms of prowess and confidence, so that when I return to baseline, that baseline will be higher.   

It works, sort of, sometimes. You can look at my experiment logs to get a sense of the mixed outcomes. Some have been abject failures, almost comically so. Write at least a thousand words a day! (Result: “Outright failure.”) Read a book a week for a year! (Result: “Catastrophe.”)

And those are only the immediate outcomes. Longer term, the results are probably weaker. On many occasions, I soared through the boot camp period, declared myself permanently improved, and then quietly slid back to the baseline, which apparently had not moved.

For a long time I assumed that this pattern was due purely to my own personal bumbling, and not a problem with the method. After all, a boot camp style approach can be found for anything you want to get good at. There are programs that identify as “boot camps” for novel writing, personal budgeting, dating, poker, building a YouTube channel, reading the Russian masters, and of course hundreds of fitness programs.

These programs vary a lot in how they actually instruct. But I think the essential boot camp promise, the thing you think of when you see the words—strive hard, for a time, and end up lastingly better—is mostly a mirage.

The boot camp principle, inspired by military basic training programs, makes sense. Run new recruits through unrelenting challenges they are completely unprepared for, day after day, for a handful of weeks, and they come out strong and resilient.

However, real military boot camps come with two additional factors that make them work: once you sign up, you can’t slack or quit without severe consequences. There’s no way forward but to suffer and adapt. Afterward, you’re kept from backsliding by peer pressure and institutional standards, for a few years. So they work really well.

A much less sexy approach to getting better at something is a “gentle ramping” sort of approach. You get yourself on a regimen where you do a little of the thing in question—writing, running, meditating, whatever—then a little more, and so on, always pushing the performance level slightly, without ever clobbering yourself with challenge. You gradually increase your mileage, reps, widgets, or some other metric, so that today’s target is usually just beyond what’s easy for you.

Rather than going for the maximum challenge you can handle (for a mercifully short time) you’re looking for that “just challenging enough to improve” window. And once you find it, you live in it.

I am, after fifteen or twenty serious campaigns to do so, finally approaching a condition I would call “physically fit” for the first time in my life, and I think it’s because I’m taking the gentle ramp this time.

I run three times a week and lift weights three times a week, following a gently ramping program for each. My workouts aren’t very long.

One thing I had to get used to was not going all-out in my training. On most days, I was clearly doing less than I could have. I would do my scheduled sets or miles and call it a day, even though I could have done more. I wasn’t “leaving it all out there” or “giving every ounce” very often.

And precisely for that reason, I haven’t had trouble sticking to it. There are extra-challenging days, but because they aren’t the norm, I can always be ready to meet them. Excited even. The improvement has been very consistent. There’s no more bargaining, no dread, and no compromise. I can live here.

That is exactly the gentle ramp’s strength: you can live on it. You’re not trying to just get through it.

The gentle ramp demands things of you that the boot camp doesn’t. Staying on it requires you to develop certain aspects of character. You have to accept, for example, that when you’re on a sustainable trajectory, improvement takes time, and that time can’t be compressed with a blast of effort. You start to give up on notions like making up missed sessions on the weekend. The gentle ramp’s great lesson is that nothing really works but consistency over time, and that there’s no replacement for either.

In other words, the gentle ramp allows for that fabled “lifestyle change” to actually happen. Your identity has time to catch up with your aspirations. The effort required to advance along a gentle ramp is doable for a regular person with other commitments and limited willpower, which describes pretty much everyone. (When you get into advanced territory, you may need advanced strategies, but by that time you’re far past where the toughest boot camp could have taken you.)

The boot camp idea is certainly superior in one way: its marketability. It’s an ideal selling proposition—you’ll pay a lot now, yes, but reap great benefits ever after. Just get to the end of a short, painful “cost” phase and then enjoy your improved self. Temporary sacrifice, enduring benefit. It’s the same angle used to sell us luxury vehicles and granite countertops.

I know I’m being a bit hard on the boot camp notion. It does have its place. But I think that place is mostly to get you onto some sort of gentle ramp. Some place you can actually live, and enjoy.

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Photo by Anisur Rahman

Billy Rogers June 25, 2019 at 1:20 am

Great post! I’ve known a few people who push too hard at something new and get frustrated and give up. I think a slower more gradual method would have been more likely to succeed for them. Certainly applies to fitness, that has to be a lifestyle to succeed, not just a boot camp.

David Cain June 25, 2019 at 10:55 am

I think, in my case at least, it was not accepting that time can’t be replaced by effort. You can’t just plow your way to being more skilled, you have to find an effort level you can settle into.

Ravi June 25, 2019 at 1:44 am

Very relatable!

I used to fall in similar trap; get excited for something new, make grand plans, vividly imagine myself achieving final results (e.g. a body with 6 packs…) but then things would slowly fizzle out. Repeated many times for several things and slowly started realizing it’s the method that I need to change.
As someone has rightly said, “people overestimate what they can achieve in short time-frame and underestimate what could be achieved in long terms”.
Things are certainly getting better with the old age adage-slow but steady :-)
Thanks for sharing!

David Cain June 25, 2019 at 10:58 am

Totally… I was agreeing with and sharing that quote even before I really understood the role of consistency. If there’s no consistency there’s no possibility of progress over time, and if it takes time to do great things then those great things don’t happen.

Andrew Moylan June 25, 2019 at 2:30 am

I did this for teeth flossing. In my younger days I had tried and failed many times to floss daily, usually commencing such a “flossing bootcamp” after a visit to the dentist.

Then I decided to just floss once a week and ramp slowly from there.
Once a week is not enough for your teeth health, but I was at least able to stick to it!
I ramped to 2, 3, …, 7 days a week, over the course of more than a year! But it worked. I have flossed daily ever since.

David Cain June 25, 2019 at 10:59 am

Well done! I used to never floss and now I literally never miss a day, but I don’t remember how that came about. I think I dated a compulsive flosser and it rubbed off

Charmaine June 25, 2019 at 2:51 am

Thank you David. Same for me. My past is littered with failures and catastrophes. Much older now and I just do what I can every day and believe it will make a positive difference.

David Cain June 25, 2019 at 11:01 am

Did you find those failures/catastrophes arose from trying to apply tons of effort all at once but then letting up? Or something else?

Paul June 25, 2019 at 3:30 am

Stumbled on your blog a while ago. Very old school What a good convo to have about quick results that seems the norm these days. If I’ve learnt one thing at 44 years is that time makes most things work, validate and have meaning. Interestingly it’s taken me 44 years to understand this philosophy, having thought it overtime. Good times

David Cain June 25, 2019 at 2:58 pm

I hope I have learned this by now. In any case the time goes by whether we’re moving along a ramp or not!

Ameen June 25, 2019 at 4:13 am

Makes a lot of sense, giving it your all everyday is not sustainable over the long-term. And if you’re putting in the maximum possible effort and exhausting all your willpower on a daily basis, that actually means that you’re not achieving your physical and mental max everyday because everyday you do that you have less energy and willpower than the day before until you eventually burnout and start procrastinating and lose interest all together.

But also, conversely, the downside of the gentle ramp up approach is that it forces us to look at the gap between where we are and where we want to be which is discouraging and similarly leads to loss of interest as well since our desire is to ultimately get better. You mentioned that you simply have to accept that improvement takes time, but in my view, that’s the most difficult part.

David Cain June 25, 2019 at 11:17 am

Oddly I’ve found self-acceptance to be far easier on the gentle ramp than the boot camp. You will never be exactly where you want, but once you assume a sustainable positive trajectory, you can get a sense that it’s okay to be where you are, because you’re cruising to better things.

claire June 25, 2019 at 5:57 am

I have never liked the bootcamp idea. I even hate the word. The process is so masculine, competitive, and … erm … militaristic. Those put me off enough, but add in the ritual humiliation and shouting to get you to strive for competence. No thanks. Nothing encouraging or supportive about that at all.

I can’t remember where I came across the idea of doing a small amount often so that you suceed at the incremental change, and don’t bust your body (or mind, or emotions, or habit, whichever it involves). But to me that works because, even though it’s slow, it’s sustainable. And, more importantly to me, it’s an expression of kindness and compassion, which bootcamp definitely is not.

Thanks for your posts. :)

Terri June 25, 2019 at 6:29 am

This reminds me of your “go deeper not wider” theory.
Always insightful.

David Cain June 25, 2019 at 11:28 am

I think it is a good example of going deeper. The traits you have to develop to establish a sustainable trajectory are the depth that we don’t develop when we try to blast through something.

Joe June 25, 2019 at 7:01 am

I concur. I have completed 791 consecutive days (so far) of a sitting meditation practice on the premise of “consistency > intensity.” That premise has proven to be extremely effective I feel.

David Cain June 25, 2019 at 11:30 am

Oh wow, well done.

Question: have you ramped the practice in any sense or are you maintaining the same routine?

Vishnupriya Kuppusamy June 25, 2019 at 7:10 am

I have always wondered why so many self-help books didn’t work at all. Why so many well-intentioned forceful advice ends up making me feel like crap and when I do the same well-intentioned forceful advice to others, I end up feeling like crap again. In the past year, I abandoned all the rules and started living moment to moment as much as I can and forgave myself when I couldn’t keep up. That was the only improvement where I actually showed up everyday with voluntary effort and consistency. At times it felt so smooth, exactly like a ramp.

I have been reflecting on this for the last month and what exactly changed my life. It is this habit of being gentle with my habits and meeting me where I am, instead of expecting to be somewhere else. I am doing this as much as I can and I can feel I am getting better at being human. I show up wholeheartedly in a gentle supportive way for others too. That has made all the difference :)

David Cain June 25, 2019 at 11:32 am

I think most self-help books do take the boot camp approach: take this wisdom on board, make a big dramatic change, and be better forever. My experience of reading them usually goes like this: as you read you get a sense you are already learning and changing, and you can imagine how different life will be. But by the end of the book you can’t remember what it was that sparked that enthusiasm, and it’s not clear what to do next.

One great exception is James Clear’s Atomic Habits. It helped be understand what it means to improve gently over time. I was going to talk about it in this article but it deserves its own.

Kurt O'Dell June 25, 2019 at 7:22 am

Figured this out myself a few years ago, the hard way.

I had played bass guitar for over 30 years, and wanted to start playing electric guitar *seriously*. For a short time I tried the “boot camp” approach, picking a different specific skill to practice each day for at least 30 minutes. I wasn’t making the progress I wanted and it was incredibly frustrating.

After seeing a few articles on the way the brain encodes new skills, I decided instead to start mixing up what I was working on, choosing several different techniques/aspects to focus on at each practice, and only doing 15-20 minutes of relaxed (but focused) practice daily.

The results were far better than before – I could see marked improvement in a very short time.

So I’ll agree wholeheartedly that while jumping in the deep end *can* have the desired results given the right circumstances, the “slow and steady” approach to improvement often gives better and more lasting results.

David Cain June 25, 2019 at 11:34 am

I had a similar experience, but I never did figure it out. And with guitar there’s an additional problem when it comes to straining or striving to be better than you are — your hands tense up, and you need them to be relaxed in order to play cleanly.

Xin June 25, 2019 at 7:36 am

I became good at something I was only lukewarm in the beginning. I don’t like the word “passionate”. It never lasts.

David Cain June 25, 2019 at 11:35 am

Yeah I tend to avoid the word. There has to be some driving factor more consistent than emotional states.

Robyn June 25, 2019 at 9:58 am

I’m so glad you wrote this piece. I have been really curious about habit formation for awhile, and just this morning was contemplating these different approaches as I did my walk-on-the-treadmill and simple yoga routine at the gym instead of the Sweat-your-balls-off-burrn800cals workout. It feels right to ebb and flow and get into a steady pattern versus being white-knuckled to get results.

David Cain June 25, 2019 at 11:37 am

Getting into that sustainable pattern, where you can just kind of hang out, is the key.

I will again recommend James Clear’s Atomic Habits. He emphasizes aiming for a tiny, 1% improvement every time you do something, and it actually works. You never have to white-knuckle anything, and you can see yourself getting better, and also accept where you already are.

Scott June 25, 2019 at 10:53 am

First, I totally agree that a slow, steady approach with lots of time to practice is way better for learning than a huge concentrated effort. It is nearly impossible to retain much when it’s packed into concentrated packets.

Second, boot camp isn’t really about learning a ton of different things except how to wear a uniform, march, and that doing things to a standard is important. Most of a soldier or sailor’s training happens after boot camp and is spread out over months and years with lots and lots of repetitions. So more of that slow, steady learning than huge bursts.

There is a reason that apprenticeships used to be 8-10 years long, and when you “graduated” you came out as a journeyman, not a master. Learning anything well takes a lot of time.

David Cain June 25, 2019 at 3:02 pm

I wonder if society as a whole is drifting away from the deep, focused “long ramps” in terms of career training. I remember being told in high school my generation was expected to change lines of work 7 times in our careers, and that was twenty years ago. Maybe it’s nonsense, but maybe not… this is line of work number four, and I’m 38 :/

Brinlea June 25, 2019 at 11:46 am

Many years ago I wanted to start an exercise program and my doctor told me to start with 5 minutes. Literally 5 minutes a day. For 2 weeks. Then add 1 minute a week. I laughed; I thought that was ridiculous. But it worked, and it worked really well, because after 5 minutes I didn’t need a recovery period, I could just go about my day, and so I ultimately ended up able to do 45 minutes with no recovery period.

David Cain June 25, 2019 at 3:03 pm

That’s one thing about gentle ramps: they often start at such a shallow grade that it almost seems like a waste of time. It might even make a person want to jump onto a harder program (which they then inevitably get off of).

Iona June 25, 2019 at 1:23 pm

Thank you for this. I have described myself as either all in or all out when it came to fitness, learning guitar, eating well, etc. Becoming complacent when I acheived a goal or becoming bored trying. I like this “ramp” approach you describe as being more sustainable which in turn may lead to me feeling more accomplished on the daily rather than on some arbitrary future date.

David Cain June 25, 2019 at 3:05 pm

Same here, and I don’t think I realized I had that tendency. I always wanted to bring enough intensity to something to “do it right”, but in hindsight I think I was trying to avoid prolonged effort.

The gentle ramp does provide that daily satisfaction, which I didn’t suspect… I though long, slow improvement meant a long wait between rewards, but it’s more like continuous reward.

Andy June 25, 2019 at 5:00 pm

How do you think this applies to your (boot) camp calm? I have been a camper a few times and it’s a good jumpstart, but I have trouble sustaining a practice when “life gets in the way.”

P.S. In case it came off as a slight, I use the play on word purely for humor purposes. I have truly enjoyed your course and seeing it evolve over the years!

David Cain June 26, 2019 at 10:23 am

Heh… I’m going for the “camp” of summer camp, not boot camp :)

elisa June 26, 2019 at 7:32 am

Uhm I submit that you learned about effort, that you learned about expectations, that you learned about balance, that you learned to be more realistic. Perspective changes come in many forms. Did you learn about WHY you try grandiose things, and then score yourself, badly? :)
For me, life is about the living, not the enoughness. Thanks for sharing!

David Cain June 26, 2019 at 10:26 am

Yes, I think the motivation for me behind the boot camp approach was a way of avoiding the sense of ongoing duty entailed by persistent (but sustainable) effort. It just happens that that fits right into many of the consumer offers we absorb through media, where the payment stage is separate from the benefit stage.

Kevin June 26, 2019 at 1:41 pm

Thank you for giving a name to the only strategy that has led to lasting change in my life! Love the gentle ramp!

The best example from my life is racing in triathlons. I got in to the sport back in 2012, racing a few sprint triathlons, which is one of the shortest distance. The first couple of years I didn’t take it too seriously or put too much time in to training, but the training routine definitely started to become habitual. I started doing longer distance races in 2016 and last year completed my first Ironman Triathlon.

There are people that jump right in to Ironman’s, but for me, gradually building up to it was definitely the way to go. Also, when I compare myself physically now to where I was 2012 it is night and day, and the spillover effects to eat better, drink less alcohol, sleep more have all been benficial as well. All thanks to taking the gentle ramp!

David Cain July 2, 2019 at 12:44 pm

I’m nowhere near triathlon shape, and at the moment it seems so distant. But I can see how it won’t always. I trained for a 5K, and now I’m training for a 10K, and next year I might do the half-marathon. A year later I might be thinking about swimming and cycling too. Then triathlon is a natural goal. Time goes by and what’s outlandish becomes doable. I love that.

Emily Halgrimson June 28, 2019 at 7:17 am

Beautiful, thank you.

devo July 1, 2019 at 9:39 am

nice one david.
perhaps balance could be another answer (yet again). a slow and steady application of somewhat stoic discipline interrupted by brief bootcamp-esque intense periods. this approach has worked well in my fitness regimen. so much so, in fact, that i have scheduled on a rotational basis, HIIT (high intensity interval training) and ORM (one rep max) heavy lifting into my regular moderate level training program.
it works for writing too. 15 minutes a day is augmented by self imposed “getaway” bootcamp style 1 & 2 day retreats. this works particularly well when applied to volunteer, charitable or helpful neighbor pursuits.

David Cain July 2, 2019 at 12:35 pm

Definitely, although I don’t think that deviates from the gentle ramp as the strategy. The gentle ramp does involve intense periods no matter what you do… if you are upping the challenge and adapting to it, there are already going to be days that are quite challenging, it’s just that maxing out isn’t the strategy.

If you’re on a gentle ramp to fitness (or anything else), voluntary periods of intensity, as you describe, could definitely help you adapt to challenge more quickly. But it’s the ramp that gets you there, and keeps you improving afterward.

Amy Ward Brimmer July 2, 2019 at 11:52 am

I have lost count of the number of times I have finished reading one of your posts and thought, “How does he know exactly how I operate in my life?” Obviously, you have a way of tapping into the universal challenges, nonsense, and triumphs of what it is to be human. Thanks so much for everything you write (even the stuff that maybe doesn’t resonate directly).

And thank you a thousand times over for this. I have found the intense burst of training approach only works for me when I am already good at something and want to uplevel my skill set, or my understanding of something. (And one tends to inform the other, in my experience.) Otherwise, the only lasting change I’ve experienced is gradual, like drops of water wearing away a rock.

As a wellness educator, I have noticed over the years that people have become more insistent on “getting it all right now.” Our instant gratification culture is about 10,000 times stronger than it used to be. I appreciate having this essay to share with clients when they get all twisted up trying to make their growth happen faster.

I don’t read many blogs regularly, but I rarely miss yours because you are so wise (yeah, go ahead and cringe if need be) and kind. Wishing you wellness for the long haul.

David Cain July 2, 2019 at 12:41 pm

I agree that we’re more insistent than ever on getting it all right now, and I think that’s just a natural side effect of the stage of capitalism we’re in. We’re taught that anything can be had, in minimal time, if we just pay enough now. But I think the best things in life, the really fulfilling things — wisdom, experience, confidence — necessarily take time, but that doesn’t prevent marketers from implying that they don’t if you can pay (either money or all-out effort for a short time).

Jun July 4, 2019 at 12:24 am

Great post!
Always enjoy reading your blog.
Thanks.

JB July 7, 2019 at 4:16 pm

I’ll throw this out there. I’m 60, been retired half a dozen years. I have had an adult life beyond my expectations. Very wide world. But my wife and I decided to do all these things before retirement, so retirement came and my world became much narrower. And it has been a struggle for me a times.

Then your post on Wider/Deeper really changed my life. After a lot of deep thought on what’s missing in my life now I realized there are two things.

1) Reading. I had always been a voracious reader but quit a decade ago for some unknown reason. Now I’ve got a Kindle and love throwing my self back into spy/adventure/archeology/WWII stuff. Pure joy!

2) Big big risk after so many failures over the decades but I bought a guitar and amp again. This time I’m getting there!!!!

Maybe helpful to some:

1) Identify and nurture your Natural Tendencies. Even though you may suck at everything initially (me), there are just certain things that you get good at incredibly quickly. For me those are sports and cooking. For me (not) is math beyond basic algebra and visual arts like painting/drawing.

2) Sheer Mountain Cliff vs a Steep Rugged Hill.

Sheer Mountain Cliff is just something that you are not really wired for brain-wise or perhaps not physically suited for or capable of. Odds of failure are not in your favor.

Steep Rugged Hill. A lot of work – slow progress – frustrating – not a Natural Tendency thing. Tricky one. I had always thought playing guitar was the above but it really is a SRH. Why now?

3a) I adjusted my expectations to my abilities (finally). It’s healthy to do this. It’s hard because it is discarding the big dream in a sense. Play like the masters who from a young age singularly focused on this one thing, played in bands, and were studio musicians by 20 versus original 30 year old with career and family. Took 30 years to get real but at least it happened!

3b) Realistic and re-imagined goals. Maybe a good thing to relieve some self-doubt, self-pressure, and self-stress. Instead of forever having the desire and pressure of playing all those songs perfectly note for note… I thought since I’m into mediation the last few years (and listen to a lot of that type music) it is a much more realistic goal to make that type of music.

4) Fire or flame. Playing guitar has been a Fire since my teenage years. The Fire never left – didn’t become a flame even with all my previous failures and time between picking it up again. If you can determine what is Fire and what is flame to you can maybe rethink Sheer Cliff vs Rugged Hill.

5) Have other things which are pure joy with which to retreat to. For me that’s reading or gentle yoga or weights.

6) Quit buying stuff to make you temporarily feel better when your struggling with your hobby. I don’t care what it is – camera lenses, kitchen utensils, guitars, golf clubs, etc. (been there on all) Geez, when I finally was able to kick this habit it was a revelation. Plus it is really hard to get rid of stuff nowadays. The world is awash in ” stuff” and just remember the pain of selling “stuff” for a 50% loss.

7) Buy stuff that fits. Again, I care not are if we are talking about guitars, clothes, hand tools, furniture or whatever. Instead of thinking about price, or style go for fit and comfort. The more uncomfortable you are the more likely you are to quit vs focus and achieve.

8) Practice doesn’t make perfect, it makes progress.

It’s good to have some ‘joy” things are just that…
With some Natural Tendency things that you can just ramp…
And maybe something that is a Steep Rugged Hill for which you have a Fire and you can work hard at, with a lot of frustration along the way, but slowly see the change from 90% boot camp and 10% ramp to the inverse.

Sorry for the ramble but wider/deeper allowed much positive change in my life so thank you David. Maybe some of my words will help others along their path.

Scott July 8, 2019 at 9:01 am

I’ve had a tendency to do the same – go all-in but burn out quickly and not really make any notable progress over the longer term. But I was introduced to the concept of kaizen, and started applying it to just about everything. Tiny, trivial, improvements made every single day certainly do add-up over time.

Also, your comment about flossing made me laugh. I dated a dental hygienist in my mid-20s. Almost two decades later, I can count the number of days that I’ve missed on one hand (and most of those were due to illness or some other crazy circumstance).

Carolyn Hilles-Pilant July 9, 2019 at 9:14 am

Thank you for this, David–it’s a lifechanger for people my age for sure.

Nadja July 13, 2019 at 7:02 am

Sounds like Robert Maurers book ‘One small step can change your lif – The kaizen way’. It’s a good book :-)

Susanne Nielsen July 18, 2019 at 1:10 pm

“That is exactly the gentle ramp’s strength: you can live on it.”

My BFF and I were talking about this very thing again this morning. 12 years ago we decided to work out together three times a week. We don’t do boot camp because we KNOW we wouldn’t be able to sustain it. BTDT several times, actually. *sigh*

How much better is it that we have consistency and habit now, enough that it sustains us even when we have the occasional ‘off’ day and don’t feel like going. Of course, it also helps that I know that she’ll be there waiting for me, so it’s easier to get myself up and going. LOL Recognizing the value of what we’ve been doing these 12 years, though, makes me feel really proud of our efforts.

Since my husband and I retired we added an extra day a week, and it’s been absolutely wonderful to see how much more I enjoy getting out and about when I’m in good enough condition to enjoy it. I’m hard wired to be a slug, so that’s big! We went for a hike last week that I’d never have been able to do before. That feels like success!

Susanne Nielsen July 18, 2019 at 1:40 pm

“That is exactly the gentle ramp’s strength: you can live on it.”

My BFF and I were talking about this very thing again this morning. 12 years ago we decided to work out together three times a week. We don’t do boot camp because we KNOW we wouldn’t be able to sustain it. BTDT several times, actually. *sigh*

How much better is it that we have consistency and habit now, enough that it sustains us even when we have the occasional ‘off’ day and don’t feel like going. Of course, it also helps that I know that she’ll be there waiting for me, so it’s easier to get myself up and going. LOL Recognizing the value of what we’ve been doing these 12 years, though, makes me feel really proud of our efforts.

Since my husband and I retired we added an extra day a week, and it’s been absolutely wonderful to see how much more I enjoy getting out and about when I’m in good enough condition to enjoy it. I’m hard wired to be a slug, so that’s big! We went for a hike last week that I’d never have been able to do before. That feels like success!

David Cain July 18, 2019 at 2:56 pm

Fitness is a wonderful gift. It makes everything else better. I spent so much time trying to boot camp myself into fitness that I never really got there. A gentle ramp to a modest standard would have saved me years.

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