Seth Godin, the goofiest-looking but most straight-foward marketing guru you could hope to find, recently wrote a blog post called, The simple power of one a day, espousing how doing one marketing-related task a day for each of the 200 work days a year will result in a mountain of progress.
Makes sense. It's simple and easy.
I'm a huge believer in the power of simplicity, and frankly, I think it's the killer (and missing) feature of almost any attempt to get things done and make changes occur personally or organizationally. See my recent post, Keeping It Simple: 5 Tips for Effective, Engaging Work Fitness Challenges.
I'm not the only one. BJ Fogg, likely the most respected and knowledgable expert on behavior change, or Behavior Design as he calls it, believes that making tiny changes are one of the most effective ways to make major strides in changing behavior.
So, let's take Seth's concept and apply it to wellness, shall we? Here's a list of simple things that you can do TODAY that will help improve your health and fitness.
- Replace one soda a day with a glass of water.
- Drink one extra glass of water with every meal.
- Park in the spot farthest from the door whenever you go shopping, get to the office, etc.
- If you drink fountain drinks, fill the cup all the way up with ice before putting in the soda. (Baby steps!)
- Set a timer to remind you to stand up and walk around once every half hour.
- Add one piece of fruit to your breakfast.
- Take 15-minutes to not think about anything. (i.e. Meditate)
- If you take a bus or subway to work, get off one (or two) stops early. Do the same when you go home.
- Ask a co-worker to go for a walk around the block (or campus, floor, etc.).
- Do some simple stretches when you first get out of bed.
- Do as many pushups as you can. The next day, do one more than that.
- Buy some new walking or running shoes. (You'll want to use them!)
- Replace one empty-calorie snack with a healthy but still yummy snack like almonds or dried fruit.
- Instead of having an afternoon coffee, take a 10-minute stroll.
Don't worry about doing all of these things every day. Even if you replace a soda with a glass of water once a week, over a year that's enough to equal a two-pound weight loss!
These are literally off the top of my head, unedited and in no particular order. I'm sure you can think of dozens more, and I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments!
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