Start Small

I was wrapping up a seven-mile, late afternoon run when I saw my friend Kim stretching by her car. It was cold and the sun was getting ready to set. She mention how hard it was to get out of the house and get going. I knew the feeling. Starting is often the toughest.

A couple days later, I read about the two-minute rule from James Clear.

The Two-Minute Rule states, “When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.” The idea is to make your habits as easy as possible to start. The Two-Minute Rule helps counterbalance our tendency to bite off more than we can chew. It also gives you a small way to reinforce your desired identity each day.

A couple of days after that, I heard Joe De Sena on the Rich Roll podcast say:

Just get going. Don't bite off too much. Lie to yourself, and say we're just going to do a little bit today, because a little bit is better than nothing.

Yesterday, I started running a 1.15-mile hill repeat on Sanders Mound at Clinton State Park. When I got there I was cold and didn't want to get out of my car. I told myself to overdress to stay warm and just run 2 repeats. Once I warmed up, I swung by my car and shed a few layers.

I saw my friend Diane out there running a repeat and she told me the record for most known repeats in day was 15. At this point, I broke my repeats into 3 loop sets. I ran for two, then I took the third as a "recovery" lap. Grabbed a snack, my water bottle, and walked up the hills. Those were very bite-sized chunks.

Once I hit nine repeats, I promised myself an upgraded snack at 12. At 12, I said will I should at least tie the record of 15. Once I hit 15, I thought, one more set of three and I can hit 20 miles. I did stop at 18 even though a voice was tempting me to go for 20 repeats.

Start small. It's easier to keep going than to start.

Last Bite Sensation

My wife and I often refer to our last bite sensation when enjoying a really good meal. We like to end those meals on a high, so we sequence our remainding morsels to ensure we end on a better bite. We savor the taste with the knowledge of knowing it's the last one.

There are only two Northern White Rhinoceros remaining in the world and they are both female. Someday, the last one of them will take her last breath.

The stoics have a practice of acting as if they are doing something for the last time.

"Let each thing you would do, say or intend be like that of a dying person." — Marcus Aurelius

This reminder that everything we do, will indeed have a last time I do them. In fact, many things I've done over my life, I've already done for the last time. Reminding myself of this notion causes me to slow down, be in the moment, and savor the experience, much like a last bite sensation.

FOMO vs. JOMO

via GIPHY

On the scale of one-to-ten, one being not restrictive and ten being complete isololation and lock-down, my family and I would probably be an eight on the scale of restrictive criteria for staying safe during the Covid pandemic. We've kept our pod small. We've restricted our interactions - no groups larger than nine. No indoor dining outside our home. Curbside every opportunity we get.

That has naturally led to some FOMO. Friends are getting together and doing things that we're opting out of, which can be challenging and sad. I recently heard a fantastic twist on the concept of FOMO which is JOMO - the Joy Of Missing Out.

JOYS OF OPTING OUT:

• More purposeful leisure time. Reading, running, camping, trying new things.
• More time with family. Cooking, eating, playing games, and watching movies together.
• Less stress of running around and balancing schedules.
• Less anxiety and worry about catching or spreading the virus.
• More time to create. I've filmed and edited two videos a week since July.
• Connecting with old friends via phone or video chat.

A lot of healthy diet advice suggests changing your approach to food. Don't restrict yourself from eating certain unhealthy foods - that feels too much like you are depriving yourself. Instead, want more healthy foods. It's not, "I can't eat that because I'm on a diet," but rather, "I choose not to eat that because I prefer this instead."

That approach has worked well for me in turning FOMO into JOMO. "I'm choosing not to attend" instead of "I can't go."