The Purpose then the Target

As I put today’s post together it’s 6.15am UK time. It is extremely rare for me to have got to 5,000 steps at this point and I am not sure when or if it will happen today. There are a couple of reasons, first of which is the fact that I am in front of a computer all morning in a meeting and most of the afternoon doing lesson preparation. Second, I am at present focusing on why I am doing something not on hitting a random target.

When I was focused on my steps rather than the purpose for those steps I often found myself very close to the arbitrary target of 11,000 steps I had set myself and I would, for example, walk from the bedroom to the kitchen three or four times to get the final hundred or so steps to reach my target 🤣. It gave me a dopamine hit but it was ultimately completely pointless. Since the turn of the year I have dropped the focus on any targets in favour of more effective habits. I have started exercising by doing yoga and gentle work with weights. These sessions have been fruitful and I can actually see the difference it’s made. When I was teaching full time year round there was barely a day when I didn’t reach 10,000 steps or more, walking from home to the station, walking from Cannon Street to work, walking constantly during my classes, walking every lunchtime so I could talk to Janet and then walking back to Cannon Street and then back home from the station. This kept me from getting fat but it didn’t really get me healthier or feeling better.

The idea of hitting an arbitrary target like 5,000 steps is superficially appealing but it will do nothing for you long term in terms of fitness, physical or mental. If you have a day when you don’t walk much but you do a session of yoga or weights then you will benefit far more than if you just plod on for the sake of it. Focus on you and what you need not an arbitrary figure that puts the purpose second to the target.