Surviving the Habit Boat
After reaching 49 years of age, I had a dream to do 50 push-ups in one go….
Tried with great energy and max I could reach was 8 resulting in sore shoulders and strained back ☹. A wave of unpleasant surprise swept me away drowning in the sea of disappointments.
Dr John Bergman my mentor for health, nutrition and life, once quoted
“How do you eat a giant size elephant? You cut it in very thin and small slices and eat it little by little.”
What was the driver? Lets keep it for some other time, but on 14-Jan-2023, I started my push-up regiment from 4 push-ups a set and 5 sets a day.
- No change for week 1
- Week 2, increase each set by 1 push-up
- So, my week 2 routine was 4 push-ups x 5 sets a day
Weeks went by I somehow continued and reached to the point of
- 20 push-ups of 5 sets.
- Stopped the increment and continued with this
Was this smooth? Was I the perfect fighter? No, not at all.
I had my down days, “lets do it tomorrow” days, “hell with the challenge” days.
But I continued…… bumpy ride but continued pointing to the same direction.
It was early morning of 31st January 2024, everybody asleep I am at my exercise regimen and don’t know what happened, I am in the middle of my attempt for 50 push-up. 20 push-ups no problem, 30…. ok, 40….. my shoulders starting to burn, 45….. I think I will quit now for later……, but I continued pushing….. magic happened, hidden power reserves came in action and I did 50 push-ups. I want to scream with joy, but my hardcore introvert self warned me of consequences, smile on my face and starting to believe ….. I did it 😊.
From my bullet journal:
Bill Gates once said:
We overestimate what we can do in short-term and underestimate what we can do in long-run
I guess, he said it right!
When you get going with a positive habit, there are favorable side effects which appear un-intended. Same happened in my case:
- Self-confidence boosted
- I was able to add more exercises on the way
- I am a fit person now, with the grace of God (Alhamdulillah)
No, whenever I tried the Quick Route, didn’t work….
- Waking up 4am at Day-1 worked.
- Day-2 the excitement continues,
- Day-3 feeling sleepy and struggled getting up,
- Day-4 SKIPPED,
- Day-5 guilt,
- Day-6 frustration,
- Day-7 back to the old business 😊.
And many big plans like this……
If you push the boat head-on opposite to the river current, you may push few yards but chances are, you will get exhausted fast, and your boat overturns….
The game changing idea is – Build on time leverage. The lever of time is the most under-rated.
Nature plays long-game. Seed becomes plant…. a plant becomes tree… the tree bears fruit….
Its a long game – Time leverage
All serious phenomena in the universe are based on time leverage. The power of long-game is under-rated.
Prophet Mohammed (PHUB) said: The best of the good deeds are the ones performed consistently (no matter how small).
Steer the habit boat – baby steps…. one at a time.
