10 tips for success: How daily walks in May taught me the keys to consistency
It’s really interesting when you set yourself a challenge to do something every day over a certain period of time. This month, if you follow my stories on Instagram, is National Walking Month in the UK, and every year, I challenge myself to walk, in some way, outside every day. I also post about it on my stories for accountability.
Now I love walking, so I know it’s a lot easier than many challenges I could task myself with! Nevertheless, as I don’t have a dog that needs to be walked daily, it’s all about me making myself get out the door.
Daily consistency is sometimes easy and sometimes difficult
There are so many factors that affect your ability to be consistent and those factors literally change daily. Starting with how you've slept (this is a big one for me; it can be the difference between nice Wendy and not so nice!). Then there’s what you’ve got planned for the day and then, as happens all too often, whether an unexpected curveball hits and that plan gets smashed to smithereens! On top of that is your energy level which can seriously affect motivation and of course, particularly the lovely UK, state of the weather (she says looking out at the drizzling rain!).
With so many variables, it’s not surprising that choosing to consistently add in something new, that isn’t something that’s as critical as something that’s going to keep you alive, can be very difficult.
So what did I learn?
It’s really useful to reflect on how a challenge has gone, in order to make it easier, in the context of your daily life, to be able to continue.
So these are my 10 top takeaways and tips to make it easier to be consistent. These can be applied to any new movement (or new habit) you want to add into your life. These are written through the lens of going out for a daily walk, but you can apply the advice to other things, for example if you decided you wanted to add in a number of deep squats per day and so on. You’ll also need to personalise it to your situation, but I’m hoping some of the takeaways might help you think slightly differently.
1. The earlier the better
This is particularly the case as you start on a new challenge. The later you leave it in the day, the harder it can be to fit it in and also, the more it can sit more heavily on your mental to do list. That’s not a good thing, when we’re trying to make a new habit as positive an experience as we can. That being said I’ve done quite a few evening walks and thoroughly enjoyed them as a way of switching between work and family life.
2. Plan ahead
When I thought about the structure of my day, planned where my walk could fit in and set aside a specific amount of time for it, I really looked forward to using it as a great movement break, knowing it was coming and was a non-negotiable part of my schedule. If it helps you, diarise it. That way you can set up a notification to remind you, or set up a regular time of day, so that you associate that time of day with getting out (a post lunch walk break is a great reset during the day).
3. Mix it up
Sometimes it’s better to plan small chunks of ‘little and often’ throughout the day, knowing that a longer walk in one go will not be achievable and be sure to appreciate that 3 x 10 minute walks is just as good, if not sometimes even better, than one 30 minute walk.
4. Be prepared
Having my walking boots at the back door, my walking trousers downstairs (they always get muddy so I prefer to change and re-use them if they’re not too bad, to avoid washing more normal trousers feels better to me!) and raincoat ready means there’s no searching, creating a barrier and reducing the time I’m out.
5. Don’t be a weather worrior
Knowing that whether it’s raining, windy or cold, as long as you’re dressed appropriately, you’re still always going to feel better when you get back than before you went out. As my mother-in-law says, ‘it’s only rain, you won’t dissolve!’.
6. Create a positive feedback loop
Actively checking in (and even noting down) how you feel both mentally and physically before and after you’ve walked is a great way to teach your brain that this new activity is something you want and need. This is reinforced by not only thinking it, but also saying it out loud, to yourself or others, as we actually also hear ourselves saying it which reinforces that loop even further.
7. Make yourself accountable
I’m not a huge fan of counting steps, measuring distance and so on, but I’ve found that if you set something to record your walk, you can feel more accountable to yourself! Looking back over the month, it’s nice to be able to add up how many miles I’ve walked and it’s a good visual way to applaud yourself for your efforts and your progress. All too often we forget what we achieve each day, as we’re so busy moving forward. Stopping to look back at the end of the day and be pleased that I achieved what I set out to do, no matter how small, definitely set me up for a better chance of success the following day. If accountability to yourself isn’t enough, then you could even share results with a friend or family member who is doing the challenge at the same time.
8. Be mindful
Walking, whether in nature or around your urban area, is a wonderful way of getting away from whatever noise in your life is creating stress. Tuning in to what you can see, hear, smell and touch around you pulls you into the present and brings all the positive benefits of mindfulness. You can really hone the skill by actively noticing things in the environment around you and if you do a regular walk, actively try to notice the changes of specific things over time. Noticing the different colours of flowers and their growth this month has brought me so much joy.
9. Multi-task
Walking is also brilliant for stacking on other tasks. Depending on your mood and needs at the time, it can be a great way of having a phone call to catch up with friends or family, or even slotting in a work call that might otherwise have you stuck at your desk. Another favourite of mine is to listen to the latest episode of your favourite podcast (Make Movement Matter with Wendy Welpton would be my recommendation…obviously!). I also often use the time to dictate into the notes on my phone as I often write better when I’ve spoken my ideas out loud first. You may feel a little self-conscious, but you just look like you’re on a call. I’m far more creative and quite frankly, enjoy the process more when I’m on the move. This is also true for when I’m working at home, as even walking around the house dictating is so much better than sitting and typing.
10. Get support from your community
The best thing that came out of the pandemic was that people chose to walk and talk with friends and family as we could no longer go to their homes or sit in a café to meet up. I love walking with friends and family as it’s such a wonderful way to connect. I’ve had some lovely walks with friends this month, both planned and some unexpected, but always enjoyed. The nice thing about walking and talking is that It lacks the intensity of a conversation whilst eyeballing each other over a table, and allows for natural poses in the conversation (whilst I get them to balance on a log!).
Aiming for progress, not perfection
The most important outcome of choosing to take up a challenge or trying to adopt a new daily habit, is that you don’t see it as something to beat yourself up with when it doesn’t go to plan. Self-compassion is key and knowing that failure will inevitably always happen means it's really important to be kind to yourself and remember that you’re only human. This mindset means you’ll still view your challenge positively. I like to see my life balance as 80:20 good to not quite so good in most things and feel that when I start to see something as too binary, it creates negativity. So don’t let perfectionism creep in and instead stand back and look at the general progress you’ve been making, and then you’ll see that tomorrow really is always a new day!
Moving more in daily life
Walking is a brilliant skill! Yes, it is a skill, as we can improve our technique to become more efficient and to increase the health benefits - listen to episode 11 of the make movement matter podcast with Joanna Hall from WalkActive to hear us discussing it.
If we’re lucky enough to be capable of walking unhindered, it really is a skill we can use for the rest of our lives. We can even take it anywhere! By practising good technique, varying the places we walk, the length of our walks, the loads we carry and the variety of movements we do within a walk (cue playtime!) and choosing to use walking as a consistent part of our daily routine we’re less likely to lose the skill as we age.
So let’s not take it for granted that we’ll always be able to walk well and instead practise consistency by always choosing to walk in our daily lives, whatever that looks like for you, so that we can keep walking together for life.
May has been both National Walking Month & Mental Health Awareness Month (the theme this year is ‘Movement: moving more for our mental health’), so I have been walking & working (I donate 10% of my profits) for the Mental Health Foundation. If you would like to read more about their work and perhaps give a donation, please CLICK HERE.
Watch these Reclaim Movement YouTube videos about walking:
Walk more efficiently to be able to walk more
5 Natural movements to help you move well to walk well for life
