Just do one !

At a time when many people are suffering from a lack of motivation or experiencing extra procrastination there may be a very simple solution. Just do one.

A while back I was doing a Bike Fit for Grant Simmer, CEO of the INEOS Team UK Americas Cup sailing team. As we were chatting about fitness and exercise in general he casually mentioned that he does between six and seven hundred push ups each day. He is in good shape and has a great outlook on life. At the time I was doing a huge amount of travelling so you could say that I had a lightbulb moment. Push ups are something that can be done anywhere, especially hotel rooms, so why not use them as a way to maintain some degree of fitness. I started out that evening and did a few sets of ten. Nothing major but I felt like I had done something. The momentum lasted for a few days, morning and evening before missing one evening set. Once I had missed that set it was easy to miss another. Then it became very hit and miss. I thought to myself You can’t do anything without discipline, and discipline is doing what you don’t feel like doing but just doing it anyway. I needed to find a way to develop that discipline and that was when I came across the idea of just doing one.

‘Just do one‘ in a nutshell is telling yourself that you are just going to do one. Whether that one is a single push up, one minutes meditation, one kilometre on the bike or reading one sentence of a book, the principle is all the same. Your mind finds it difficult to come up with any strong obstacle to you just doing one of anything that’s going to take little or no time, but once you get down to do that one push up or any other ‘one’ you have the hardest part done and never stop at one. Try it in any area that you find yourself procrastinating or lacking discipline and see how you get on. What have you got to lose?

Another trick that I often use is something that helps me get out of bed in the morning. I never use a snooze button as that can add on infinite five minute blocks of wasted time. Instead I do it the opposite way and do a space shuttle countdown in my head. 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 Blast off, and launch out of bed. I also tell myself that I am just getting up to use the bathroom, but once you’re up, you are up and it’s easy to carry on from there. I also have my clothes or cycling kit laid out the night before. This allows you a little auto pilot time if you are a bit groggy waking up. Using these few tricks has made it relatively easy to get up no matter what time I have to rise. Whether that be 3.30am for an early morning flight or 5.15am for an early morning training spin, it works.

Sometimes I am asked what makes me motivated to keep cycling my bike every day that I can. There a number of reasons that can be listed as follows :

• I like the way it makes me feel, both physically and mentally.
• I like the places my bike brings me to and all of the things that I get to see.
• I like the freedom and the taste of fresh mountain air.
• I like the Peter Pan effect that cycling provides where you still feel like you are in your twenties no matter what age you are.
• I like the camaraderie and the enjoyment you get when out with a group of cyclists.
• I am always aware of how lucky I am to be able to ride a bike, especially when I pass someone in a wheelchair, in poor health or very overweight.

 When I want to I can ride fast, but am just as happy riding slow.

Part of the beauty of cycling is that for the vast majority of the time you can only cycle your bike. You are doing just one thing, which in todays world is a rare pleasure to be able to enjoy.

Barry