Peace of Mind Organizing

Using rewards as motivation

13 September 2023

We have a stationary bike parked in front of a wall-mounted TV. This summer, I created the habit of working out with the bike while watching my summer-obsession TV show, S.W.A.T. on Netflix. I was going great guns and keeping track of my workouts in my Bullet Journal. And then I went to Australia and my routine was disrupted. I started up again after I got back but then I developed a foot condition (now healed) that prevented my peddling. And now I’ve found it hard to motivate myself to get on the exercise bike.

One of the problems was that I’d finished watching all six (!) seasons of S.W.A.T. I was having trouble coming up with another show that was equally enjoyable and absorbing while being exciting enough to keep me peddling fast. Then I realized that I could just watch it again!

So here’s the deal I made with myself: I can’t watch S.W.A.T. unless I’m on the exercise bike.

I’m working my way up to episode-long workouts, but right now I’m at 30 minutes. So that means I’m walking away without finishing watching an episode. That’s great, because the next day I’m anxious to get on the bike to finish the episode. It’s a win-win! (I blogged about how the brain craves completion in a blog post called keeping going way back in 2008.)

I’ve also been having trouble getting myself to do yoga. (That feels unfortunate since during the pandemic I did daily yoga for over a year!) Earlier this year, I stopped doing yoga while I was in physical therapy for tennis elbow. I can do it now but I keep forgetting to. So I’ve made another deal with myself: I can’t play my favorite game Duotrigordle (32 Wordles at the same time) until I’ve done a yoga practice. (I do at-home yoga with Yoga with Adriene.) Since I think about playing my favorite game in the morning, it’s a prompt to do yoga. So far it’s working remarkably well.

As I start re-creating my exercise routines, using my favorite tv show and game as motivation will be a big help, I think! I’m sure there are other parts of my life where I can incorporate this.

Tagged with: exercise, motivation, rewards, yoga

Comments