How I got my running habit to stick? (Productivity hack included)

I am a regular runner, and running is a major anchor in my life. I run every day, and I try to do it in the mornings, but I get it done in the evening if that’s not possible. I don’t miss my runs without a proper reason. But this wasn’t always the case. 


I had started running in 2017, but I just couldn’t get myself to stay consistent. Last year, I started using an application called Nike Run Club, and its guided runs shifted my perspective—not just about running, but about performance in anything we do in life. So, “What was that shift?” you might ask.


Well, let me present this idea to you. There are two terms that are really important to understand here, and even though we know them, we have different ways of looking at them. The two terms are efficiency and sustainability.

 

Let’s look at their definitions once. Efficiency is defined as “the quality of doing something well with no waste of time or money,” and sustainability is defined as “the ability to continue or be continued for a long time.”


So, if efficiency is the quality of work wherein no time is wasted, and we all want to achieve that, then how do we do it? 


Well, one way is to get ourselves motivated and do the task at hand in a stretch while that motivation lasts. Getting done with that work will make us feel amazing. But then, motivation is fickle. Motivation doesn’t last; it depends on mood, and mood keeps changing. So, this method is just not reliable because it makes us unreliable. 


So the question becomes, can this even be called efficient if it's unreliable? No. I’d say true efficiency means being reliable enough to deliver a certain quality of work in a specified duration, both of which we commit to.


Now, sustainability means the ability to continue doing something for a long time, indefinitely, even if we genuinely want to do it to a point where it’ll make us feel bad if we don’t. 


That’s what a habit is. So, forming a habit is the only method of achieving sustainability. And once a habit is formed, it becomes a part of our identity. And that makes us reliable, which makes us efficient. Efficiency is only possible with sustainability.


So, back to my running experience, what I used to do before I found the NRC application was run, and if I felt like running more on a certain day, I would. This also meant that if there was a day where I just wasn’t motivated, I would miss it, which breaks the chain of habit. 


And I used to act like this with everything else I did in life too, like taking on more work than what was sustainable and then not being able to meet targets.


Anyway, when I found NRC, the only thing that the coach focused on was the runner running as slowly as they could to a point where they should be feeling good without putting in much effort. For me, when those 30 minutes of running ended, I felt like I could do 20 more. But the coach's strict instructions were that the run was over. I had finished what I set out to do, and I needed to congratulate myself and recover. 


The fact that I set a limit and couldn't run more when I wanted to made me look forward to my next run. This became a chain, which became a habit, and I am a more efficient runner because of it.


I realised if I generalised this experience to everything else I do in life, I would be more efficient in those things as well. So, I removed the element of motivation from anything I do.


Now, I just do what I said I would (without requiring much effort) for however long I said I would do it. This mindset has allowed me to set realistic targets and goals, become more reliable as a person, set approximately accurate deadlines for myself, and do wonders for my mental health (because I don’t have to deal with the disappointment of not keeping my word). 


I have found that it has made me more efficient, and it is only because I aimed for sustainability. This was the shift in mindset I had.


So, my productivity hack to anyone reading this would be to just aim for sustainability. Break down the task at hand to its most minute form, which is super easy to do for you, and just do that. And efficiency will be inevitable.


(Originally written on 19 July 2021)

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