One thousand, four hundred and seventy days in a row. 1470. 
I’ve not missed a single day of joggling for that long. Certainly, I haven’t felt like running on all of those days but somehow I manage to motivate myself to do it.
Why?
I do not know for sure. Mostly, I just like the idea of a streak. I like the feeling of accomplishment that I derive from keeping the streak going. I like that daily joggling is part of my identity. And I like having this thing that is a constant in my life.
Staying motivated
As I’ve said however, I’m not always gung-ho on getting outside and joggling. Sometimes (like right now) I’m sick. Or the weather is crappy, or I’m tired, or my legs are sore, or I’m busy, or I’m otherwise unmotivated. On those days, tricks are required to get me outside. Here are some of the most effective.
1. Put on your running clothes. Putting clothes on is easy enough and it is the first step to getting your workout in. Once you go through the trouble of changing clothes, half the battle is done.
2. Find something good to listen to. I used to joggle without headphones but then I discovered audio books & podcasts. Now, even if I’m not looking forward to the run I do look forward to listening to a good book. The best part is that I can always find audio books from my local public library for free!
3. Explore a new neighborhood. Sometimes when I’m bored with my runs I’ll take a different path through an area of the city that I haven’t explored. This brings a sense of discovery and rekindles my motivation to run.
4. Make it more fun. Joggling is naturally fun but occasionally I’ll try new tricks to bring even more fun to the workout. If you run, try making it more fun by racing against yourself or running backwards or going barefoot. Change it up to inspire action.
5. Reward yourself when you’re done. I like soda pop. However, I realize that it is not the best choice so I try to avoid it. But when I’ve finished a particularly tough run (or any run really) I stop in at the local Walgreens and reward myself with a diet Dr Pepper or diet Coke. Sometimes I even get a candy bar. These may not be the best motivators for you but you should find some type of reward to give yourself when you’ve completed your workout.
6. Keep track of your progress. I like to run with my iPhone and use an app that tracks my running path/progress. But even before the iPhone I would run down every workout each time I did it. Now, I can go back and look at the spreadsheet of my running life. It’s really cool! I use it to see where I’ve been and to motivate myself to run more in the future.
7. Goals. Set some. They work. For number of workouts, number of races, time of workout, mileage, etc. And keep track of them to ensure that you’re making progress.
So, those are some of the things I use to keep myself motivated. What are your tricks? Leave a comment below.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t know how you run outside everyday in Chicago. Northern CA is perfect for running 9 months of the year, but I have to cut back during the winter months when it is cold, dark, and rainy. I sign up early and run a lot of races to stay motivated. If I didn’t have a race on my schedule, I would have trouble getting out the door early in the morning.
This is definitely a tough time of the year for me. I’m recovering a bit from the fall marathon and haven’t scheduled any races. That does make it harder to get out every day. Especially days like today…it’s 20F.
But you’ve inspired me. I think I’ll sign up for a Jingle Bell Jump 5K or something.
Staying fit is a good motivator. I work inside all day so I don’t get much exercise except for joggling.
Setting a race helps too. After recovering from shin splints I’ve slowly been upping my mileage and I seem to be doing OK. I’ve worked out a 10 month plan. I’ve just signed up for my first half marathon, scheduled about 4 1/2 months from now. Assuming that race will go successfully and that I will stay injury free and I’ve gone ahead requested time off in October 2013 for the Chicago Marathon.
I told my wife that either I’ll run a marathon in a little over 10 months or we’ll have a great weekend in Chicago, either way it should be a good time.
Regardless it makes every run a little easier with a goal in mind.
Robert aka Joggling Joey
That’s great! Keep me posted. I’ll most likely do the Chicago marathon next year too. We’ll have to meet.
I don’t run or job, but I walk. Part of me just has a compulsion to walk and another part of me just wants to maintain my ability to walk farther than the distance from my front door to my car.
All exercise is good exercise. The goal for everyone should be to be off their feet for at least 30 minutes of the 24 hour day.