I frequently talk about the Power of Minimums.
A Small Action Toward Your Goals that You Do Daily.
No Exceptions.
Period.
End of Story.
You Get It Done because You Know It Is Important to Achieving those Goals.
In My Life I have a Few Minimums.
I Write an Article Every Day, like this one.
I Spend Time with my Spouse Every Day.
I also have a Physical Minimum.
One Mile Run.
No Exceptions.
I do it Every Single Day.
Even if I Do Not Feel Great.
Even if I Cannot Get to it Until 1:00 in the Morning.
Before I go to bed, I "Must" Hit my Minimum.
Now, for me, a One Mile Run can be Accomplished between 7 and 10 Minutes, Depending on How I'm Feeling that Day.
Less than 15 Minutes a Day for that Minimum.
There are a Few Days I'll do More than that.
But Honestly, I have a Busy Life, and Frequently that is "All" I get to.
80% - 90% of the Time, I "Just" Hit My Minimum.
The Reason I Run is because I know that from a Psychophysiological Perspective, it is one of the Easiest Exercises with the Largest Results Overall.
Running can Keep Your Cardiovascular System in Shape, Improving Your Breathing which can Help Decrease Dis-Stress.
It can Improve Mitochondrial Health, which in turn improves our Body's Energy (Mg-ATP) Creation and Storage.
You Do Not Need Any Gear to do it.
Literally, I Run Barefoot Often, so that is even Less Gear.
Barefoot Running can also Improve Foot Health and Nervous System Health as Well.
Plus, Flow States are Fairly Easy to find with Running.
If you Understand Flow States, they say "Flow Begets Flow", which Means the More Frequently you Find Flow, the Easier it is to Find Again.
So, Overall there are Many "General" Benefits to doing this.
However, I was Really Surprised this Week about how much "Further" this Minimum could take me.
Imagine, doing 10 Minutes of Exercise is Not Difficult.
But you Know What Could Be Difficult?
An Exercise You've Never Really Done Before, or at Least Do "Very" Infrequently (Less than Once Per Year On Average).
My wonderful Spouse has been doing a Challenge (75 Soft, a Variation of 75 Hard) which requires her to do a Minimum 45 Minute Workout Daily over 75 Days.
She decided that it would be Fun to go to CycleBar for those workouts since we were on a Trip, and it was close by.
I "Never" Do Cycling Workouts.
I Do Not Own a Cycle or Bicycle.
I Haven't Touched a Cycle or Bicycle in Years.
Cycles Use Different Muscle Groups than Running.
Overall, it is "Way" Outside of my "Norm".
Not to Mention that Each Class is 45+ Minutes, which means it is Four Times More than I Typically Do.
Plus, she wanted to go 4 Times during our Trip.
I could have said No if I wanted.
But I tend to be a Glutton for Punishment.
Also, I "Do" Eventually want to work my way Up to a Long-Distance Mountain Bike Race as a part of a Spartan Races Challenge.
So, I told my Spouse that I would do it with her.
I was Expecting to Do Absolutely Terrible.
I Figured I wouldn't be in Good Shape.
I Figured the Muscle Groups I typically Do Not Use Would Despise Me.
Overall, I wasn't Expecting Much.
I'd Give It My All.
It's Just that I Thought My "All" would be Pretty Minor.
The Results?
My First Class Was "Pretty" Bad.
Bottom 25% Of the Class.
In Fairness, I really Did Not Understand how the Class Worked, so I was Struggling to Try to Follow.
I Didn't Understand You Could "See" Your Gear Changes on the little Computer, which makes a "Dramatic" Difference to Your Results.
My Spouse told me what I was Missing After that First Class Though.
For the Next Three Classes?
One of them I took Top 25% of the Class.
The Other Two?
I Took the #1 Spot in Both Classes.
Over People who have been going there for Months, some of them Years (One of the People hit their 900th Ride!)
Why?
I Hit My Minimums.
Most People go through "Ups" and "Downs" when it comes to what they Work Toward.
When you do this, you typically "Flatline" in Overall Progress.
You Go Up a Little, Down a Little, but Average About the Same.
But with Consistency?
You Keep Building.
Sometimes it is Slow.
It might "Feel" Painfully Slow.
But You Still Improve.
On top of all of this, I "Also" Still Ran my 1 Mile Minimum.
I Hit My Minimum.
Period.
Doesn't Matter if I did "More".
Still Hit that Minimum.
This Becomes the Power of having Solid Minimums in your Life.
Most Days they Really "Feel" Like they Must Not Contribute.
But it is a False Feeling.
Behind the Scenes, those Little Efforts Add, Multiply, then become Exponential.
Before you Know It, You Can Do Things Most People Struggle to Conceive Of.
Not because You "Worked Harder".
Not because You're "Amazingly Talented".
But because You Kept Consistent.
That is the Power of Minimums.
Always Hit Your Minimums.