66 Days: of Closing All Rings on the Apple Watch

We have been used to hearing that it takes 21 days to form a new habit.  However, Phillippa Lally and her research team conducted a study of 96 people over a 12-week period and found that on average, it took more than two months before a new behavior became automatic with the magic number being 66 days.

Depending on the person and the circumstance of the habit (drinking water every morning may be easier to accomplish than running 5 miles at 5am every day) habit formation actually ranged between 18 to 254 days.

Every 66 days I am going to work on forming a new habit to better my performance, health, stamina, improving my focus, etc.  

Welcome to Day 1 of closing the activity rings on the Apple watch.  If you have an Apple watch, you can attest to how seemingly impossible this can be.  Especially with most of us behind a desk the majority of the day. 

I used to think it was broken (it's not).  I would come home from a full day of getting Captain out the door, work, meeting, meeting, phone conference, meeting, barely eating, meeting, emails and then get home, do a 30 minute workout, get dinner ready and look at my watch to see that cursed red circle less than halfway around.  It took some time for the frustration to subside and for me to realize that although I had been mentally active all day my physical space was primarily sentient.  

That is a big problem with our society - especially in Upper/Executive Management and C-Suite level positions.

Full transparency: I meant to start this yesterday - and I failed.  I decided not to work out in the morning, antsy to get back in the office after the Holiday.  I got home, rode the Peloton, looked at my watch which both read 8:15 pm (my six year old was outside skating the ramp instead of eating dinner and taking a bath) and my circle less than halfway closed.  I knew I had messed up; I needed that morning kick to jumpstart my activity.

Which is what I did today: 6am Peloton for 30 minutes.  In the office all day and a 28 minute Sweat workout in the backyard.  All circles closed before 7pm and time for my wine :)

Here's to day one!

Day 2: Failed.  I failed on day 2.  I can give you a list of reasons why (I will) but I know at the end, it's all an excuse.  But the failure - and the commitment to document it - set off something in me that I have started liking.  

Here's the rub: I woke up and realized my watch was still on the couch from when I took it off the night before.  The shit thing about the Apple watch is that it has to be charged nightly.  I ran to put it on the charger to get some kind of juice in the battery for my morning workout - which I did a 30 minute Barre3 online class.  As I was getting ready for work, I threw it back on the charger so it had a shot at lasting the day and my afternoon SWEAT session I was planning to do at the gym in the LA office.

But...guess who left for work without the watch on the wrist?  Yup.  So I went the entire day without clocking in a thing.  And I had Diana's impromptu bday dinner at 7:30 back down in Costa Mesa.  

I flew home (or attempted to fly home at 5:30pm from Downtown Los Angeles) and immediately got on the Peloton for a 30 minute ride before dinner.  Full disclosure: I was also running against time and went to do dinner with soaking wet sweat hair in a bun and Body Shop lotion on instead of a real shower.....I also walked back home with the girls at 11:00pm instead of grabbing an Uber from the restaurant to help bridge the gap.

It didn't work and honestly I knew I wasn't going to make it happen - but what I like is in all of that - I didn't stop trying to get there and I didn't beat myself up like I normally do; in fact, I was proud that I squeezed seconds into minutes to get on the bike without sacrificing celebrating the birth of one of my closest friends.  

Day 3: Made it.  Watch charge and on wrist.  Somehow Captain decided to wake up at 5:30am with the rest of us, so after I got him squared away, knocked out 30 minutes on the Peloton before getting the day started.  Work was the normal amount of meetings so I did what I usually do and try to get up frequently, walk the long way to the printer, take the stairs to get water, etc. I also consciously tried to stand more. 

I worked longer than I had intended so focused on being with the family when I got home which also involved pouring a nice glass of wine.  My rings weren't closed but they were close - I was at 510 of my 600 goal when we were done with dinner and had Captain in a bath.  So with him on the bed and Nate working in the living room, I danced around the bedroom for 20 minutes until I hit 600 - which, currently, I am at 609 with all rings closed and a new glass of wine beside me.

Win.

Day 4: Didn't make it - but learning progress.  I worked out in the morning - a 28 minute SWEAT workout, and went to work with the idea of getting in a yoga class before grabbing Captain.  The morning ended up taking a left turn and a realization that I had another birthday dinner (this one my sister's at 6:30) had me missing yoga and grabbing Captain to get a birthday present before heading over.  The learning: do everything possible I can do to get at least to 300 activity before leaving for work in the morning.  This may prove to be impossible, but the morning is where I'm both winning and losing these days.

Day 5: So here's the shit part about the Apple watch.  The battery and the charging component.  I'm not carrying my charging cable with me  - I have enough to carry around.  So last nights birthday dinner ended with me going over to one of my closest friends house (she just moved back from Alabama),  and spending the night.  And of course - this morning, I left the watch over at her house so although I have spent hours today gardening (and I am SO curious to where I actually would be) I will have no record of it.  

Day 6: When I can, these two formulas work at hitting my 600 no problem:

5 mile walk + 20 minutes on the Peloton

OR

45 minutes Peloton + 3 mile walk

Day 7: 45 minutes Peloton + 60 minutes Pilates

Day 8: Here's where it gets hard.  Flew to Denver for meetings and turned around to fly home which didn't leave me much time in the morning to get anything in.  Landed at 6:00pm - did 30 minutes of Barre3 and 30 minutes of SWEAT Arms&Abs, cleaned up the house, swept up the backyard....and at 10:08pm I am only at 457 of my 600 goal.  These are the tricky days - getting on the Peloton would have gotten me closer to my goal on my watch, but I wanted to get some HIIT training in and mix it up.  It's these harder days when the meetings go for hours that i need to figure out how to find time to move more. 

Day 9: Tradeshows are F A N T A S T I C when you want to hit your standing goal: 45 minutes Peloton, getting lost in the Anaheim Convention Center parking garage, and standing for four hours straight - goal acheived

Day 10: 30 minutes Peloton + 60 minutes Pilates

Day 11: 30 minutes SWEAT + 20 minutes Peloton

Day 12: Hitting 600 has been tough during the week. With work and life getting in the way of my workouts, I have found myself dancing in place at 10:30 at night while watching Netflix with Nate, or getting on the Peloton for an extra ride while Captain is getting put to bed. I decided to lower my move ring to 540. At first I thought it was a cop out; something I didn’t want to admit to myself both in this post and inwardly. I was lowering my bar - isn’t that exactly what you are NOT supposed to do? This morning I listened to Dave Asprey’s Bulletproof podcast (one of my favorites). Ryan Holliday was on and he was making this analogy regarding the ego - and he used his determination to move at 1000 additional calories on his iwatch as an example; he hit goal 35 days in a row and decided to stop going at this crazy pace on day 36. Because of his incredible over exercise those 35 days, he ended up getting mono and setting himself back in both health and fitness for over two months….not because he stopped working out, but because he had exhausted his body and stamina past the point of health by egotistically wanting to hit the rings. That was my lesson for today: to make outrageous, extraordinary goals for myself and to remember to listen to myself when it is time to turn down. I am turning it down so I can keep going.

Day 13: Things are getting easier, more routine. Warning on the workout feature - if you don’t end your workout, it will keep going.

Which means by lunchtime you will have the record of an Ironman without the 3% body fat.

28 minutes of the SWEAT app + 30 minutes of Peloton - one in the morning, one in the late afternoon. My body is ready for Daylight Savings and can not get up before 6:30am - which in a few weeks will be 5:30 am and I will be Wonder Woman.

Day 14: Captain went motorcycle riding with the neighbors which gave me an entire morning + afternoon to wander around the house, organize drawers, read Tony Robbins - and workout. I’m 100% a homebody and could stay indoors all day - especially on this gloomy about-to-rain-any-minute day. 28 minutes of the SWEAT app + 45 minutes of THE HARDEST Peloton ride I have done to date.