One Little Word 2014: July

And just like that another month is over.

As you might recall, my word for this year is Cultivate. I am taking a more laid back approach to my word this year. Am picking a theme for each month, and then seeing where I end up.

My focus this month was to cultivate fitness. 

fit·ness

noun

the condition of being physically fit and healthy.

There are so many ways one can think about fitness, but this month I wanted to pick a way to measure fitness that was tangible. I decided to go with tracking the number of steps I took in a day. My goal was simple: 10,000 steps or 5 miles. Every day. 

I decided to use a Fitbit to track my progress, and you read my mid-month review here. Based on my goals, my target for July was 310,000 steps and 155 miles. How did I do? 

I took 419,620 steps and covered 185.39 miles, which I know is a personal record for me. As you can see there were 4 days where I did not meet the target, but I was so much over the other days, that it did not matter.

Here is what I've learned about myself this month:

1. I am a numbers and chart driven person, and I loved the feedback, tracking and charts. This is a perfect fit for my personality.
2. I am competitive. Umm, I have always known this, but this time around I used data from friends to spur myself on. As an example, there was an evening that I simply did not feel like going out for a walk. I had a good movie on DVD waiting for me, and I was totally into settling in for a couple of fun hours. A quick glance at my Fitbit leaderboard though showed me that one of my friends was ahead of me, and I simply could not let that stand. Laced up my shoes, grabbed my flash light and headed out for a night walk around the neighborhood. Yes, I achieved my goals of exceeding daily targets and put my friend in her place (smile), but more importantly, it was a new moon night and the stars took my breath away. I would have missed that celestial show if I had watched the movie. 
3. It is important for me to have people (or as I call them: Jack rabbits) that I am chasing. As satisfying as it is to beat people, it is really important that I have people who are out of reach. Not unrealistically, but a long stretch away. In this case a solid 20,000 or steps ahead of me at any given time. I love striving to reach them. It makes my day when on certain days I do.

So I end the month fitter both physically and mentally. I've built a solid foundation onto which I plan to add other activities to in the coming months. And I had fun doing it. To my Fitbit friends and Jack rabbits (you know who you are) thank you for the motivation this month.

These are some of the ways I cultivated fitness this month. How do you do it?