One challenge with big projects is selecting your milestones in a way that keeps you excited to go after each next one. For me, one such project is doing 100 sit-ups—actually, crunches, as I only learned today—every day. It’s not just a big project. It’s a forever project. I plan on doing them daily as long as I can.
How do you stay motivated if the road never ends? The truth is that, as with any habit, after a while, you won’t need motivation. You just do it. I’ve done my crunches for five years. So, on most days, I don’t think too much about them. But today, I did—and I realized that, sometimes, I still do manage my milestones actively to get through the session.
Here’s how it plays out in my head:
- While getting to 10 reps, I’m busy counting. Starting is always the easiest part. I don’t realize how far away I am from my goal.
- 20 is twice as many as 10. Wow! I’m about to double my results!
- 30 means I’m almost one third of the way there. Already?
- 40 is 40% of the total, and that’s almost half. Not too bad!
- 50 means I’ve officially done more than half the work. Should be all downhill from here.
- 60 is already 10 beyond 50. It feels like a fresh start for the second half.
- 70 means I’m now more than two thirds to my goal.
- 80 indicates I’ve quadrupled my output of 20, which was already the double of 10! Astonishing how far I’ve come, and how little I have left to go.
- “At 90, I shall penetrate the mystery of things.” That’s Hokusai. It’s hard to look at the 90% mark of something and not be excited.
- The last 10 are often the easiest, even though, physically, they’re the hardest—and I usually try extra hard to do them properly.
Most of this is kindergarten-logic, and that’s half the trick. If you can get excited about silly little milestones no serious adult would care about, chances are, you’ll soon run laps around plenty such serious adults. If you feel like it, you can even keep going forever.
Make the milestones meaningful, and know that “meaningful” is a made-up word. Plant your own interesting flags to chase, and you’ll never run out of momentum.
