Walking 10,000 Steps a Day -- A Comparison of Ways to Do It

Here are four ways for how you can reach and sustain walking 10K steps/day:

Way #1: COMPETE WITH OTHERS.

If you have a competitive streak, then join an online group of fellow "step counters", pick someone who seems to walk a few hundred more steps daily than you are, and see whether you can meet and surpass that person's daily average. Or join a local group of walkers and compare your daily totals -- say, every Saturday morning after a group walk. Use your competitive streak to your advantage!

Way #2: LEVERAGE C.A.N.I.

The abbreviation "C.A.N.I." stands for "Constant And Never-ending Improvement". If you like to compete with yourself, then you can leverage C.A.N.I. to reach and sustain walking 10K steps/day. Simply set a goal each day, strive to meet or exceed that goal, and compare your results at the end of the day to that goal. How well did you do? Did you walk at least 10,000 steps? Or did you walk closer to 3,000 steps or 7,000 steps? Set your next daily goal accordingly (pushing yourself a little), and imagine reaching that goal as you drift asleep. Once your daily steps-count has reached 10K steps/day, you can decide whether you want to pursue a higher number of daily steps (say, 12K steps/day) or faster completion (say, by 4 PM instead of by 8 PM) or both. In other words, leverage C.A.N.I. every day!

Way #3: MAKE A GAME OUT OF IT.

This is different than competing with others or competing with yourself. This is more like "Spot the Loony" -- the fictitious, silly game popularized by the British TV series "Monty Python" in which the viewer was asked to identify (spot) the crazy person (loony) in a TV scene as the camera was panned across the scene. Applying this to walking 10K steps/day, start a list of all the ways in which you can add extra steps to your day. See what you can spot. An easy way to build your list is to look for people walking -- a "Spot the Walker" game, if you will. Notice what each spotted person does when walking. For example, is the person walking to the bus, walking home with groceries, walking across the parking lot, or what? Make a mental note to add some of those walking activities to your day.

Way #4: SET AN EXAMPLE.

Think of the children ... or the grandchildren ... or your partner ... or your siblings ... or your parents ... or your other relatives ... or your friends ... or your organization's members ... or your fellow employees. Think of how YOUR reaching and sustaining walking 10K steps/day will set a good example for THEM. Now go do it!

CHOOSE YOUR WAY!

If you compare these four ways, then you see that way #1 is for competitive people, way #2 is for perfectionism-leaning people, way #3 is for game players, and way #4 is for example setters. Whichever way best matches your personality, choose it and use it!