I had planned to cycle out for some more errands today. But the covid-19 related measures were just ramped up in Sweden, and all non-essential contacts with other people and non-essential visits to indoor places are strongly discouraged. So no more errands for me for now. Instead I simply cycled to Ursvik and back (via Rinkeby and Järvafältet).

Before corona I had very regular exercise habits. I booked my Friskis sessions well in advance, and never allowed myself to cancel a booking.

Working from home, I’ve struggled with keeping up physical exercise. I’ve had periods when I worked out regularly, without much of a struggle even. But I’ve also had periods when I became lax and let go a bit. And periods when I lost the habit completely.

The gradual decline always looked the same. “I don’t have time right now, I’ll do it later.” and then “I’ll take a rest day, I can work out tomorrow instead.”

This workout challenge has taught me what I need to keep up the habit. The trick is to work out every single day, so it happens on autopilot. Instead of rest days when I do nothing, I have rest days when I do some other kind of exercise. This way there is no room for hesitation about whether I really need to work out today of all days. The answer is known in advance with full certainty. Yes, I do.

Thinking is reduced to a minimum; the room for excuses and postponement is minimal.