Control Before Consumption: What Happens Before You Skip the Walk?

There is usually a moment when we decide whether we are going to walk, work out, eat what we planned to eat or follow through on another commitment we made to ourselves. Because that moment is visible, it is also the moment we tend to judge. We say we lacked discipline. We say we were tired. We say we got busy. We tell ourselves we will do better tomorrow. But lately, I have been thinking much more about what happens before that moment.

A recent conversation with my dietitian helped me see something about my own behavior. I have noticed that the days when I have the most control over my calendar are usually the days when I have the least difficulty staying consistent with my eating. When I know where my time is going, when I am doing things I actually want or need to do, and when my day has some structure around it, I tend to make better decisions. When the day feels like it belongs to everybody else, when meetings run long, plans change, obligations pile up and I feel like I have lost control of my time, staying within the systems I have built becomes more difficult.

That realization made me think about walking.

We often assume the decision about whether to walk happens when it is time to put on our shoes. I am not convinced that is always true. Maybe the decision started when we stayed up too late the night before. Maybe it started when we scheduled every minute of the day and left no room for ourselves. Maybe we never put the clothes out. Maybe we did not protect the time. Maybe we allowed something that could have been done tomorrow to take over the time we had planned to move today.

None of that removes personal responsibility. It actually gives us more responsibility because now we have more information.

Instead of only asking, “Why didn’t I walk?” we can ask, “What happened before I decided not to walk?”

That is a much more useful question.

One of the reasons One Step Walking Club exists is because the club changes some of those conditions for us. You do not have to figure out where you are walking. We have a route. You do not have to decide when you are walking. We have a time. You do not have to find somebody to walk with. There will be people there. You do not even have to decide how fast everybody needs to move because we have always made room for people to move at their own pace.

The structure eliminates some of the decisions.

And sometimes that is what consistency requires.

Tonight, pay attention to everything that happens before you get to the trail. Pay attention to the negotiations you have with yourself. Notice the reasons your mind gives you for staying home. Notice what makes getting there easier and what creates friction. Then, once you start walking, notice how different you feel from the person who was debating whether to come.

The lesson may extend well beyond walking.

Sometimes the behavior we are trying to change is not where the problem begins. Sometimes we need to change the conditions surrounding the behavior.

That is the idea behind a new performance tool I created called The Control Audit: What Is Your Habit Really Solving? It helps you reconstruct what happens before a recurring behavior, examine where you feel the most and least control, distinguish temporary relief from actual resolution and identify one condition you can change. I originally arrived at the idea through examining my relationship with food, but I think it has a very natural application to movement, exercise and consistency as well.

Tonight gives us an opportunity to practice it.

Tuesday evening, we meet at 6:30 PM and start walking at 6:45 PM at the Metropolitan Branch Trail, 8th & Edgewood Streets NE.

Don't wait until 6:30 to decide whether you're walking.

Make the decision now.

Protect the time. Get your clothes ready. Put your shoes where you can see them. Finish what needs to be finished. Then show up.

Fit in the fitness.

Movement is the medicine.