Five Lessons 20,000 Daily Steps Taught Me

IT ALL BEGAN FOR ME WITH A one-year public commitment to walk 20,000 steps a day, and to share my step count, a daily photo and my insights on Facebook and Instagram.

- DAVID PAUL

IT ALL BEGAN FOR ME WITH A one-year public commitment to walk 20,000 steps a day, and to share my step count, a daily photo and my insights on Facebook and Instagram.

I wanted to encourage and motivate others to do the same, so I started a blog and kicked it off with that splashy commitment. The thing is, I had already been doing 20,000 steps a day for six months, and would continue for another year after it ended.

My journey started in the middle of March 2018, and in those two-and-a half-years to August 31, 2020, I learned a great deal.

ONE THE IMPORTANCE OF A PRE-DECISION TO COMMIT

I made a pivotal decision before starting: Whatever was going on in my life that day, I would always reach 20,000 steps.

It meant I didn't wake up wondering how many steps I'd take; I just figured out how to achieve it. Even on tough days, like when my wife had breast cancer surgery, I found myself pacing the hospital's parking garage.

There was only one day, around six months in, that I was five steps short of 20,000. I didn't realize until weeks later and I think it was simply that I forgot to check my steps before I went to bed.

KEEPING COUNT The 10,000 steps target seems to have come from the name of a Japanese pedometer which then stuck and became a global goal.