About a month ago I crossed a fun milestone: I had completely filled my Apple Watch rings for 365 days in a row. This was not an easy feat, but such repetition does become a bit programatic. When I close them on New Year’s Eve, every day in 2020 will have seen me go out of my way to stand, move, and excise to “close my rings” (a phrase heard regularly in our household.) Not too shabby!
As a reward for filling rings multiple days in a row, Apple Watch gives me a Longest Move Streak badge. The streak is now at 396 days, and should it be broken, it’ll be difficult to beat in the future. As it were, I’ve discovered that such a streak has a rate of diminishing returns: It’s great to see you can do something for a week, a month, a year. But more than? At some point, it feels like goal posts should be moved, comfort zones widened – change up the program a bit.
If 2020 was all about practicing staying fit – getting used to commitment and physical stress – than 2021 will be about playing in that space a bit. I intend to bump up the Move goal (from 690 calories to probably 900 or so) and expect to break the year-long streak I have going. I’ll keep the Stand and Exercise goals, as I achieve those regularly anyways (thanks to my kids and the dogs), and there’s no further room to adjust upward. I’ll lean heavily into Apple’s Fitness+, and not just because I’m already paying for it: It’s actually really, really good!
Exercise – activity of any kind, really – is core to 2021’s theme of Investment. But this isn’t about trying to only fill rings: 2021 will be about enjoying exercise, doing activities I find fulfilling. Sometimes that will mean I run on the treadmill for an hour staring at my basement wall (a good way to actually disconnect from reality for a bit and listen to new music.) Sometimes that will mean hiking or taking a walk around the block with my kids. Filling rings won’t be the reason I exercise next year, enjoyment will be. I expect this will change the relationship I have with fitness for the better.
In the Agile community (of course there’s an Agile hook here), a concept called “Shu Ha Ri” (borrowed from Aikido philosophy) is employed to describe the process of learning. As Martin Fowler notes:
The idea is that a person passes through three stages of gaining knowledge:
- Shu: In this beginning stage students follow the teachings of one master precisely. They concentrate on how to do the task, without worrying too much about the underlying theory. If there are multiple variations on how to do the task, they concentrate on just the one way their master teaches them.
- Ha: At this point students begin to branch out. With the basic practices working they now start to learn the underlying principles and theory behind the technique. They also start learning from other masters and integrates that learning into his practice.
- Ri: Now the students aren’t learning from other people, but from their own practice. They create their own approaches and adapts what they’ve learned to their own particular circumstances.
2020 was about learning to be fit; how to stay committed and fill rings – very Shu. 2021 will be about expanding that space and going deeper in both training and enjoyment – more Ha.
Happy New Year.
Goscin.ski 