My Consistency Challenge 💪 Link to heading

You reach a certain point in life where you realize that unless you change some things about yourself, this is as far as you’ll go. One of the things that I struggled was with being consistent.

• I would start a new book, but lose interest halfway through.
• I would start with reducing my sugar intake, but come a special occasion like a birthday or a festival and I’d be gorging on sweets.
• I would start a new exercise routine, but after a few weeks, I would find ways to talk myself out of it due to work or other excuses.

I was really good at hyping myself up and starting something new. But what I lacked was the will to follow through and either finish something, or stick to it for a long time consistently.

In 2024, I wanted to focus on being consistent in my fitness routine. I wanted to have one fitness activity (either walk, run, or bike) everyday. I was able to make a really strong start in January, and managed to carry that momemtum forward into April. But with May I started missing a few days, till eventually by December I was active only half the days of the month. While I had a decent start with many runs and bike rides earlier in the year, by the end of the year I was reduced to walking most of the time with an occasional run.

2024 Active Days	2024 Top Sports

While I had made a dent and I did show potential, this wasn’t enough. Could I do better?

Picking Myself Up 🧘 Link to heading

I remember the reason why in May 2024 I missed a couple days of activity - because I had fallen sick. I thought that this was a one-off, but making excuses for my inactivity became easier after the first time it happened. Being active was also a vague goal, which was met in the last few months with more walks than anything else, which is a low bar to clear. I had managed to bargain with myself into being active on less number of days, but also reducing the intensity of my activities.

With these insights, I made my non-negotiable goal for 2025: “Everyday, I will be active for at least 15 minutes, doing either a walk, a run, or a bike ride.”

To make sure that I didn’t just tick off this goal with walks everyday, I added these tangible mileage targets for my activities as well:

• 2025 Walk Distance Goal: 365 miles (or a mile a day)
• 2025 Run Distance Goal: 600 miles (or roughly four 5k runs a week)
• 2025 Bike Distance Goal: 1250 miles (or roughly 25 miles a week)

With this in mind, I was inspired to kick-off 2025!

The Results are In 📈 Link to heading

While I was aiming to do more in 2025 than 2024, the distance goals I’d set for myself at the start of 2025 weren’t too far off from what I’d managed to achieve in 2024. This was intentional as my focus was not to challenge my physical limits, but to be consistent. I was more worried that I’d fall sick or find some excuse to skip a day. So how did I do?

Walk Goal	Run Goal	Bike Goal

• I had managed to meet my walk distance goal with ease and days to spare. No surprise there!
• I was ahead of my running distance goal all the way till September, where I fell behind. But eventually I was able to meet my goal after a strong push in December, meeting my goal on the 30th. Phew!
• My bike distance goal was a similar story, with my momentum slowing in April. I picked it up in May, only for it to slow down again in August. But after a final push in November and December, I met it with a few days to spare.

Turns out, even though I wasn’t being too ambitious here, it was still a challenge! But that still doesn’t answer the question of how consistent I was. Did I manage to be active every day, or did I blow it again, now two years in a row? Take a look for yourself!

The Lessons Learned 💡 Link to heading

It was only a couple years in the making, but yes I’d finally achieved the consistency goal I’d set for myself. But what’s a tough journey without a few lessons learned along the way? Here’s what I learned from this year:

1. No compromises: I absolutely have to put my foot down and say no to myself. It was difficult initially, but the longer my unbroken streak got, the more I was able to convince myself to stay the course. There were interruptions like sickness and travel, but taking a day off was simply not an option I allowed for myself.
2. Do what you can, but show up: When I was traveling, I couldn’t take my bike with me, but by carrying my running shoes I was still able to get my walks and runs in. I was sick for a week sometime in the middle of the year. So that week was just me doing walks. It felt like I was going to fall behind, but that was the best I could do while staying true to my consistency goal and my health. Life gets in the way of plans, but even if not at your best, you can still show up.
3. Lean into the pain: Doing anything meaningful is work. Getting better and chasing your dreams and goals is some serious work that comes with serious pain. Motivation makes the pain easier to deal with. But on some days you don’t have motivation in your corner. Some days you have to show up after a tough work day (or even tough work weeks). It doesn’t get less painful, but it does get more manageable.

So What’s Next? 🔄 Link to heading

I finished my 2025 strong, and I’m happy about it. It was an ambitious goal, and I’m grateful that the stars aligned for me to achieve what I had set out to do. A few days into 2026, even without me conciously trying to, I just found myself logging an activity every day. It looks like my brain has been conditioned and rewired to keep me active, so I’ll continue 2026 with these same goals. Here’s hoping for another year of consistency!

PS: I hope this story motivated you to define and achieve your own consistency goals!