“Some beats none.”

“Some beats none.”

That’s a quote from one of Jon Acuff‘s audio books that really hit me and keeps coming to my mind. I even wrote it on a sticky-note and placed it on my cube wall at work.

As you may have read in an earlier post, for some reason, I have had a really difficult time motivating myself to exercise and eat nutritionally lately. Perhaps it is due to my feeling that I don’t have enough time (or have put it lower on my priority list), another possibility is that it just seems too overwhelming to think I have to just about start over to get to where I was, or maybe it is just what I said above – maybe it is because I have been trying to motivate myself, but really need a community to inspire me.

But whenever I think about the quote I mentioned earlier, it helps get me past possible roadblocks a little easier. “Some beats none.” Instead of feeling overwhelmed, thinking I need to go back to my old routine of working out at the gym 5 days a week, maybe I should ease back into things. Don’t get me wrong, I never stopped exercising completely – I just slacked a bit and got down to working out only about 2 days a week. However, I also have not been a very good boy with eating healthy on top of that! Shaaaame, Mikey, shame!  😦

Knowing that I need to do something more, I decided to take the “Some beats none” rule to heart and even if I know I will not have time in the evening to exercise, I go to the outdoor Mall (Oak Brook) and walk briskly!

I use my Fitbit every day to try and get to that magical 10,000 step number and with my lunch walks, I can usually get there the days I do them. So, today I walked 1,835 steps in exactly 15 minutes. No huge amount by any means, but still, “Some beats none.”

On top of that, I got to people-watch a kid crying for his parents to take him into Build a Bear and I got to laugh at the moms wearing leopard skin jackets, carrying Nordstrom bags, pushing strollers while wearing the highest heels I’ve ever seen! (Really?! That can’t be sensible on uneven pavement!) I know its not nice, but I occasionally can’t help myself but laugh at the situation on the inside, so, if you decide to walk and people-watch, make sure you wear sunglasses, because they can tell you are laughing by looking at your eyes! Other benefits are that I get to smell great things coming out of Bath & Body Works (they have a bunch of lotions and soaps in the window) as well as feel a gust of cool air conditioning now and then as I walk by one of the clothes stores that may have their doors propped open to enjoy the perfect weather.

Best of all, I get to window-shop. Check out the pic to see the cool ice ball molds I got today (each ball is about 2 inches in diameter). Just pour water into a hole in the top and voila! Under $10 for two. You can even add food-coloring to them to really spice up that iced tea!

Sorry… totally got thrown off subject in my excitement over the ice ball molds.

Anyway, getting back to the lunch-walk – that is a good example of what you can do with the attitude of “Some beats none.” Add to that how I ran/walked for 2 miles when I got home and I’m sitting pretty here with my Fitbit saying I have 11,750 steps! Sweet!

On the nutrition end, I made something quick and easy for dinner. I heated up some mixed vegetables and a bag of rice/quinoa and mixed in a packet of water-packed tuna. Protein, grains and veggies – all in only one bowl to clean – yum! I also had two part-skim mozzarella cheese sticks. So, that was my “Some beats none” for healthy eating today.

So, how can you use the “Some beats none” rule? Why not just take a 15 minute walk at lunch? It will more than make up for the 15 minutes you lose of working through your lunch – you will be more awake, blood pumping and mind sharper. And I’ll bet from that one break that you will crank out more work than you would have in that 15 minute time span if you continued to sit at your desk.

I also have the pleasure of working on one of the most beautiful work campuses I have ever seen, which has many trails that wind through trees, with awesome lakes and wildlife (excluding that occasional mean, hissing goose of course!). There is absolutely no reason NOT to go for a short walk there.

So, I’m presenting you with a fork in the road. What do you want to do? Will you take the path to the left that says “Some beats none” or the path to the right that says “Doing nothing will keep me exactly where I’m at?”

I know what I am picking!