3 Minute Magic

Can I tell you a story about magic?

At Orangetheory, the rower tends to be the hardest part of the workout. We all love to hate the rower. Most of the time though, we’re only rowing for 1-3 minutes. It’s crazy how hard 3 minutes on the rower is. So I bought a rower to have at home. I figured that if I walk by that rower on my way to something else, and row for a minute, it would be ok. It’s the magic of micro, right? Vi’s gotten into the groove too. He’ll row for 3 minutes and then maybe go back and row for 3 minutes more. It’s so un-intimidating to do something for 3 minutes.

I had a friend tell me recently that he bought a rower but hasn’t gotten started using it yet. I told him to just do it for 3 minutes. You can’t tell me you don’t have time to go to the basement, row for the 3 minutes and walk back up the stairs. He said “Yeah, but 3 minutes doesn’t doooo anything.” Oh man. See? His excuse for not doing is basically just that it’s too easy to do. First of all, 3 minutes is as hard or easy as you make it. More importantly, it starts forming the habit of doing the thing. You can always increase the time if you want. But first, you’ve got to just put on your shoes and get on the rower.

MOST importantly, the real magic happens when you make a deal with yourself that’s so easy to complete that you actually do it. And then you start to learn to trust yourself to do the things to tell yourself you’re going to do.

Do you have a piece of exercise equipment at home? Can you give it 3 minutes today?

Yes, today… not tomorrow, not January 1st. It’s just 3 minutes.

You’re worth it