Skip to content

How to actually exercise consistently 🏃‍♀️

2023-12-18 · Short · Ali · recording, 0:48 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Health, sleep and habits · mode: Explanation and tutorial · tags: Feel-Good Productivity thesis, Lesson from a book, Evidence-based framing

In an extract from his book Feel-Good Productivity, Ali recounts a 2015 Boston study in which people emailed each evening to pick a time slot for exercise the next day raised their steps from about 7,000 to almost 9,000 a day, and calls such prompts implementation intentions.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — The Boston Fitbit study and implementation intentions

  • ★★ Ali describes a study begun in Boston in autumn 2015: people who felt they lacked time to exercise wore a Fitbit for five weeks; one group got no instructions, the other was emailed every evening to review the next day's schedule and pick a time slot for the activity. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ In the Boston Fitbit study, the group with no instructions saw virtually no change in step count, while the group with the evening prompts went from an average of 7,000 steps a day to almost 9,000. — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ Ali says little triggers to action, such as the study's evening prompt to choose a time slot for exercise, are called implementation intentions, and the science of behaviour change indicates they can be revolutionary. — 00:00:29

Threads in this video

  • refine · How do you exercise consistently and get in shape? — Ali says little triggers to action, such as the study's evening prompt to choose a time slot for exercise, are called implementation intentions, and the science of behaviour change indicates they can be revolutionary. (00:00:29)

Mentioned

Central: implementation intentions

Also: Fitbit

Only in the description or credits: Feel-Good Productivity (book)

Also centred on implementation intentions: How to Stop Procrastinating (Forever) · How to Be Effortlessly Disciplined: 5 Mindset Shifts

← Previous: This hack will level up your confidence ✅ · Next → Have you ever been caught by the 6 week trap? 😬