Bruce Willis set his time limit for robberies based on songs back in 1991 (Hudson Hawk), but for a 5K I need a whole Mozart Requiem.
I guess there are a million ways to develop self motivation and the biggest one I tell myself is “just take a step out the door” and the rest will follow. In lockdown this has become even more precious as for the first time in most of our lifetimes we are being told when we can go out and are under a 10pm curfew even in the “yellow zone”.
I am lucky to have a park near my house in Talenti, north Rome but I still need to know how long or how far I will go to feel some sense of accomplishment. This can come from a smartphone or smartwatch, or even from those dedicated runners who have marked the paths on the park with their 1km, 2 km signs.
But I like to now measure myself against the length of a podcast (Economist Intelligence, about 23 minutes, or a piece of Radio 4’s Today Programme – say up until the news review on the half hour).
The weekend is a different story and I have a little more time, so it was out the door, pick an album, or in this case von Karajan’s 1986 Vienna Philharmonic recording of Mozart’s Requiem, and then see if I can walk or jog (mostly walk) to the end.
Apple tells me this is 14 “songs” and 52 minutes but I only made it to the penultimate “track”, the Agnus Dei, not because I was worn out or had had enough, quite the opposite, but because the light had almost gone and it was time to hit the supermarket.
Maybe a choose a symphony next time, or maybe I just let my phone go random on me. Anyway it works and if you can only find 5 minutes (or 5′:32 like Bruce) then that is still a great way to get started, get out and get doing.