Star charts and motivation: Staying active in my post-commuting world

Amanda (in blue jacket), way back in her sporty days, possibly in Switzerland, circa 1965

When I was about five or six maybe, it was time for me to stop sucking my thumb.

My clever mother induced me to change my behaviour by making me a star chart: Every day of not sticking my thumb into my mouth (sounds horrid to me now, but I remember vividly the sense of comfort I derived from it — paired with my super soft blankie rubbing against my cheek ….mmmmmmm, so lovely) — every day of not engaging in that particular form of soothing behaviour would earn me a small gold star. A full week of such grown-up behaviour would earn me a BIG gold star at the end of the line. And a full month got me… something, I don’t remember what, maybe a set of roller skates or a pack of gum. The big payoff, I think, was not as important to me as those daily and weekly gold stars. Small shiny things that marked my daily progress in a visually accountable way.

The method worked. I stopped sucking my thumb.

And the method continues to work for me: I still use star charts today. Sometimes they look like lists in my TO DO notebook. I love crossing things off with a fat marker — visual cues that scream DONE! Sometimes they look like actual star charts: boxes into which I plunk an X, marching across the page to show I’ve done whatever I’m supposed to have done. 

And, sometimes, these days, a star chart looks like an app.

I have joined the 21st century, thanks to my writing pal Ken who inspired me to download a walking app onto my phone to track my steps. I knew such an app existed but I had resisted using it until I put Ken’s encouragement together with the obvious fact that the app is simply a digital star chart. It’s exciting! I can now see how my steps build up over the day towards the suggested goal of 10,000. And, man, when that goal is reached and the bright green confetti fills my screen? That is reward enough. It’s remarkable how little it takes to motivate me!

And I need that motivation to get any exercise at all these days.

Though I am intrigued by the pickleball craze sweeping the nation, walking is my favourite form of exercise. When I was still working full time, I easily incorporated at least 45 minutes of brisk walking most days getting to and from the bus. But I no longer commute to a job and, while I still love walking, it’s more challenging to fit it into my day. Not because I am so frightfully busy, but because when I now walk it’s because it is exercise not because it is simply part of my workday routine. The time exists, but the mind is slow to use it in this way. For me, the psychology of exercising is fraught.

These days, my digital star chart sits easily in my back pocket, continually tracking my steps. The trick for me now is to take those steps, briskly and outside, so that my walking is genuine exercise not merely forward motion — it’s too easy to cheat, growing the number of steps artificially simply by walking slow loops in the house. For the app, a step is a step regardless of the heart rate it generates.

My current goal is to make 10,000 daily steps a snap. My next goal will be to increase my daily target. And thereafter to shift my mindset so that I once more love getting out there and walking briskly, even if I have nowhere to get to. Walking for the healthful sake of it. Gosh, next thing you know I’ll be searching out a pickleball venue. It’s all the rage among seniors getting fit.

Wherever I end up, I’ll get myself there. One digital-star-chart logged step at a time. Maybe a pickleball racquet will be my reward...

NOTE: Look for a bonus post on Friday, March 8th for International Women's Day. 

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Land acknowledgement: I respectfully recognize that I live on the original lands of Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.