Walking has been a “main thing” with me since I gave up running a number of years ago to preserve my (still original) knees.  I’ve long advocated walking at least 10,000 steps each day, and many days, I achieve that goal.  But I haven’t been as consistent as I’d like to be.

November Step Challenge

So I set my November 10,000 Steps per Day Goal, or my November Step Challenge.  The goal is simple and that is to walk a minimum of 10,000 steps per day every day during November.  The scorekeeper for this challenge is my Fitbit Versa, which I acquired in April.

I was so happy with my new watch, which replaced my former Apple Watch, that I wrote about it in late April.

The Fitbit Versa, like other sports watches, monitors lots of things, including steps, real-time pulse, calories expended, and more.  Each day I reach 10,000 steps, my watch does a little celebration on my arm and I get a little green star on the app on my phone.

The Challenge for 20 Days

Today is November 21st.  I have results for the November Step Challenge for twenty days so far.  And so far, I’ve met the daily goal every day.  Results look like this:

• Daily goal met for 20 consecutive days in November
• Average steps per day so far — 12,228 steps (for perspective, that’s a bit over six miles)
• Total steps for  20 days — 244,551

Those are the numbers.  It is easy when you have a smart watch.  So what lessons learned?

Lessons from November Step Challenge

The primary lesson to walking 10,000 steps each day is that one has to be intentional about it.  How does one walk any given amount of steps each day?

1. Active mornings.  I try to work out and loosen up by running in place for at least 1,000 steps every morning.  Combine that with taking care of business around the house and I’ve got 2,000 steps before I go to work.
2. Walk during the day.  I try to get up 3-4 times per day and walk 500 or more steps.  If I don’t do that, I might walk 1,000 steps or so at work.  That would leave me 7,000 steps of 10,000 at the end of the work day.
3. Plan a specific activity.  Every day, I try to play pickleball or plan to walk for 45 minutes or an hour.
4. Random opportunities.  Be intentional about parking on far sides of parking lots and taking advantage of every-day opportunities for steps.

Wish Me Luck

I’ve had a couple of days so far where it would have been easy to let the challenge go.  And I have at least two more days this month where it will be challenging because of travel to get my steps in.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  Let’s all try to have an active portion of our day!  It is time to be thankful for our many blessings and to spend time with family and friends.  If we have time to walk, so much the better!

See you on the other side of this holiday.

Chris