Why we should consistently put a 'starting line' on the calendar. And follow these 3 tips ...
A future accountability date — trip, competition, performance, deadline — can keep our health intentions intact when life presents obstacles. Which, hello, it always will.
Buy-in
I penned the first words to this newsletter last winter while squatting on the cold, wet concrete floor of the elevated Metro-North commuter platform in my small town. My fingers were so cold, I misspelled every other word.
The train was 25 min late, hence my meeting schedule was blown up. My spouse had been sick for three days, and I’d been sleeping (poorly) in our guest bedroom trying to avoid the virus.
Also, our chest freezer had quit — again — which meant a chunk of the morning spent tossing out expensive meat and draining bloody liquid from the freezer’s cavity.
The event had left me 20 minutes to work out. I did NOT want to spend those 20 minutes working out. I wanted to crawl back into bed, clear my calendar for the day, drink chicken broth and mindlessly watch Netflix.
But I had a starting line in one month. And so I dragged my feeling-sorry-for-itself-you-know-what onto the bike and got it done.
Here’s why “starting lines” matter — and how to create a good one.
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First, a starting line for your health goals is metaphorical.
Sure, it could be an athletic event. But it also can be anything in the future that matters to you where you need to maintain physical and/or cognitive resilience to participate and yield a positive outcome.
A trip where you need to walk. A performance where you must memorize words or notes. An executive education program where you get graded. A new boat or car with technology systems requiring mastery. A physical fitness assessment. Taking a volunteer position where you stand and move — a museum docent, for example.
A public starting line impacts us very differently from privately thinking, “I should exercise more or eat healthier.” The commitment creates specificity, visibility and consequences.
How to design a starting line that works
We intuitively know goals are motivational. And research supports this.
A major 2017 systematic review and meta-analysis examined 141 papers, 384 measurable comparisons and more than 16,500 participants. Goal setting consistently produced a statistically significant improvement in behavior. 1
Notably, the effects were generally stronger when goals were: Challenging but attainable; made public; shared by a group; set or monitored with some form of external accountability.
To that end, a good “starting line” possesses three distinct qualities:
It happens on a real date.
It requires you to show up with some capacity, skill or finished work and push your limits.
Someone besides you will notice whether you are ready and can give you feedback.
Writing down a goal probably isn’t enough. The goal works better when it is embedded in a system. The best starting lines are generally combined with planning, progress tracking and feedback.
For example, I wrote this series of posts about “How to Make Exercise Non-Negotiable" where I outline the protocols that have kept me consistent.
A short formula to design your starting line might look like this:
Date: When exactly will it happen?
Meaning: Why does this matter to you personally?
Witness: Who will know whether you showed up?
Process: What actions will you repeat each week beforehand to prepare for the starting line.
Why we need a succession of starting lines
The problem with a starting line is what happens after you cross the finish line?
A 2023 review examined 39 studies of mass-participation sporting events. The research suggested that these events can motivate people to exercise while preparing. However, activity often declined during the months after the event, particularly when participants had no next structure in place. 2
The answer: put another starting line on the calendar — and do it before you cross your original finish line.
In 2016, I decided I wanted to complete a single Spartan obstacle course race and not die. It took me almost 18 months to get to the starting line.
When I crossed the finish line, I was glad the race was over — because I could barely walk — but I didn’t want the experience and the transformation that I’d gone through physically and mentally to end.
Lying in bed that afternoon popping Advil with my first finisher medal beside me, I signed up for another race.
That was eight years ago.
Cash-out
Last month, I crossed my 70th starting line. They’ve brought me to special spots in my country I’d might never have visited otherwise — Granbury, Texas; Garrettsville, Ohio; Glen Jean, West Va. — and to world championships in places such as Abu Dhabi and Sparta, Greece. This year I’m heading to a starting line in Hvar, Croatia.
The lure of the next “starting line” and the knowledge that showing up unprepared will mean less joy and more discomfort is what makes me “get on the stick” and exercise when I don’t feel like it (or a winter day throws me curveballs), avoid a second glass of wine or pass up those salt-and-vinegar potato chips at work that I really love.
In summary, a solid starting line will be:
Challenging, not impossible. Improbable goals can discourage effort.
Based on changed behavior or capacity to execute, not merely appearance or a number on the scale.
Close enough to feel real, with intermediate milestones along the way.
Followed by another chapter. Decide before the event what comes next.
As always, find something you love. Dig in. Stick with it when things get hard. And find your next starting line.
Wendy
About me:
I’m Gwendolyn Bounds — an author, speaker and journalist. Currently, I work at The Wall Street Journal Leadership Institute as the Senior Vice President & Head of Content. My latest book is “Not Too Late: Break the Cycle of Sameness and Reimagine Your Limits.”
Having a succession of starting lines is bigger than we realize. Deciding what's next keeps the momentum going, and this is a huge part of being able to maintain consistency. It also makes the rest sweeter, as you know the next round is coming soon. One of the biggest reasons people aren't successful with exercise is that they don't have a plan. When they follow a plan, the next workout is decided—and usually there's some accountability that comes with it too.
I have my starting line for Ultratrax in September but have been working with Jess for a month now. Going out to run in the heat is easier when you see results :)