The ideal way to achieve results and have fun doing so.
Today I Discovered I Love Trekking! Well, that’s a lie, as I’ve loved trekking (again) ever since I moved to Bali in 2019. I lost my love for trekking and hiking after leaving my long-term home, Austria, in 2000. My family and I moved to Austria in 1977 when I was only 7 years old — I then spent most of my life from then on to 20 years of age on the mountains, either skiing in the winters or hiking/trekking in the summers.
Moving on.
We moved to NYC; my then-wife and I started a new adventure, a new chapter in our lives. It was going to be exciting — a blast. Sadly, that wasn’t the outcome.
My move to NYC wasn’t a success; we arrived in July 2000, and we all know what happened on September 11th, which I watched live from the top of our rental building on Amsterdam Ave and 58th Street, opposite St. Luke’s Hospital.
That was probably the most devastating thing to witness and experience, besides (maybe) the day I crashed in downhill ski racing, which ended my career.
Back to the trekking story.
Living away from the mountains usually requires travel time and a fair effort to find a decent trekking spot. All of this begs for considerable planning, which is time-consuming, annoying, and thus mostly put off or neglected altogether — especially in NYC, where most New Yorkers just want to stay put anyway!
Why am I talking about my love for trekking again today? Well, I walk every morning for my main daily exercise; sometimes I work out, which I tend to plan, but often put off as I didn’t feel up for it, or felt I was running out of time, which made me feel stressed. So back to work you go.
The fine line between walking and trekking.
I live in a hilly area in Bali, only 5 minutes from the beach, and we’ve got some steep old windy dirt roads here. I’ve taken to walking the same route most days, which is around 3 miles up and down these hills, tucked away in the forest, overlooking the beautiful bay below.
This morning it dawned on me, this isn’t a walk; this is a trek! It’s so steep you have to stop to catch your breath on occasion, and sweat is pouring off you as you’d just stepped out of the shower. And then? I got more excited — strange, I know — and started spontaneously running up to the end of the hill, which turned into a sprint.
From trekking to sprinting.
Next, I’m thinking, ok, this is weird but fun. I was going for a simple morning walk, which just switched into a trek, and now I’m sprinting. Wow, this is cool and fun. My motivation was overflowing, so I measured out 100m at the end of the hill and raced the distance 4 more times! An incredible, unexpected, and above all, NOT PLANNED workout ensued.
Done? Not yet.
Strolling down the hill towards home, I come to the last super steep incline of this tiny road. And now I’m thinking, alright chest and shoulders; it’s your turn; I dropped and pumped out 3 sets of 20 super-fast steep incline push-ups to round off my creative workout flow. Bang — that was powerful! I didn’t think I had that in me today!
Guess what? When I arrived home, I realized I hadn’t felt this energized and elevated in days, if not weeks! My mood spiked, my productivity exploded, and I got a ton more work matters done than were planned on my To-Do List! A super positive day developed from this incredible experience.
Here’s some evidence of my little creative, spontaneous workout, which I hope inspire you:
In Summary.
Planning is good, no doubt. But, giving yourself the creative freedom to let things happen without a plan is inspirational and motivating. If you set the general framework and let the rest unfold, all will be good and probably turn out for the better.
Getting up early and going out to exercise, first thing, certainly sets a positive tone for the day, your mindset, and you’ll end up creating a more productive and less restricted framework around how you structure your day, work, and life!
Thanks for reading,
Rob
