0 How to Motivate Yourself to Walk

Ok, so you are wanting to walk more but haven't got round to doing it. It's a new habit that you want to get into but are finding it hard to motivate yourself to get out of the house to do so. Well, here are some tips that I hope you find useful.

1. Give the Car a Miss

If you are going somewhere, like for instance work, give the car a miss and walk instead. Substituting the car for walking can make a beneficial impact upon your day to day activities. Obviously if you work (or wherever you are choosing to go) 10 miles away then walking probably isn't going to be the best mode of transport for you. If however, you are a mile or so away then walking is a great substitute.
Also, consider the amount of petrol you will save by doing this.
I know that this post is meant to be about trying to get yourself to walk more but really cycling somewhere is just as good and means you can travel longer distances than walking, and get that beneficial exercise.

2. Get off of Transport Early

If you can't walk to your destination because of distance, then still use your choice of transport for a little less of your usual distance and get off/out early and walk the remainder. If you are in a car then you could park further afield and walk the remaining distance to your destination. If you are a motorcyclist then you could do the same thing and walk to your destination from a further distance away.

If you don't have your own form of transport then not to worry - you can do the same thing with public transport to an extent. If you travel by bus then you could get off a stop early so that you can give yourself more walking time. Travelling by trains may be a bit of a different story because the stations may be too far away a distance to walk without eating up a lot of time.

If the weather is rainy then that will most likely have an off-putting effect and you will want to stay on/in your choice of transport for as long as possible so you can get as little wet as possible. I'm not going to say that you should just get on with it and get drenched, no, it's understandable not wanting to get soaking wet so that you can walk a little extra distance - I wouldn't. So you will probably take weather into consideration too.

3. Wear a Pedometer

Something as simple as a pedometer can make a big difference to the amount of walking you do. I'm sure many of you know what a pedometer is but for those who don't know, it's basically a device for measuring the amount of activity you do, more specifically the amount of steps you take over a given period of time. This small device will give you a insight to the amount of walking you actually do and will be able to help motivate you in your walking. The recommended daily amount of steps that is advised is 10,000. It may sound like a lot but it isn't, and I was surprised at this when I found it out using one. I would find that I could easily get a few thousand from just walking around the house doing my daily activities. I would also keep a mental note of the highest amount of steps I had managed to reach and would often try to better that score and find ways to try and get more steps, which was of course making me walk more.

Unfortunately some pedometers are unreliable and don't count your steps as effectively as others so try to find some good feedback on the one that you are thinking of purchasing. Also, shaking the device so that it looks like you are walking more than you really are is only cheating yourself.

4. Get a Walking Partner

You can use this technique for many things that you want to stick at as it provides as a great motivator. The reason why it provides as such good motivation is because there is someone else involved and they are relying on you to go with them, just as you are relying on them to do this thing with you.
Unless you are both walking in silence, which there is nothing wrong with, I find that walking with someone else always help the time fly by. I have a friend who is in university at the moment and when he returns to his home every few months, we meet up and go for a walk/catch-up. We will often walk for 2-3 hours and chat the whole time. Because we are engaged in conversation, the time flies by surprisingly quick.

5. Join a Club

There are lots of people who love to go walking and so there is no shortage of walking clubs, well, I suppose it depends on where you live. If there is a walking club near to you then joining it will help provide as great motivation to continue. Just as I mentioned in tip #4 about having a walking partner, walking with a group of people will often help the time feel like it has passed a lot quicker. You will have people to talk to, people to encourage you, people to be compete with you, all-in-all a good place to find motivation.  

6. Remind Yourself of the Benefits

Walking has many benefits that I won't go into them here as I've just written an article about them that you can find in the link provided: 9 Benefits of Walking.

7. Set a Goal

Trying to get yourself to walk more is easier if you have a goal to set your sights on. It can be as ambitious or small as you like - it's up to you. If you don't really do much walking then I wouldn't suggest having a too ambitious of a goal as this will most likely end up putting you off in time to come, having a more realistic yet still challenging goal is best. For example, half an hour a day sounds like a good goal for someone who doesn't do much walking. It's challenging enough that you can have a sense of achievement but at the same time manageable enough that you can fit it into your daily routine (for most people at least).
If you don't have a goal to head for, that's fine, but many people like to have something they can aim for so they can have a better view of their results.