Santa brought me an exercise bike for Christmas. It’s only mid January, but so far so good.

I LIKE working out, but I LOVE Netflix. So I made myself a deal. I picked one Netflix series that is “exercise bike only.” I can only watch it while exercising and I must pedal the whole time. This show is about 45 minutes long.

This has absolutely forced me to spend more time on the bike. I have wanted to quit after 15 or 20 minutes, but I kept going because I wanted to watch my show. Shortly after I made this deal with myself, I started reading a new book called Atomic Habits by James Clear. In this book he tells of a man in Ireland who created a computer program linked to his exercise bike. If he pedaled below a certain speed his show would actually turn off!

Brilliant!

I am a little jealous as my plan does not have that level of sophistication! But it works for me and it is better than sitting on the couch.

Even if you can’t make you own computer program, you can make yourself a deal.

What two loves can you combine to make a better habit?