I’ve read too much about exercise. As a result, I can be very indecisive when it comes to choosing among aerobics, strength training, yoga, and walking. I can’t possibly follow all the recommendations and so pretty much any exercise I do feels inadequate. It is very demotivating.

However, I’ve found a solution! And not only does it work for exercise, it echoes advice I give clients about making changes and setting goals. 

So let me tell you first how my solution applies to exercise.

If you are on Facebook, you may have seen the 30-day exercise challenges that float around. If not, all you need to know is that someone posts a 30-day exercise regimen with gradually increasing repetitions of one to four exercises. For example, a pushup challenge might start with 1 pushup on Day 1 and gradually build to a hefty number on Day 30. People “sign up” to enlist peer support and pressure.

After trying a couple of these, I made my own regimen. I picked a combination of cardio and strength exercises and wrote out a 30-day progression. I stuck with the general pattern of 3 days on followed by one day of rest, which I can use for rest, yoga, walking, or riding my unicycle.

Why does this work for me?

1. I am not committing to a long term plan that I might hate or that might be too hard or too easy!
2. I get a break from agonizing about the best way to exercise for 30 whole days!
3. I don’t have to worry about whether the regimen is physiologically perfect because I will be changing it soon.
4. I have very specific day-to-day goals to ensure I stay on track and make progress.
5. I manage missed days due to travel and client engagements by repeating a day or two until I’m back in the groove. This “rule” lets me be both flexible and successful.
6. I can see progress! And I find that very motivating.

So how does this apply to goal setting and workplace changes?

The basic concept is to establish a trial period, whenever you can, for any change in procedure or goals. At the end of the trial, you look at what worked and what didn’t, and then decide whether to make your changes permanent or try something else.

Trials are much less threatening than “permanent” change for all the same reasons my 30-day exercise regimen is easier to commit to than a long term deal. Trials are like games or interesting experiments. And sometimes they offer really exciting benefits.

When you plan your trial, involve your employees. If they can help choose the length of the trial, the “exercises,” and the targets, you’d be surprised by how eager they are to embrace the challenge. Furthermore, if they make these decisions as a team, they will work as a team. You’ll get the combined benefits of peer pressure and the desire to contribute to the group effort.

And when the team starts making progress, don’t be surprised if their enthusiasm leads them to exceed the targets. Progress is very motivating!

At the end of the trial, ask for honest feedback. If all went reasonably well, your employees will be ready to endorse the trial method as the new method.

I bet they will also be ready to design the next experiment!