Focus
I get so pissed when people are on their phones between sets at the gym.
And yes, I do it too. I’m mad at myself, not just everyone else. Multitasking is baked into my life. I know it’s “bad,” but if I didn’t listen to a podcast while walking my dog Meryl, or watch a show while cooking dinner, I may not get to do those things at all.
“Sustainable exercise requires being interested. ”
The problem with multitasking isn’t just doing two things at once—it’s the constant switching. It wrecks focus and slows us down. Getting into a flow state is much more productive than juggling emails, podcasts, writing, and laundry all at once.
But let’s go back to the gym, because that frustration deserves a deeper look.
Sustainable exercise requires being interested. You don’t need to make fitness your biggest hobby or obsession, but to stick with it for the rest of your life, you have to care about the process, not just the results.
Sad because I’m not focused for my workout!
This means we need to learn how to enjoy it, but most importantly, we need learn about it. You don’t need to become a personal trainer or a scientist, but you need to learn enough to know why you’re resting, when to go heavier, or what result you’ll get from lighter weights at higher reps. Learning makes fitness sustainable. Here’s the issue—how are we supposed to enjoy learning if we have a perpetual siren call on our phones that will always pull us toward the screen with funny videos or time hacks?
I’m on my phone all the time when I’m at the gym. I get bored between sets. Sometimes I’m checking the workout. Other times I’m thinking about what I’m going to post on Instagram.
How am I supposed to learn, work hard, and enjoy my workout if I’m glued to Tik Tok for 80% of my time there?
Part of establishing proper motivation is doing hard things to reset our dopamine levels. The more pain we’re willing to engage in (like exercising without our phones), the stronger our motivation becomes for everything else—today, and in future workouts.
“We have to assess whether efficiency is worth the cost.”
Efficiency is my Achilles’ heel. If there’s a way for me to get my business work done throughout my workout, I will. I got all my other homework done during Spanish class in high school. Efficient, yes. Do I remember a lick of Spanish? No.
We have to assess whether efficiency is worth the cost. Sure, I sent ten emails and scrolled for fifteen minutes during rest periods, but at what cost? Am I sabotaging the rest of my day—eating poorly, procrastinating at work—because I don’t have the motivation anymore?
Am I setting myself up for burnout, the ultimate inefficiency, because I was trying to do too much at one time?
Finally, will I continue to enjoy my workouts if I’m always supersetting the weights with a dopamine drip of social media? If you want to enjoy life, with real satisfaction and sustainability, the social media multitasking has to go.
