You don’t realize how many ways there are to count to 50 until you’ve done it a thousand times. From doing so for my daily push-ups, I’ve learned that you can focus on the minimum, the repetition, or the last 10, and it can all add a different flavor to your workout, depending on what you need that day.
Today I found one more of those flavors: 5 times 10 can be less than 1 times 50. If I think about my total goal of 50 for the day as I begin, I’ll feel far away until I’m at about 30 reps. And then the reps get hard, making me feel just as far away even though I’m getting close to succeeding!
To combat this, eventually, I started…
You don’t realize how many ways there are to count to 50 until you’ve done it a thousand times. From doing so for my daily push-ups, I’ve learned that you can focus on the minimum, the repetition, or the last 10, and it can all add a different flavor to your workout, depending on what you need that day.
Today I found one more of those flavors: 5 times 10 can be less than 1 times 50. If I think about my total goal of 50 for the day as I begin, I’ll feel far away until I’m at about 30 reps. And then the reps get hard, making me feel just as far away even though I’m getting close to succeeding!
To combat this, eventually, I started counting again from 1 to 10 once I hit 30. And then again at 40. This made the last two batches feel more manageable. After all, I only have to get to 10! While I’ve already done so on occasion, today, I realized this extends all the way down to zero. Instead of schlepping myself to 30 only to change how I count there, why don’t I go in sets of 10 to begin with?
As it turns out, this works very well. Now, rather than climb a 50 push-ups tall mountain, all I have to do is deliver 5 little packets of 10 push-ups each. Doing 5 times 10 feels much less than 1 times 50—even though the result is the same. It’s almost as if I’m counting back down to zero from 5 instead of up to 50. “Two more packets to deliver! Now one! Made it!”
Some believe math is beautiful because it never lies. I think it’s the most amazing when it does. Numbers are a lens through which we can view the world, and, like all other lenses, this one’s adjustable. Wherever it helps without hurting others, make the math work for you.
Nik
Niklas Göke writes for dreamers, doers, and unbroken optimists. A self-taught writer with more than a decade of experience, Nik has published over 2,000 articles. His work has attracted tens of millions of readers and been featured in places like Business Insider, CNBC, Lifehacker, and many others. Nik has self-published 2 books thus far, most recently 2-Minute Pep Talks. Outside of his day job and daily blog, Nik loves reading, video games, and pizza, which he eats plenty a slice of in Munich, Germany, where he resides.