The Comparison Trap
Two weeks ago, the company I work for announced a company wide Wellness Program, that included a Step Challenge, from information fed to the site from our wearables. I was curious, so I joined the day it opened to the company, and quit 3 days later.
Let me stop here, and give you a brief story on my step counting. I stopped actively trying to reach my steps goal of 10K stesp when my Fitbit fell apart, in 2017.
My Forerunner still counts my steps, but I never had the same amount as I did on the Fitbit. On average, I hit 6,000 steps on non running days. It takes another 30 minute walk for me to get to 10K steps. But on running days, I easily hit 10-15K steps.
Until I went crazy comparing myself with an overachiever.
The day that the challenge started, I logged on just to see what the site was like and saw that a person had already logged on and uploaded their walking data and had 5,000 steps by 10:00 am. No big deal, a runner who wears a step counting device knows that 5K steps are the result of a 2-3 mile run.
Then by 3:00 pm, this person had 10,000 steps!! Very possible... if our jobs didn't require us to be sitting at our desk for 65% of the time!!
That night, I went home and made extra efforts to at least complete my 10,000 steps... like I went to take out the trash and recycles in three trips! I walked around my place non stop all afternoon... I was making myself crazy.
Did I stop the next day, because I realized I was being irrational? No. When I checked the steps leaderboard, that man with had 17, 000 steps by the end of Wednesday, and by 10:00 am, he already had 8 thousand for that Thursday morning.
That Thursday afternoon I ran an extra mile, and then I walked laps around my son's baseball practice, so that at the end of the day I was at 18, 000 steps. When I checked the app for the company wide step challenge, this man was at 27,000 steps! I felt so defeated!
By Friday morning, I knew that I was spiraling out of control, when I started setting goals on how long I would run the afternoon after work to beat this man's steps... I only did a short run, and was so tired from the days work, that I barely completed 10,000 steps.
Then early Saturday morning, I woke up tired and cranky. That was the morning the Hershey 10K was supposed to happen. We still ran, and in the back of my mind, I kept thinking "What else can I do to get more steps today?" Then, after a 6.2 mile run no on the Appalachian trail, I realized that I needed to stop comparing myself to somebody I don't know. That it was driving me crazy for no reason, and that at the end of the day, I didn't matter how many steps I had.
I did log in a few more times the following week to check step counts, but I never uploaded my own step count. I am a little competitive, but my own mental peace is more important than a company wide step challenge.
Let me stop here, and give you a brief story on my step counting. I stopped actively trying to reach my steps goal of 10K stesp when my Fitbit fell apart, in 2017.
My Forerunner still counts my steps, but I never had the same amount as I did on the Fitbit. On average, I hit 6,000 steps on non running days. It takes another 30 minute walk for me to get to 10K steps. But on running days, I easily hit 10-15K steps.
Until I went crazy comparing myself with an overachiever.
The day that the challenge started, I logged on just to see what the site was like and saw that a person had already logged on and uploaded their walking data and had 5,000 steps by 10:00 am. No big deal, a runner who wears a step counting device knows that 5K steps are the result of a 2-3 mile run.
Then by 3:00 pm, this person had 10,000 steps!! Very possible... if our jobs didn't require us to be sitting at our desk for 65% of the time!!
That night, I went home and made extra efforts to at least complete my 10,000 steps... like I went to take out the trash and recycles in three trips! I walked around my place non stop all afternoon... I was making myself crazy.
Did I stop the next day, because I realized I was being irrational? No. When I checked the steps leaderboard, that man with had 17, 000 steps by the end of Wednesday, and by 10:00 am, he already had 8 thousand for that Thursday morning.
That Thursday afternoon I ran an extra mile, and then I walked laps around my son's baseball practice, so that at the end of the day I was at 18, 000 steps. When I checked the app for the company wide step challenge, this man was at 27,000 steps! I felt so defeated!
By Friday morning, I knew that I was spiraling out of control, when I started setting goals on how long I would run the afternoon after work to beat this man's steps... I only did a short run, and was so tired from the days work, that I barely completed 10,000 steps.
Then early Saturday morning, I woke up tired and cranky. That was the morning the Hershey 10K was supposed to happen. We still ran, and in the back of my mind, I kept thinking "What else can I do to get more steps today?" Then, after a 6.2 mile run no on the Appalachian trail, I realized that I needed to stop comparing myself to somebody I don't know. That it was driving me crazy for no reason, and that at the end of the day, I didn't matter how many steps I had.
I did log in a few more times the following week to check step counts, but I never uploaded my own step count. I am a little competitive, but my own mental peace is more important than a company wide step challenge.
Can't you still participate in the challenge even though you are not the leader? I'm sure companies do this so people can compete with themselves and not always each other but seeing how many steps others are getting could be motivating some people and it seems like it is working! Look how many more steps you got because of him!
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I may question this man's integrity. How is he getting so many steps if he sits in an office all day long? Does he run 10 miles before work each day??? You should ask him..haha.
I am still doing my own thing, but not obsessively thinking about how I am going to beat this man at who has more steps... that was the part that was making me feel anxious and crazy.
DeleteI did question how he was doing 27K steps on a workday... but I don't know anything about him... other than he has a desk job.
Oh wow! I wonder if it was the gym teacher or security guard or someone like that. How else could he get so many steps during the work day?!
ReplyDeleteI don't know exactly what he did, but I know our company has mostly desk jobs. 27K steps is a half marathon and a long long walk!!
DeleteYeah, I agree, it sounds crazy how many steps he's getting during the day unless he had a really active job! But yeah, I enjoyed step challenges but had to be ok with not being first. I would push myself to do a little better to try to beat someone who was just a little bit ahead of me but that was it.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to push one self to do better, so I see that benefit on step challenges. I am just the weird one who went overboard crazy with it... I didn't realized I was competitive.
DeleteStep challenges are fun, but yeah, you can get totally sucked into it... and I don't know what this overachiever does, but unless you're taking huge amounts of time out of every day to walk/run, it's just not possible to keep up when you have an office job. I am glad you chose your mental health over a 'stupid'(sorry) challenge ;)
ReplyDeleteYou are right, it is stupid! It is to easy to get caught up in the competition and the comparison and feeling like what one does is not enough!! But Yes, I had to choose my mental health over my steps.
DeleteI'm glad you let go of the contest! If it is going to drive you crazy and cause you to make three trips with the trash, it's not worth it!
ReplyDeleteI am amazed he had 27,000 steps! That's like 17 miles or something! I ran 6 miles this morning and I'm a freaking teacher (meaning I'm on my feet all day!) and I only have 16,000 steps so far and I only have 2 hours of work left! (Once work is over, I will walk less than a mile the rest of the day. I am lazy when I'm at my house!)
I don't try to reach the step goal my Garmin has for me every day. If it's a running day, then I reach the goal. If it is a lifting day, then I most likely don't. But it all evens out. Like on Sunday, I ran 16 miles on the trail so I had a TON of steps. Then the next day was a lifting day so I didn't have many at all.
I know!! I was going crazy for no reason, trying beat a random person I don't even know!!
DeleteI don't know where he got 27,000 steps, according to my calculations, that's well over a half marathon... and in a work day? I don't know.... I'm over trying to figure it out.
Yes, I agree! it evens out at the end of the week, it's not all about the steps, and it's not like I have goals to lose weight.