Peace of Mind Organizing

The power of incremental progress

4 June 2026

I just achieved a big fitness goal and I’m thrilled. Back in October 2025 I set a goal of being able to walk from the ground floor of my high-rise apartment building up to my 35th floor apartment. I thought of it as 35 floors, though I realized late in the game that it’s actually 34 to my apartment. So I changed the goal to being able to walk from the first floor to the 36th. (That’s a photo of my building on the left. In case you’re curious, there are 18 stairs per flight for most of the flights. A few have 20 stairs.)

Why that crazy goal?

• The initial inclination was a practical consideration. I wanted to feel comfortable walking to my apartment if the elevator went out. The building has three elevators but there have been times when we were down to one (crowded) elevator. Knowing I can walk up if I need to is liberating.

• I wanted a fitness goal that is achievable with measurable progress toward success.

• I wanted it to be as easy as possible. I didn’t want to have to leave the building to train and I didn’t want to spend a lot of time doing it.

I’m proud to say that on Tuesday, May 27, I walked from the first floor to the 36th floor!

I started with 15 flights. Initially I walked down 15 flights to the 20th floor and then back up to 35. But once I got to about 19 flights, I noticed my quads were hurting from walking downstairs. So I curtailed walking down and focused on walking up.

In January, I was at 19 flights and got serious about a schedule. With the help of my AI assistant, I created a schedule that had me walking the stairs twice a week, adding one floor per week. I was able to add more flights before resting. By the time I got to 35 floors, I was down to two rest stops per workout.

I made a little chart in my Bullet Journal to keep track of my progress. I noted the number of flights, the number of rests, my average heart rate and my maximum beats per minute. I also noted the time of day (and discovered that the earlier I walked the stairs, the easier for it was for me) and how long the workout took.

Looking at the data, my heart rate patterns remained steady as I added floors. And of course, the time I spent went up but the average time per floor went down, partly because I was taking fewer rest stops. It took me 11 minutes, 15 seconds to walk 35 floors earlier this week.

It blows my mind that I can do this. I’m a a 63-year-old dyed-in-the-wool couch potato. I am working out with a great trainer weekly, which has made a huge difference in my fitness. But I think the key to my success with the stairs challenge is the incremental progress.

By adding just one floor per week over the course of seven months, I was able to achieve my goal of walking up 35 flights of stairs without dread.

Now that I have achieved my initial goal, my plan is to keep walking the stairs twice a week with a new goal: I want to walk from 1 to 36 without stopping. Of course, my first interim goal is to do it with just one stop. Then I’ll make my stopping point a higher floor (perhaps one higher per week) until I can walk to 36 without a rest. This week, I walked from 1 to 15 without stopping for a rest. (Back in March, I was only walking six floors until I had to rest and I was taking four stops on a 24-floor trip.)

For me this workout is a complete package that helps strengthen my legs and heart and has a practical application. I can do it without leaving home, without seeing others (except in the elevator down) and it’s less than 15 minutes out of my day.

When it comes to exercise goals (or really any goals), making the activity as enjoyable as possible and making slow, steady progress really sets you up for success. I’d like to apply this to many things in my life!

Tagged with: exercise, goals

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