Things I have done to complete all three activity rings on my Apple Watch:
- paced quickly back and forth in the living room
- gone for a spontaneous six block walk
- walk to the grocery store to buy several non-essential items
- jumping jacks without the jumping
- running on the spot (this can actually get your heart rate up pretty quickly, just like running where you actually move forward)
- hung my arm down at my side (to get a Stand goal during a meeting. It’s a cheat but it totally works and beats suddenly standing up in a meeting and staying like that for a minute while everyone stares at you)
- gotten up to use the washroom (also for the Stand goal; this is one of those win-win situations, killing two birds and all that)
- reduced the Move goal for the day (when I’ve been sick. Since getting the watch this has worked every time I’ve fallen ill except one day when I was too weak and just laid like a lump and broke my streak)
The reason I’ve done all the above is to maintain a streak, because streaks create a positive feedback loop and you don’t want to break them. Breaking them is where the donut-eating starts. And Apple doesn’t allow for mulligans, so you can’t take a day off due to illness/accident/utter laziness.
It’s worked pretty well so far. I did four of these just today (I am unwell). I prefer hitting the goals all legit-like, though, because it means I’m healthy and stuff.
