1.  A pedometer

Martin Seligman, author or Authentic Happiness and Flourish and the pioneer of the Positive Psychology movement,  explains why:

The surgeon general’s 2008 report enshrines the need for adults to do the equivalent of walking 10,000 steps per day.  (The real danger point is fewer than 5000 steps a day, and if this describes you, I want to emphasise that the findings that you are at undue risk  for death are–there is no other word for it–compelling.)   To take the equivalent of 10,000 steps a day can be done by swimming, running, dancing, weight lifting; even yoga and a host of other ways of moving vigorously.

What we need to discover now are new ways to get more people off the couch.  I’m not waiting for new techniques, however.  I found one that really works for me.  The day after Ray’s talk [Ray Fowler, one-time president and CEO of the American Psychological Association and now a 79-year-old marathoner],  not only did I buy a pedometer, but I began–for the first time in my life–to walk.  And walk.  (I gave up swimming, having swum two-thirds of a mile a day for twenty years and failing to find any technique that kept me from being bored out of my skill.) 

I formed an Internet group of  pedometrized walkers…We report to  each other every night exactly how many steps we walked that day. The day feels like a failure under 10,000.  When I  find myself before bedtime at only 9,000 steps, I go out and walk around the block before reporting in.  We reinforce one another for exceptional walking:  Margaret Roberts just reported 27,692 steps and I sent her a “Wow! ”  We give each other advice  about exercise; my left ankle hurt at two weeks, and my fellows told me, correctly, that my sneakers–with their new, expensive insoles–had become too tight.  “Buy an airdesk [www.airdesks.com],” Caroline Adams Miller advised me.  “That way you can play bridge online and walk on the treadmill at the same time.”  We have become friends, bonded by this common interest.  I believe such Internet groups are one new technique that will save lives.    

 I made a New Year’s resolution for 2009: to take 5 million steps, 13,700 per day on average. On December 30, 2009, I crossed the 5 million mark, and got “Wow!” and “What a role model!” from my Internet friends.  (from Flourish by Martin Seligman, page 219) 

 2.  A golfer’s wristband counter

The wristband counter is a simple gadget you buy from a golfing shop for a few dollars.  It straps around your wrist, making it easy for you to count instances of  your behaviour you want to draw your attention to.   Every time the target behaviour happens, you click the button  and the counter moves forward  by one.   For instance, maybe you want to encourage the self-approval habit  (a good thing to want to do!).  Every time you notice doing some little thing worth approving of, click the button.  The final score isn’t that important; the important thing is that the process of clicking draws your attention to the good behaviour, which is what you want.  Or maybe you want to stop toxic, self-critical thoughts.  Every time you catch yourself making a critical thought about yourself, click the button.  Eventually you’ll train your mind  to stop thinking like that so much.