run sneaker smoothie
Resolve to turn your sweat equity and healthy habits into cash donations for Delaware charities this year by signing up for Motivate the First State.

Resolve to turn your sweat equity and healthy habits into cash donations for Delaware charities this year by signing up for Motivate the First State. You can link your fitness tracker to your account, or select from a wide array of pre-set activities.

motivate the first state

According to Statistic Brain, the top resolution made for 2017 was getting healthy: to lose weight or eat better. A fantastic goal to be sure! I wish 100% of people committed to that idea. We can all aspire to be better.

Unfortunately, only about 9% of people who make yearly resolutions actually feel like they achieved them by year’s end. More than a quarter of resolutioners have fallen off the wagon and given up after the first week. Almost half have thrown in the towel by the end of January.

There are all kinds of tips and tricks to keep you motivated to stick with fitness goals and a healthy lifestyle—remember your why, write it on your calendar, pair up with an accountability buddy, set short term and long term goals, give yourself rewards—but I particularly love this new one from Motivate the First State: meeting your daily activity goals converts into cash for local charities.

Together we can log one million miles and make each step, and each pedal stroke, count for Delaware charities that help our kids, our families and our citizens with special needs.

-Governor Markell

After all, even though a healthy lifestyle directly benefits YOU, it can be hard to stick with it when life, work schedules and cheesesteaks get in the way. It’s a little harder when skipping that workout means a little less support for the charity you’ve chosen to also benefit from your efforts:

  • Boys & Girls Club
  • FCA
  • Jewish Community Center
  • Special Olympics
  • Urban Promise
  • YMCA
  • Young Life

In addition to logging miles or workouts, there are a ton of other preset daily healthy habits you can contribute to the cause, like

  • drinking five glasses of water
  • getting a physical or dental checkup
  • playing a musical instrument
  • having a good laugh
  • visiting your parents
  • performing a random act of kindness
  • or my personal favorite, sticking it to the man.

You can make your profile and activities public or private, and there is an app so you can do all your logging from your smartphone. Data can also be uploaded through a connected Fitbit or Garmin.

Sign up for Motivate the First State here. I recommend NOT using a Comcast email address because it looks like my overzealous spam filter kept the confirmation from ever hitting my inbox OR spam folder (if you know how to make Comcast dial that down, I welcome your input!).

Simply by signing up, I raised $1.67 for the Boys & Girls Club. It looks like each habit logged adds on a penny or two, but you can log a bunch at a time. Taking a second to update each day could mean an easy $100 for your favorite charity by year’s end, and a healthier, happier you.