As a massive procrastinator, I absolutely love the concept of StepBet because it pushes me out the door. Before I left the city life, I walked to work daily because I had a purpose: to get to work while avoiding public transit. I’m not a morning person and much prefer to delay human interaction as long as possible.

Now that I work from home, I severely lack the motivation to walk (I do better when I have a specific purpose). My dogs aren’t even helpful in that department: their idea of a walk is stopping to sniff or pee every minute. Needless to say, we don’t get very far.

When StepBet first came out, I participated in a few rounds and found it extremely motivating. I’m so grateful that this time I get to be your host.

Here are some beginner tips:

• Check your battery power before bed. To prevent your step tracker from running out of juice in the middle of the day, check your battery status before bed each night. Some trackers can be set up to email you when the battery is getting low.
  
• Sync Up Daily. At the end of each day, double check that your step tracker is syncing with StepBet. I use a Fitbit so the first thing I do is check that it’s syncing with my FitBit app then check that it’s syncing with StepBet.
  
• Don’t Leave Your Tracker Behind. Don’t miss out on steps by leaving your tracker behind. Be especially mindful if you are not using a wearable tracker.
  
• Don’t switch trackers. Once you sign up for a game, plan to continue using the same kind of tracker throughout. StepBet will not allow you to switch the type of tracking device once the game has started. If for example you lose your FitBit, you will need to replace it with another FitBit that connects to the same FitBit account you’ve been using. I have a backup FitBit incase that happens. You wouldn’t be able to, for example, switch to a Garmin after losing your FitBit.

From the StepBet website: “It is your responsibility to keep your tracker on you, charged, and in good condition during the game. We cannot reverse disqualifications that result from your tracker being lost, out of battery, or broken.“

Source: https://waybetter.com/stepbet/faq

• Take advantage of warm-up week. Most 6 week games start with a warm-up week. This is the week to figure things out and make mistakes. If you mess up during warm-up week you don’t have to worry about being disqualified.
  
• Take note of your assigned step-goals. Typically, you will be assigned 4 x Active day steps and 2 x Power day steps. Plan accordingly. If you know you won’t have much time on Wednesday to get in extra steps plan for a power day on Thursday for example.
  
• Don’t procrastinate power days. Take it from me, you don’t want to be walking circles in your living room at 11:50 pm to get in the last of your power day steps in.
  
• Some ideas to get extra steps in your everyday life. Park the car further away, put away laundry one article of clothing at a time, dance or walk in place during TV commercials, do a lap around the office every hour. Please comment with your tips, lets help each other!

Tater Trot with Potato Wisdom starts Monday July 8th. Late comers are welcome to join anytime during the first week, as it’s a warm-up week. If you are new to StepBet I recommend joining no later than Thursday July 11th, to give yourself time to get acclimated to StepBet. Join by downloading the StepBet app, enter the game code “potatowisdom” or search “potato”. I’m easy to find!