This just in:  We had a saying in the Navy…”You can expect what you can inspect.”

In other words, if you can measure something, you can evaluate it.  Failure to be able to do so means you are just going by your gut instinct.

Ask yourself, “How much exercise did I get last week?  Is that more or less than the week before?  Is that more or less than I should be getting?”

If you are not tracking your exercise, you are relying on your memory and a gut feeling.

My experience is that if I want to exercise a certain amount every day or week, I need to track it.  I write it down.  I make goals and note if I’m achieving them or not.

I’m not trying to be your motivational personal trainer.  I’m just making the point that if you really want to get something done on a regular basis, it might help to track it.  Make it measurable.

So, what am I doing?  Well, those of you that know me already know the answer.  I make a list.

I have a list that I made 62 days ago.  I know it was 62 days ago because I’m keeping track of it.

This list has 21 items.  Some of the items include posing this blog, doing pushups and pullups, doing back exercises, writing my book, meditation, eating a salad, playing my digideroo, calling a family member or friend etc.

Notice that not everything is exercise.  In fact, less than half of the list is about fitness.  There are things I want to do and I have found that tracking them greatly increases the chance of me doing that.  For example, my mom always says that I don’t stay in touch with my sisters.  I started tracking and found that in my mind, I called Mary Sue a couple of days ago.  But, in my documented list, its been about 6 weeks.  I can see this easily and take steps to fix it.

My goal is to complete at least 11 of the 21 items every day.  Because of the way I have set it up and color-coded it, I can easily see trends.  Am I improving in pullups?  What item am I regularly avoiding.

It’s day 63 and today, just like every other day since I started, I opened my list and started planning when I can do various tasks today.

This works for me.  It may not work for you but if you are feeling like you are not advancing in your life or wasting too much time daily, just remember, “If you do what you did, you will get what you got.”

Not satisfied…then change.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim