Be More Successful By Doing This One Thing
By admin
Dan recently read me a quote that went something along the lines of:
“Creating a life with structure, creates more freedom.”
This wasn’t the exact quote, I wish I could find it, but it’s the take away message.
People often think that living a life of structure, rules, and tracking takes the fun away. That’s far from the truth.
Here’s what I’ve learned from my very insane husband who loves scheduling, making to-do lists, creating as much structure as he possibly can and who tracks everything…
He has more freedom than ever before. He has more free time than ever before. And he’s taught me that no matter how busy you think your life is, there is always room for more (if it’s important to you).
Success is something you create yourself, and you can if you do this one little thing…
Track.
Tracking is the secret to success whether you’re trying to get stronger, drop 30 pounds, spend more time with your friends and family, or improve at work.
And that’s why it’s the central theme of today’s What The Fitness.
Listen in as Dan and I discuss how tracking helps us spend more time together, how it helps us move more, and how over the years it has helped to mold our current nutritional habits.
WHAT THE FITNESS
Don’t Have Time To Listen?
If you’re not able to listen in right now, here’s the overview… though there is no way for my to share every important detail that we discussed!
Why Track?
How are you suppose to improve and grow if you don’t know where you are and where you’re going?
Tracking is like a road map. It allows you to see you’re starting point and then helps you to move towards your destination.
Sure, without it you might end up where you want to eventually but the road will be winding, long, frustrating, and most of the time you’ll wonder if you’re going the right way or not.
Does that make sense?
On top of the path, it also helps to serve two purposes:
-Accountability
-Reinforcement
Whether you’re tracking food or workouts, there is something about logging it that helps to keep you accountable. No one wants to have to put down that they ate a triple cheese burger and fries. So you might just think twice and go with the burger salad bowl instead.
With your workouts… you don’t want to leave a workout day empty. Emptiness… not cool. Go get your workout in and log it. The feeling of accomplishment trumps the feelings of guilt.
Then there is the reinforcement side…
When you track, you see progress. Seeing progress helps you to realize you’re doing things right. You’re staying on the map. Which of course keeps you going strong until, you guessed it… you succeed.
Why All The Love For Tracking
First, this isn’t sudden. I’ve preached until I am blue in the face about the importance of tracking. However, last week has sparked many dinner conversations on the subject because we bought FitBits.
Since then, we suddenly have new motivation to get up from the desks and move more. Not just move when we workout but more throughout the day. We might be fit, but I wouldn’t call us active.
It’s funny how one chart can help you to want to be better, healthier!
Of course there are tons of tracking devices now, and apparently even Apple is getting in on the fun:
There is not a doubt in my mind that Dan will switch out when this baby comes around.
And from there it was decided we needed a tracking refresher course.
What To Track?
There’s tons of things to track. But in the podcast, we specifically talked about:
– Workouts
– Nutrition
– Time
Workouts:
Grab a notebook, an app or join in with FitWomensWeekly (where you get tracking sheets provided) and keep track of your workouts! How you felt, how you preformed, etc.
Track the variables that are important for you and your goals.
For example, I filmed a “Death By Burpee” workout this past weekend. It was a workout I had tested out the week before so it was nice to have past scores accessible to me. As I was working out (you’ll see on camera) I was actually going back and checking to see how I was comparing.
That’s how you get stronger, faster, better. By working to improve. But how can you if you don’t know where you’re at now?
Nutrition:
Same goes for eating, if you want to lose weight or if you’ve been trying without success then check in with some tracking.
Some things to look for:
- What meals are/aren’t you eating?
- What times are you eating?
- Are you unconsciously snacking at 3pm out of boredom?
- Are your portion sizes way out of whack?
Find out and then make the tweaks necessary.
For help, use something an app. Here’s a post I did on how to use MyFitnessPal.
Time:
Are you one of those people always complaining about time? There is never enough of it.
I know I am!
But I also know that we have the ability to manipulate time as needed. No, we can’t add more hours to the day but we do have the power to prioritize and move things around to make what you want to happen, happen.
It starts with tracking time.
Dan just started tracking his ENTIRE day. How long is he on his computer? In the car? Reading? When you find out how much you’re doing and where, you most likely will find more free time!
That’s where more freedom is created.
If you’re interested in tracking with us (he’s challenged me to try it too) you can use the app:
Now I challenge you… pick one thing that you’re not currently tracking and track! It could be something as small as how many glasses of water you drink (if you need to drink more) or how much time you spend doing email (if like me, you spend far too much time).
Q: Are You A Tracker? What do you track?