accountability & resolutions

Work on yourself first, take responsibility for your own progress. ~I Ching

planning and purpose.  those are the 2 things that keep you on the path.  any path, really.  it is super easy to start something - as i often do - but not so easy to continue on. this time of year, especially, is filled with wish lists, and resolutions, and plans for a better "next" year.  so what's the key to sticking to the plan?

i think for everyone that is different.  but consistency is a skill - just like any other.  you have to learn it.  focus on it - and find a way to measure it.  2017 was the first time IN MY LIFE that i successfully tracked an entire year of workouts.  and boy, did it make a difference.

Do it again and again. Consistency makes the rain drops to create holes in the rock. Whatever is difficult can be done easily with regular attendance, attention and action. - Israelmore Ayivo

it started out as a challenge.  at the end of last year, one of the guys i work out with told me how many times he worked out in 2016.  told me about his crazy spreadsheet and how he tracked literally everything - from when he exercised to how he felt, when he was injured, and when he changed his eating patterns.  really super detailed stuff.  and i thought he was crazy. until he said "how about you?".  i had no idea.  i mean, i could take an educated guess.  but it was just a guess - based on nothing more than what i thought. which wasn't the right answer, for me.  because i'm competitive.  which was as good a reason as any to decide to start actually tracking it.

and honestly, i've started tracking a lot of things over the years.  food & workouts mostly.  i've used a paper calendar to get organized at the beginning of pretty much every year, forever.  but i ALWAYS stop. i get lazy.  or forget. and then its just no longer a priority.   so what changed this time?

i committed to a system.  its not a very good system.  but it worked.  i take pics of the board at the studio anyway - just so i have a record, for future planning purposes.  that makes it easy for me to look back at the same week last year and see what we were doing.  so i decided that every Monday, i would just circle the days of the week prior i worked out - and maybe make a note about that workout.  i didnt figure the notes would last long, but seriously, how hard could it be to circle a number on a calendar??  so, that's what i did.  then, at the end of the month, i counted how many days i circled - VERY advanced stuff, clearly.

Simplify, then add lightness. ~Colin Chapman

but what i discovered was this:  those circles became that internal push that i needed on days when i didnt want to work out.  i not only didnt want to lose to boyd (which is ridiculous - seeing as how it is NOT a competition in any way shape or form - and exists only in my mind), i found Monday morning circle time SATISFYING. in a totally strange way.  because it was weekly, tangible recognition of time INVESTED in getting better.

and get better, i did.  i upped all of my lifts. some pretty substantially.  i managed to conquer an achilles issue without sliding backwards - even without running at all for close for 4 months.  which i attribute 100% to not skipping the workouts. i modified the shit out of them, but i still showed up.  so i could circle my number.  something as simple, and ridiculous at that, kept me on track.  ALL YEAR.  its insane.

Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights. ~Pauline R. Kezer

i guess the lesson is to find what works for you.  individually.  and to keep searching until you do find it.  its taken the better part of 20 years in the fitness industry for me to find a consistency key.  that is tangible.  and EASY.  easy is probably the only reason it worked for me.  i cant count macros, or follow a lifting blueprint.  i wont record stats or numbers on any kind of a regular basis.  but i will make a circle.  and if you string all of those circles together - all 292 of them so far, you get a really cool connection from where i started to where i am now. 

everybody views and handles fitness differently.  progress is measured in countless ways. but fitness, like most everything else in life, is usually just a matter of SHOWING UP.  consistency, over time, equals success. 

my challenge for all of my SiB peeps in 2018 - set your goal.  put it on the wall.  figure out how you want to chase it.  and then TRACK how you are getting there.  put in the whole year.   you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.

No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune. ~Plutarch