The No Loss Gain

“I lost 64 pounds and have nothing to show for it” was my first thought while reading my annual workout summary for 2014. The report showed I burned 224,000 calories, or 64 pounds, over 238 hours on the road, floor, and pool. My 600 workouts translated into 45 minutes a day, 5 days a week. Yet, I weighed the exact weight on New Year’s Day 2015 that I did New Year’s Day 2014. I know because I measured it every day in 2014.

The second thought was more important. I maintained and increased my positive outlook on life, remained mentally and physically ahead of my age, and provided a role model for my son, grandson, and some clients. So even though I gained 64 pounds, I think I feel great about the results. I was under my target weight for 95% of the year and only a great New Year’s Eve pot luck party did me in!

The message is simple: What gets inspected gets respected. Having goals and objectives are great. Combining goals with a consistent, frequent feedback system allows for frequent adjustments to your game plan. Brian Tracy wrote a great book called Flight Plan about that concept. Commercial flights are off their flight plan 99% of the flight, yet over 95% arrive within 5% of ETA. Frequent, small adjustments are the key.

Look at your goals and make sure you break them down into daily and weekly activities that are necessary to stay on track. Then record your daily actuals each week and compare each weekend. The habit you develop will be more valuable than the goal itself. If you want to supersize your goal attainment, add an accountability partner to the review mix.

My flight plan this year will be to lose the 64 pounds again and only gain 54. That’s a quarter pound per week or less than an ounce a workout. Piece of cake! On second thought…)!

#continuousimprovement #FlightPlan #Goals