Where Is The Bar?

I am not one for the latest in tech gadgets. In the early part of the year, I was looking for a good way to track my heart rate when I exercise. I had an old polar heart monitor that I found. After replacing the battery in the monitor and the watch and it still didn’t work, I decided I needed to purchase something to get the job done. I asked a friend of mine who does a lot of distance running what I should get and he gave me a recommendation of a particular brand he likes. After scrolling through their website viewing all of the options, I chose a middle of the road smart watch that had what I was looking for plus other features that I didn’t think I really cared about. For the past 6 months I have been keeping an eye on not only my heart rate during exercise, but also my steps, stairs, VO2 max, weight, hydration, and sleep. For those of you that have been using these devices for years, I am sure this is all old hat for you.

My oldest son and I went for a day hike the other day, and my watch kept alerting me that I hit my goal for the day with flights of stairs. Every 10 flights of stairs the watch buzzes me to let me know how many times I have achieved my goal for the day. As we were hiking, I was laughing about it because it made me realize that on a normal work day, I get little to no elevation change, nor do I get my heart rate up for any extended period of time. This made me laugh a bit because I consult with people every day at work and ask them about what they are doing for exercise. A very common response is that they get plenty of exercise at work. Their job may be physical, or they may be on their feet a lot, but just because someone is tired at the end of an 8–10-hour work shift, it doesn’t mean they are improving their level of health and fitness.

One of the questions I like to ask prospective new practice members is to rate themselves with their level of dedication and commitment to improving their health and wellness. I find the answer to this question does not always match their actions. I have seen people who rate their level at a 10, yet they are only putting in the effort of about 7/10. Some even lower yet. I have also seen people that graded themselves at an 8/10 and end up putting in 100% effort, but this is rarer. Most times people rate their intentions much higher than their actual actions. Why do we do this? Why do our intentions not always meet up with our actions?

I would have to say from experience there are a couple of issues at play. The first being that there is no real plan in place. The first step toward making intentions and reality meet is to have a plan that if followed will produce the intended outcome. The next critical step is faith or belief in the plan. If you have no confidence that the plan will work, the likelihood of being dedicated to it for very long is pretty low. Not only confidence in the plan, but also confidence in one’s self is also extremely important.

One of the reasons that I picked up a smart watch was because I wanted to be able to measure my results. Statistics don’t lie, especially if you understand what they mean. I wanted to make my plans based on facts and not on how I feel. We can feel like we are getting enough exercise, sleep or water, but what are the actual numbers? Statistics that are monitored have a tendency to improve. Ignoring or pretending is a really poor strategy. If you want to see improvement in an area of your life start tracking it regularly and watch what happens.

The next critical piece to this puzzle is a winner’s attitude. Not all plans are perfect from the outset. If the plan is flawed, do you quit, or do you make adjustments to the plan and keep moving forward? Winners are always fine tuning their routines in order to get to the best outcomes. They realize that hardships and set-backs can happen, and need to be leveraged into learning opportunities, instead of excuses to give up. Instead of lowering the bar to make themselves feel better, they make new plans to get back on track, so the bar can once again be cleared and raised to a higher level. Winners have a “quitting is not an option” attitude. The attitude of “whatever it takes to succeed” is the one that is rewarded with the best outcomes. Where are you setting the bar?

Lombardi Chiropractic Family Health Center
1116 Upper Lenox Ave.
www.lombardichiropractic.com
315-363-4114

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