Two Ways to Get 100%

I count the number of people ahead of me in line and calculate how long my 6 mile commute home will be based upon traffic flow at the 2 mile mark.  So it's not surprising that I track completion of my run route by percentage completion at various points.  This morning as I was doing my mental math it also occurred to me that any steps I take are 100% better than inactivity.

It helps keep me motivated to have different ways to measure success.

How do you measure progress?

Accountable

It's easy to overestimate the good things we do and underestimate the things that don't meet expectations.  Wish I could invent a general goal tracker that's as exacting as some of the exercise tools I use! 

Regardless of how active I think I am during the day, my electronic trackers, don't let me hedge.  These devices help me hold myself accountable for the activity level and distance I want to achieve.  Without them, I fear, I'd forget the days an early meeting precludes a run, and mentally substitute busyness for actual physical activity. 

Accountability is crucial for goal attainment.  We can monitor ourselves, be monitored by others and/or rely on tools.  The ideal formula includes all three.

Measure It

We all know the importance of setting goals.  Goals without measurement have very little chance for success.  Without accountability it's easy to lose track of time or overestimate achievement.  My running has given me a concrete way to see how important it is to track each outing.  My year end goal is 365 miles.  I'm 56% of the way there 64% into the year.  Knowing what it will take to reach my goal keeps me motivated.  The numbers don't care if I'm tired or it's hot or raining.  They just provide a way for me to always know what it's going to take to succeed. 

When a goal is important, we need to measure it.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

We all have our methods of dealing with the never-ending demands on our time and our ever growing number of possessions. My challenge is trying to keep up with everything once it's not visible, whether it's commitments or things.

My commitments are noted in my on-line calendar as actual appointments or as all-day events which serve as reminders of pending reports, occasions or the need to take action. And, of course, my never-ending to-do lists supplement my technology tools. Thank goodness for email folders. Different projects can be organized and the folder title provides a visual to easily find all of the relevant information.

Our stuff is easy to find when I put like items in a logical place. The difficulty is trying to locate a rarely used item that has no peer. Then the search begins. What would have been a logical place at the time the item was stored? Edgar recently asked for his grandfather's monogrammed cane. We both remembered that it had hung in the hallway of our old home with other Rice University memorabilia. The challenge was to ascertain what might have been a safe and logical location when we moved. After a search of all the readily available locations, I discovered it carefully stowed in the cabinet of the grandmother clock. Seemed logical at the time - grandfather cane/grandmother clock.

How do you deal with those things that are out of sight to keep them from being out of mind?