Thursday, September 4, 2008

The power of journaling

I've kept a continuous online public training journal for almost four years now, loaded with day-by-day details of my fitness training efforts.

I've also kept an online food journal, but not as continuous or as long, usually whenever I need an element of discipline to get my eating in order. I made this food journal public for a while but then chose to make it private for no other reason than that is what I decided to do.

I like capturing data, summarizing it, turning it into information and then using this information to make decisions. It is my personality and my skill as an accountant and financial adviser in the non-cyberspace, non-fitness real world in which I live.

The power of journaling has served me well in chasing my fitness goals. It has helped me be rigorously honest about my training efforts and nutrition.

The archival benefit has been amazing when I look back in time to see what I have and have not accomplished. And surprisingly, journaling has had a subtle yet positive effect on my behavior, helping me to set realistic goals based on past efforts and results, and channeling future efforts down a path of fitness training efficiency.

With God's grace, thirty years from now I will be sitting in a rocking chair reflecting back on the life I have lived, what I have done and what I have failed to do.

The people - family, friends and strangers - I have touched and those who have touched me.

The places I have visited in this big world both abroad and down the street.

The money I have earned, how I spent it and how I used it to help others.

These are the things that really matter at the end of each day and at the end of a long life. But I'm sure in an idle moment from all this higher-level reflecting I'll find pleasant memories and joy in the fitness life I have lived thanks to the power of journaling.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

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