It’s the middle of January and we are now just over two weeks into our New Year’s resolutions. Now is also the time when people start to give up and forget about those New Year’s goals. One of the reasons people let go of their resolutions is that they have no system of measuring if what they are doing is working.
One of the greatest tools in our toolbox is the ability to self-assess. A strong self-assessment will give you the knowledge of what’s working and what’s not working, and will help you find ways to change your behavior so that you can be successful. Today we will talk about a simple three-step process that will help you analyze your actions in under 10 minutes.
Grab a pen and paper. It’s time to get cracking!
STEP 1: Re-write Your Goal
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On the top of your paper, write out your original goal. This will give you a clear vision of what you are actually assessing in your self-assessment. If you have more than one goal, do a separate assessment for each.
STEP 2: Review Your Data
Often our perceptions of what we do are different from what we actually do. Tracking the data behind your goals will help you see if you’re actually doing what you’re supposed to be doing.
Let’s pretend that your goal was to do bootcamp three times a week. Look back at your calendar. Write down the dates that you worked out. Did you actually go do bootcamp three times each week?
Maybe your resolution was to eat five servings of vegetables a day. Have you been keeping a food journal? If so, great! Take a look back at your journal. Did you actually eat five servings of veggies each day? If you didn’t keep a journal or keep track of this, perhaps it is time to start. In 2000, a USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion study found that people’s perceptions of what they ate were, in fact, far from their reality. On average, women and men of all age groups ate more grains, fats, oils and sweets, and less protein, vegetables and fruits than they thought they had eaten.
Bottom line: if you’re not tracking, you’re slacking.
STEP 3: Be Brutally Honest With Yourself
Get out a pen and paper and answer the following questions:
Did my data match my perceptions of what I have been doing? If I did not have good data to review, how can I better track my data going forward?
What behaviors or habits are helping me achieve my goal?
What behaviors or habits are keeping me from achieving my goal?
How can I change my behaviors or habits to help me more effectively reach my goal?
I recommend doing a self-assessment every three to four weeks. This will help you stay connected to your goals and on-track to achieving them!
The Phoenix Effect, a metabolic bootcamp that gets you in shape fast, is offered exclusively at Mansion Fitness, 7914 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood.
