Citius, Altius, Fortius

These three words are the motto of the Olympic games. Translated- Faster, higher, stronger.

Improvement. Of self. Of sport. Of (hopefully) international relations.

Improvement is inspiring. It is addictive. It builds self esteem. It motivates you to stick to the goal.

But in order to improve you need to measure something.

And it has to be meaningful to you.

You needn’t be an Olympian to know the joy of improvement.

If you’re not assessing, you’re guessing

Assess (V): evaluate or estimate the nature, ability, or quality of.

Take a measurement. Success can be measure in lbs, seconds, percent etc….

Without a measurement how can you track improvement?

The difficulty here is accepting the initial measurement. Personally- I’ve gone months without weighing myself. Why? I fear the number I’ll see; then I shine myself on about I’ll weigh myself after I bank a few good weeks yada yada yada.

I understand this psyche.

I have to remind myself the scale is just a number.

Like a bench press weight is just a number.

It reflects my recent activity choices. It does not reflect me as a person.

And no matter what the number reads my Dog will still love me at the end of the day.

The number one rule for improvement: you’re going to have to get uncomfortable.

The first step will be hard.

And your Dog will love you know matter what. So go adopt a Dog.

What to assess

What is important to you?

Is it weight loss?

Better movement?

Adherence to an activity?

You’ve got to get 100% clear on what your goal is, and then you need to define what a win looks like.

Weight loss means less lbs on the scale. Or better fitting clothing. Or lower body fat percentage.

Better movement is somewhat subjective, but take a before/after video with your cell phone and compare how gracefully (or not) you move. It’s surprisingly easy to see improvement. (I filmed myself before and after doing yoga for 30 straight days. It was shocking how visible my improvement was.)

Adherence- Did you do a certain workout/task/or diet for a set number of days?

These are just a few ideas of potential improvements. Some others: time (how long did it take to do something), body composition (measure your fat %), weight increase (can you lift more), flexibility (can you touch your toes etc), or finishing something (a race, a hike, an obstacle course, a class). There are so many wins you can strive for, but if you’re going to go pursue a goal it has to mean something to you.

Write down that goal, then celebrate EVERY win along the way.

It has to mean something

Improvement takes sacrifice. Wanting it means you’re going to have to suffer for it.

And the bigger/better the goal the more you’re going to have to suffer.

Losing 5 lbs means little to someone who is already thin; it means the world to someone starting a weightless journey.

Putting 5 more lbs on the bar means little to someone who just began lifting; You’ll want to throw a party and buy a cake if you’ve been at it for a decade and you throw up an extra 5.

What is meaningful to you?

What will get you out of bed at 5 am?

Is it fitting into certain clothes?

Running a certain time?

Making a certain amount?

Being the Hero your Dog thinks you are?

Find the mirror. Look yourself in the eye. What makes you tick? Write it down.