My wife and I have discussed joining Weight Watchers for the past several months. She’s in great shape and doesn’t need it, but I love to eat and it was time for some moderation.
We signed up over the weekend and I began to use Weight Watchers’ online tracking program. You use it to plug in everything you eat as well as activity levels. It then shows you in graphic detail how well you’re doing. After two days of spartan eating (I did slip in a little wine) I thought I was doing great. When I plugged every last painful detail into their system, that wasn’t the case. Yikes, I have some changes to make.
But the act of tracking everything has caused me to pay closer attention to every little thing that I shove into my face. It’s made me realize that it adds up. Duh…really? I know that intellectually, but to receive feedback I was able to understand it emotionally. It was a big leap.
Count Your Minutes as Carefully as Your Calories
The same thing happens with our time. It’s so easy to allow little distractions, unnecessary phone calls, web surfing, Facebook, schmoozing, and dozens of other things pull us away…even for only a few minutes at a time. These little guilty pleasures add up quickly, just like the empty calories from candy grabbed on the fly.
Just like monitoring your calorie intake it’s a good idea to monitor your actual time usage as well. It’s very easy to do, but also easy to put off. The best thing is to keep a simple time log on your desk. Every 15 minutes jot down what you’re doing. At the end of the day add up the chunks and see how much of your time (and energy) was put to good use and how much wasn’t. But be brutally honest with yourself. Otherwise it’s just another waste of time.
I am particularly prone to being distracted by every shiny object that enters my radar screen. As an extra precaution I downloaded a simple timer app on my Blackberry called QuickTimer. It’s a simple electronic version of an egg timer. I set to ring every 15 minutes just to remind me to stay on task. It really works. At least 2-3 times a day the alarm will sound and I’ll be doing something completely different from what I was supposed to be doing.
At the bottom of the post is simple time log that you are welcome to download. The instructions are on the bottom of the page. Just keep it simple and be very honest. Use it for a week and see how you’re doing.
What tricks do you use to keep on track? Please share your ideas in the comments.
Have a great week!
- Bob