I’m writing this blog while waiting to go out for Father’s Day dinner with my family, and I have last year’s Father’s Day on my mind, as I have had every day since then – because I have an ongoing reminder on my wrist.
My wife, children, and grandchildren pooled their resources and got me a Fitbit a year ago. It has been my right wrist’s constant companion since then aside from when I’m recharging it or taking a shower – which usually happen at the same time.
Because I am conscious of the fact that this information is being recorded and saved by Fitbit, I now almost always get in 10,00 steps a day and burn an estimated 2,500 calories a day – both of which are recommended for general health and weight maintenance or loss. In addition, I’m averaging about an hour more of sleep each night. I’ve always considered myself to be one of those people who can thrive without needing as much sleep as others, and I still believe that to be true – but now I’m yawning less and not experiencing my previous feeling that I could use a nap in the early afternoon. Being awake one less hour a day has not made me less productive.
But this isn’t an advertisement for Fitbit. It’s not even about health. It’s about setting goals.
I always considered myself to be more fit than most people, but I didn’t really monitor it. When I first got the wearable device and started monitoring things, however, I found that i wasn’t consistently achieving my goals for steps, calories burned, and sleep. Without the monitor, I had overestimated how well I was I was doing in achieving my goals.
The approach to therapy that I developed, Goal-Achieving Psychotherapy (or GAP), is obviously based on setting and achieving goals. Sometimes, however, we get so focused on our larger goals, involving such things as relationships, finances, and careers, that we may forget that day-to-day living also involves a series of behaviors directed at setting and achieving goals. Successful achieving of goals leads to the laundry getting done, keeping sufficient food in the refrigerator, and bills getting paid on time. If something is a problem for you in efficiently achieving a daily task, a major way of taking control is by structuring the solution as a goal – a goal that can be measured.
Whether your goals are being measured and monitored on a wearable device, a computer, a smartphone, or good old pencil and paper, you’ve got a much better chance of successfully achieving them if monitor and record them.