First off, I want to thank my family, friends, and followers of this blog for the valuable feedback you provided to last week’s post. It was very inspiring to see your interest in what I’m doing with this blog. I plan to incorporate your ideas into upcoming posts.

When it comes to feedback, I “usually” welcome it. I say usually because there may be times when the feedback received is something you didn’t expect, or want to hear. But regardless, I personally find that feedback is extremely helpful to my growth and development.

And it’s one of the best ways we can learn. About ourselves in general, about our mistakes and ways to improve, and about what’s important to others. So seek it out whenever possible.

But feedback doesn’t only have to be from others. Think about just being present in the moment. What do you see or hear? What’s missing? You can also observe your surroundings. And the results you’re achieving (or not). This approach allows you to gain keen insight into what’s working and what you can do better at.

Tracking is another form of feedback. We’ve discussed “tracking“ in a previous post. You can link back to it here. One of the most important elements of tracking is how it brings awareness to the things that you’re trying to do more or less of. Like reinforcing good habits, or eliminating bad ones.

For example, if you are trying to increase your savings, tracking can help you get a handle on your spending. If you’re trying to get healthy, tracking can provide important feedback for how many times you’ve worked out this past week, month, or quarter. Now you can compare your “actual” data to your “projected” numbers – (e.g. your goal), and determine if you’re on-track, or off.

If you use your imagination, you can improve just about anything with tracking. Think about it for a minute. Pick an area in your life that you want to improve.

Example: How can I live to be (insert your number here) years old, and maintain a great quality of life for as long as possible?

Now brainstorm 3 to 5 new habits that will help you accomplish this area of improvement. Examples could include:

• Jump start my nutrition by eliminating fast food, sugar, processed crap…
• Improve my cardiovascular health with 3 cardio training sessions every week.
• Increase my lean muscle mass with 3 strength training sessions every week.
• Eat more nutritious meals at home and minimize the number of times I eat out.
• Maintain portion control when I eat.

Pick one new habit that you can easily measure (or track). Then get to work! After it’s become part of your routine, add another new habit, and track it. If you try to approach this one step at a time instead of all at once, it will be easier and more fun. And you will most likely be more successful at improving the thing that you’re trying to change.

Are you with me? Will you try it?

Thank you for sharing your time with me. I’d love for you to let me know what you think by leaving a comment. Is the content valuable and helpful? Did anything have a positive impact on you? Can I get you to take action? What would you like to see in future posts?

If you know someone who struggles with their weight, I’d be eternally grateful if you would share this with them. And if you like what you see, you can SUBSCRIBE for automatic updates, LIKE US on Facebook, and spread the word about www.thin2win.net with your friends, family and social circles.