Yes, this time I put an exclamation point rather than a question mark. This is to reflect the fact that my confidence has risen significantly in the past few days. I am no longer questioning whether I will re-start my quest for fitness. What started as a little spark a few days ago has become a toasty little fire. Not a raging inferno. But a fire nonetheless. The trick now is to properly fuel it so it does not go out this time.
I have not yet decided what I need to do to keep the fire burning, although I have a few thoughts mulling around in my head. I am a believer in leverage. I think if I have the right kind of leverage, it will work for me. But there are many different ways to create leverage. One way is to provide a reward for success that can only be obtained if certain goals are reached by a pre-set deadline (e.g., a Caribbean cruise). As I've discussed previously in this blog, those goals should be performance goals rather than results goals. Another way to create leverage is to put a prized possession on the line - to be sacrificed if the goals are not met (e.g., my favorite guitar).
With either of these examples, the key is to put a responsible third-party in charge of the reward or the sacrifice. And I have to have confidence that the third-party will carry out the sacrifice or present the award. The third party, or other favored people, cannot benefit from my failure. In other words, if the guitar is sacrificed it cannot be given to the third party or to someone I like. I cannot have thoughts like, "well, it wouldn't be so bad if [insert name here] got my guitar." It can't feel like a charitable donation - it has to feel like a real sacrifice. For instance, the guitar has to be destroyed (the thought of watching my custom built guitar being destroyed is very painful). Or, perhaps, the guitar has to be sold on eBay and the proceeds sent to someone I absolutely despise (such as my least favorite politician).
The downside of putting a prized possession on the line is the inherent negativity of the act. I am not thrilled about constantly having to worry about losing a prized possession. I don't really want to have my mind filled with the negative thoughts associated with possibly losing something valuable to me. It would likely motivate me, but in a negative, perhaps depressing, way.
So I am more inclined to use a reward as leverage. This way my mind will be filled with the positive thoughts associated with obtaining the reward. I use a Caribbean cruise as an example because I know that when my wife and I were preparing for our cruise in 2004, the very thought of being on the cruise ship really motivated us to keep working on getting in shape. And that was true even though the cruise was not conditioned on our success. If we were to schedule another cruise, which we could only take upon achieving certain goals, I think there's an extremely high likelihood that we would achieve our goals.
That said, I do have a few concerns about using something like a cruise as a reward. For one thing, it is expensive. Because of the expense, we would have guilt associated with it. We would have thoughts like, "maybe it won't be so bad if we don't make it because we really can't afford it anyway." In order to remove any potential for such self-sabotage, I would have to pay for the cruise (and airfare) in advance and give the tickets to a third-party. I would have to be confident that they would give the tickets to us only if we met our goals. Otherwise, they would have to be destroyed. Again, they could not be gifted to anyone else. I would have to know they would not be used.
While such an approach would be costly, it would be well worth it as long as it works. If we were to fail, and the tickets had to be destroyed, we could possibly become very depressed and end up right back where we started - only several thousand dollars poorer.
I also wonder, if I'm going to spend a significant amount of money on getting fit, if I should spend that money on getting fit. Maybe I should hire a personal trainer. Maybe I should enroll in a martial arts class. A year or two ago I was seriously considering signing up for a martial arts class but the cost seemed too high. In retrospect, if I had stuck with it (and I think I would), it would have been well worth it. I would be in much better shape right now. As a teen, I had a goal to someday earn a black belt. That's a goal I would still like to achieve.
Another thing I think about is buying a membership at a local golf course. There is a course in town that sells annual family memberships for about $1200. For 6-8 months out of the year, I could take my family golfing as often as we want to go - and I think we would go a lot. I realize golf is not the most active sport, but I'll burn an awful lot more calories golfing with my family than I do playing World of Warcraft with my kids or watching TV with my wife.
Perhaps I will make a deal with my wife that I get to join a martial arts dojo and buy a one year golf membership. Then, if I want to continue golfing and karate chopping I need to meet my goals. That way, I spend the money on things that will help me get fit and the future renewals of these memberships will serve as my leverage to ensure that I meet my goals. I think I may be on to something here.
The downside to this plan is that it really does not provide much incentive for my wife. Of course, I don't think leverage works very well for her. She's certainly never been very enthusiastic about setting up any kind of leverage plan for herself. I think seeing me make progress will get her on board and provide the motivation she needs - especially if I can get her out golfing with me once a week or so. And if I start running again and do some races I know she will want to do them as well.
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