Advice from a Lexis

Track your way to success

Posted

Dear Readers,

Weight has always been a challenge for me. I’ve tried a lot of different things, probably like a lot of people, but never found a method that I was able to stick with.

I recently decided to try again but this time I did something fundamentally different from every other time. I decided to track my food.

Now, I know that tracking food isn’t necessarily a new concept for most of us but, whenever I did so in the past, I always avoided logging food if it wasn’t on my diet plan. However, this time around, I decided to start recording everything no matter whether it puts me over my calorie count or not. I decided that knowledge about what I eat on a daily basis was going to help me be more aware and allow me an opportunity to effect real change in my life.

This journey, like any other, is likely to be a long one, but by tracking my progress I have started to shift my habits bit by bit. As a result, I decided to track my progress in other endeavors.

As an individual who works from home, I have to be a self-starter. All too often, it’s easier to fall into the habit of watching tv all day rather than working and then I wind up beating myself up for not getting anything done. So, I decided to track my writing and put myself on a timer so that I had a definitive endpoint. This way, I know how many words I write in a day and how quickly.

Just having a tracking method has increased my productivity significantly. And while there is always room for improvement, having something that keeps me accountable has been a tremendous help.

As an individual, I’ve never been a fan of schedules and tracking, but time and time again I’m reminded of the value of these concepts. If you want to accomplish something, track your progress because, at the very least, when you’re feeling down about not having reached your goal, you’ll be able to look back and see just how far you have already come.

The goals we most desire to achieve are often the hardest too. Because we want the result so badly, we often struggle to fight the voice in our head that tells us that we can’t, or that we aren’t good enough. By embracing tools like this, we stand a better chance of breaking through these mental blocks through steady, recorded progress. We can reinforce the truth that we can do it and success is just a few steps away.

Perhaps this may seem obvious to some, it’s certainly not a challenging concept, but it is one worth repeating. Track your progress and you’ll soon achieve your desired goals.

Best of luck to you all,

~ Lexis

Lexis is Alexis Rae Baker. She writes from her home in Olympia.   Got a question about life, relationships, spirit?  Visit her at lexisrae.com or write to Lexis at  Lexis@theJOLTnews.com 

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