What's My Commitment?

I was listening to Radio Lab today while exercising on an exercise bike at the Y. The program told a story from ancient Greece or Rome (I wasn't listening closely at the time) of a military leader who decided to position his troops on the edge of a cliff. That meant that they were going to have to fight to the death and it wasn't just a strategy to increase the motivation of his troops--their opponent knew that's how they'd fight, too.

The point of the story was that people can develop strategies to back themselves up against a wall, to force themselves to actually do something they wanted to do but were having trouble doing. The program went on to tell the story of a woman who fought for social justice her whole life, but couldn't get herself to quit smoking. She finally was so disgusted with herself that she told her best friend that if she ever smoked another cigarette, she'd donate $5,000 to the Ku Klux Klan. She never smoked another cigarette.

My business coach uses a similar strategy. In coaching a friend of mine who was having trouble keeping her commitment to meditate every day, she had my friend get a bunch of $50 bills. My friend committed that any day she didn't meditate, she would take a $50 bill, get in her car, and at some random place, throw it out the window. It was extremely effective. For me, I was having trouble keeping my commitment to make 1 hour of sales calls every week. I committed to paying my coach double if I didn't keep my commitment. She is not inexpensive, and I make my calls every week.

So, am I willing to make that kind of commitment about my fitness--make a big donation to Sarah Palin's campaign or to some homophobic tv preacher? The idea scares me. Right now, I'm doing great, but if I start having trouble again, maybe that's what I need to do.

I am doing great--I've worked out everyday but Tuesday this week and will definitely workout tomorrow and Saturday. That's the first time I've worked out 5 times in a week in a long time. I've also modified how often I eat--I eat breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, and dinner. And that's it-- I think it was the after dinner snack that was holding me back. I'm going to bed a little hungry, and that's not a bad thing. I lost a pound last week, and close to a pound in the first half of this week.

Wait till my bike arrives--things are really going to start hopping.