A few months ago I spent nine glorious days of vacation in Barcelona.

I fell in love with Barcelona and discovered that my Fitbit has magical powers. Thank goodness, because I basically ate my way around town!

Fortunately, I walked as much as I ate. And thanks to my Fitbit, I know exactly how much I walked each day, both in steps and miles. At the end of the trip, he had walked 64.5 miles! And yes, I am amazed that I have traveled so far.

It also explained the mystery of why I was still able to button up my pants every day.

If I hadn’t had a Fitbit, I would have walked a lot… but probably not that much. And that’s why my Fitbit is the reason I didn’t spend the end of my trip walking around in yoga pants!

My step count was always the most important thing.

Maximizing my steps became a game. I looked for simple ways to keep moving (like walking while waiting to be seated for my next meal) and competed with myself to beat the previous day’s count by just a few steps.

Two months back in my normal life, tracking my steps is still having an impact…almost six extra miles a week. And the best part is that those extra miles come from small actions: a few extra minutes warming up before lifting weights, an extra ten minutes added to my dogs night walk, and going up and down the stairs when I make coffee. or boil water for tea.

And therein lies the magic of tracking: it increases your awareness of the choices, and it is your choices that create your results. And that doesn’t require a Fitbit!

You can create similar magic for any change or goal you’re working toward and any habit or behavior you want to maintain.

Constant tracking of data and information is powerful because:

  1. Increase your awareness;
  2. It keeps you connected to your daily choices;
  3. Helps you see patterns and trends;
  4. Facilitates reflection;
  5. It gives you real data that you can act on;
  6. Makes it easier to take small steps;
  7. It’s like having a friend who always tells you the truth.

You can use tracking to reduce stress, achieve specific goals, become more organized, improve communication and relationships, get more sleep, increase your sense of balance, overcome fear, take your next career move, cultivate new habits, expand your impact. positive. .. and anything else you can think of.

Okay, tracking steps is easy, but how the heck do you track some of this other stuff?

Here are just two examples of how my clients used tracking to create the conditions for their success:

* Record of lights out. Joanne was in the midst of an exceptionally intense time at work, her stress was through the roof and she had developed a pattern of working late into the night.

She knew that lack of sleep made everything worse, but she had a hard time breaking the cycle.

So he decided to keep track of his bedtime.

In just one day, he began to make different decisions during the day and night.

And after three weeks, she was sleeping more, which led to better focus, higher productivity, more delegation, faster decision-making, and less stress.

* Leaning on. Kathy was one of three people considered to be the next leader of her division. She REALLY wanted the promotion and had no doubts about her ability to be great at her job. But she was holding back, not wanting to appear pushy or arrogant. (She is neither.)

We established a “support index” using a five-point scale, and she tracked how intentionally supportive she was each day. That simple act of monitoring gently pushed her out of her comfort zone, helping her defend herself.

The result? Kathy has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Operations!

Your turn.

What goal or change are you working on? What new habit or behavior do you want to maintain?

Track it!

It doesn’t matter if you put pen to paper, fingers on the keyboard, or gold stars on a chart.

What matters is that you have a structure to increase your awareness of your daily choices. And it is your choices that create the conditions for success and happiness.

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it destiny.” ~CG Jung