Counting Counts

Photo Courtesy of Skidder from Flickr

I have realized lately that I have long been preoccupied with counting.  Perhaps this makes me not very different from most people as we live in a world where we count things for a variety of reasons.  In business we count things like revenue and profit.  Our sense is that the more you have (the higher the count) the better off you are.  On a personal level we have come to see the american obsession of counting our weight (here the less you have the better off you are) or counting our calories (trying to stay below 2,000 calories per day so that we can lower our overall weight).  My sense is that no matter your station in life you are involved in some sort of count.  

I think that counting is a wonderful thing.  It really does help us to keep track.  At sporting events we count the scoreboard.  Our hope is that our team has the higher score.  We count our consumption of certain substances (I am not functioning yet as I have only had one cup of coffee today), or we count the hours (just three more hours to go before this day ends).  We do spend a great deal of our time in some sort of count.

As I have been thinking about this the idea of counting can have three very positive impacts on our behavior.  First, counting promotes discipline (think calorie counting), second, counting is motivational (just 5 more pushups to reach my goal today), and finally, counting is rhythmic, (it takes me about 15 minutes before I get into my groove).  We can harness these three attributes of counting to mold our existing behavior patterns and also to create new patterns.  What follows are my thoughts about how to best accomplish this:

Counting promotes discipline.  When we engage in a count we have a clear sense of what we want to achieve.  We set out with a clearly defined goal and our desire and intent is to achieve that goal.  Whether the goal is large or small is not important.  Once you set the goal to a specific count you want to achieve that number.  You gain a heightened sense of awareness of the count.  Counts of this type are best set in the form of weekly goals.  As an example perhaps you want to limit calories for the week.  This is much easier than perhaps daily calorie consumption as you have the whole week to achieve the number.  As you visit the count each day you can make behavior adjustments as necessary.  In this way a goal is viewed as far more likely to be achieved as you have seven chances to stay on course.

Counting is motivational.  Counts can motivate us.  In this example once you commit to achieving a specific count you become highly motivated to achieve the desired result.  I have been wearing a Nike FuelBand for a little over a month now.  The band tracks an algorithm created by Nike that measures Fuel achieved per day.  While a Fuel number in and of itself is meaningless, once you begin to wear the band you want to achieve the  daily Fuel goal you set.  My goal is 2,000 Fuel points per day.  As an example of how these points are tracked a three mile run for me is about 1,100 Fuel points.  In order to achieve my daily goal of 2,000 points I need to run as well as remain physically active throughout the day.  The fact that I am in pursuit of this goal keeps me mindful of my activities.  I stand as often as I can (I am writing this post while standing at my desk) and take the stairs and walk throughout the day to achieve the goal I set.  While there are days that I don’t achieve my goal, most days I am highly motivated to reach the goal of 2,000.  Since I started wearing the band my longest streak of reaching 2,000 points is 13 days in a row.  During that streak I recall one day when I needed to walk about half a mile at the end of the day to reach my goal.  Even though I was tired the half mile walk was motivating and I was really glad that I kept the streak alive.  Just as a point of reference the streak ended yesterday when I only achieved 1,100 points on my day off when I did not run or work and just sat around.  After suffering through that disappointment I am however back on track today having already achieved 1,881 points before 11:00am.

A count is rhythmic.  When I run I am aware that I run faster the longer I run.  In running language this is called a reverse split.  I keep a count of my pace every half mile.  No matter how slowly I run at the beginning of my run I know that the pace is going to get faster the longer I go.  In a five mile run I will typically improve by as much as one minute per mile.  I sense the rhythm of this as I feel the pace change.  I can hear my footsteps and become aware of the shift in cadence.  Throughout my runs I generally know when I am running even slightly faster or slightly slower than before.  This rhythm helps me to stay focused and on pace for the run.  The per mile split is the count that I can feel.

You might want to consider how you use counts in your day to day.  Perhaps your job requires you to make a certain number of calls per day or produce a certain quantity of something.  Maybe you set a reading goal of half a book every week which translates to so many pages read every day.  But whatever endeavors you are pursuing, know that counting really does count.  I set a goal for myself this year to learn a new language.  I have not yet assigned a count to that goal and it is lagging behind terribly.  This week I am assigning a count to that goal and I expect that the results are going to improve.  

One final thought.  Whatever you are counting you must be willing to share your count with your friends.  I use Facebook to post my counts.  Every run I post the results on FB.  Only a few of my family members, friends and colleagues even pay attention to those counts but I know that the few that do are there cheering me on.  Why not take a minute and post something that really matters on your FaceBook account today.  Post something that you are counting.  If we are already friends and I see your post you can COUNT on me cheering you on.  

By the way, I am counting one blog posting a week.  Right on target.