Would you run for a quarter-million bucks?
Would you NOT eat fast food for a quarter-million bucks?
While watching the season finale last week of Biggest Loser, I realized that I had perverted my success by not translating it into something meaningful for the effort. It was not enough to lose weight on the show, you had to lose the most percentage of body weight in order to win $250,000.
The reality is that I really haven't processed the success of my toils in a way that focused every decision I make. These weren't alibi's, they were conscious sabotages that I used to derail my Chief Definite Aim or Overriding Goal, like going to Taco Bell instead of Subway. Creating these short term obstacles to my overall goal not only affected what I want to accomplish but there was no hard consequence in the long term.
To be completely committed to success, defined currently by meeting a weight goal and overall time at Ironman Arizona in April, I need a reward. I thought that the reward was weighing less and having a PR but really in the end, those are the completions of my goal, not the reward for the training and sacrifice. I certainly don't have a quarter-million dollars to give myself but there has to be something that could 'represent' winning a quarter-million dollars.
Something to meditate on through the end of the year.
While watching the season finale last week of Biggest Loser, I realized that I had perverted my success by not translating it into something meaningful for the effort. It was not enough to lose weight on the show, you had to lose the most percentage of body weight in order to win $250,000.
The reality is that I really haven't processed the success of my toils in a way that focused every decision I make. These weren't alibi's, they were conscious sabotages that I used to derail my Chief Definite Aim or Overriding Goal, like going to Taco Bell instead of Subway. Creating these short term obstacles to my overall goal not only affected what I want to accomplish but there was no hard consequence in the long term.
To be completely committed to success, defined currently by meeting a weight goal and overall time at Ironman Arizona in April, I need a reward. I thought that the reward was weighing less and having a PR but really in the end, those are the completions of my goal, not the reward for the training and sacrifice. I certainly don't have a quarter-million dollars to give myself but there has to be something that could 'represent' winning a quarter-million dollars.
Something to meditate on through the end of the year.
posted by Comm's @ 9:56 AM
9 comments
9 Comments:
That is a great idea. I will be interested to hear what your reward will be.
I wish someone would give me $250,000, I would definitely lose the weight with that as the reward.
What about putting the money you would have used on fast food into an accout and then using that money to do something you wouldn't do otherwise...a trip, a bike...something like that?
I love The Biggest Loser because it gives people back their lives and it serves as an inspiration to fat people who think their situation is hopeless.
That having been said, has a woman ever won? I doubt it as men lose body fat and gain muscle faster than women and will always be able to lower their percentage of weight faster (since the muscle metabolizes food faster and accelerates weight loss). It would be nice if they could toss in some sort of estrogen handicap to level the playing field.
I'm pretty sure that physiologially the deck is stacked in favor of men with the straight percentage of weight lost metric.
The good news is that everyone wins on that show.
About the reward- go ahead and cook one up but I have to disagree that achieving a new level of performance isn't a great reward. it is. To just reduce it to the inevitable conclusion of your training really marginalizes the committment and effort you are making. But hey, if making your weight goal deserves a new car then by all means get one!
I have two rewards set up for myself the day after Ironman.
1. A massage
2. Peanut Buster Parfait at D.Q
I do without fast food- for free! The "payback" is running and cycling like the wind and swimming like a dolphin....and a healthy and happy heart/lungs/etc.
That in itself is worth a million $$$$-plus I save $ on clothes as I have worn the same size clothes since before my kid was born 21 years ago.
a vacation with the mistress??
Honestly Comm, Tac found that the Janus Charity Challenge was 10 times the reward he expected. I highly recommend it to anyone doing an Ironman event.
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
I have trouble with this one. Somehow, holding out on myself by holding back some reward seems to go against the notion of living life to the fullest.
However, given the pendulum effect, some things carry their own reward in swinging in the other direction. Slimming down a few extra pounds to help make a time goal gets the backswing of regaining them as one returns to a healthy sustainable weight.
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