One of the best parts of trying to get really really good at anything, is the challenge of the process is going to provide you with an opportunity to learn about yourself.

I’ve spent the last 12-months getting strong.

It’s a good fit with staying at home.

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Grinding away with my basement squat rack, I realized that I was probably enjoying this piece of metal more than the average 50-something person.

Routine, ticking boxes on a written plan, predictability.

Invert the previous line and you have the perfect recipe to ruin my morning => surprises, running on feel and random shocks.

Armed with self knowledge, it’s up to me to communicate and create a system to keep myself productive => written plan and a policy that we are flexible (but slowly, later and most certainly not today!).

So whether it’s a training plan, a home school schedule, a list of household cleaning tasks, a project management assignment… I need it written down.

Once that happens, “the list” keeps calling out to me, and I get a nice shot of endorphins each time I tick a box.

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To execute, I need to keep it very simple – wake up (same time), spin on my bike, do my strength plan => then roll into household chores and get the kids rolling with home school.

All my non-family, post-dawn, obligations need to be in my calendar and 100% visible to my spouse.

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My wife’s wired a little differently, she’s a “logger.”

While she smiles at my lists, I know that inside her phone is an electronic note that documents every bit of exercise she’s done during COVID. As a young swimmer, she’d log every single workout.

So she gets her fix from writing down what she does.

I get it, watching my savings grow was a big motivator in my teens and 20s.

When things “work” for you, you are going to have something simple that keeps you going. Pay attention to that thing and ask…

What was the structure of my life like when I was most productive, most engaged?

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The dumbbells, above, sat around for more than a decade (!) until I bought a third-party training plan that required me to use them. I still only use them when required by the plan.

It’s worth remembering that the goal, of the squat rack and the DBs, was not to use the equipment. I bought the gear because I wanted to get stronger. The loss of strength from my early, to late, 40s was something I missed.

I wasn’t able to address my goal until I got my process correct.

In my case, the difference between wishing for a strong body, and having one, was the nudge I get from a written training plan that costs me $4.14 a week.

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