In our last piece, I broke down how accountability comes in 5 main areas, which we call PERMS. Everyone has one accountability category which motivates them most. However, having the entire PERMS system is required for successful fitness goals. Now, we’re going to discuss the Hidden secret for fitness success and how I discovered it to help me maintain long-term fitness success.

Last year was the hardest year of my life. I found myself overstressed, overworked, and questioning all avenues of my life. I was barely sleeping. I was dealing with lawyers. I was having family issues. I was depressed. I won’t get into the details, because it doesn’t matter. Life is chaotic and uncontrollable, but your mindset and what you do each day is in your control. As others have said, you may hate your boss, but you are the boss of your day and your mind.

This is why I had to fire my own boss last year and get back in control.

I am now thankful for last year. It taught me many invaluable lessons. The most important lesson it taught is ultimately the hidden secret for fitness success. I now use everyday and as I research it more, I find it is a secret of many elite athletes, business people and those are ultimately healthy.

Drum roll please.

Daily Journaling for Fitness Success

When it comes to journaling, it falls under the S category of PERMS. Now let’s break down exactly how journaling each day helps you achieve fitness success.

Daily habits are key for delineating each day. In his book, The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg describes keystone habits as, “small changes or habits that people introduce into their routines that unintentionally carry over into other aspects of their lives.”

Keystone habits can be an array of habits. I believe daily journaling is the best keystone habit, as it transforms so many areas of life (including fitness).

In a World, where we are constantly reactive and controlled by others opinions and thoughts, journaling gives you time to be in control and be creative. We are constantly inputting information. Wake up, check your email, social media, news…..input, input, input! We can’t take in all this content. Even if we can take it in, we can’t form our own opinions and plan for them.

Journaling each day will get you to your goals!

I know this sounds too simple, but let me explain.

Part of journaling is to review and modify your to-do list. This includes your short-term (daily) and long-term (monthly or life) goals. In health and fitness, we often set big long-term goals. These big goals are helpful, but not nearly as helpful as micro goals. Micro goals can help you feel a daily sense of accomplishment and allow reflection for why you didn’t accomplish a daily goal. If you planned to exercise at 5:00 pm, but you didn’t make it due to work. Reviewing this in your daily journal helps you assess where this plan fell short and allow you to assess how to fix it. It also forces us to reflect daily on what really is important to you, something we don’t do often enough.

Journaling also helps you learn by creating a history of your life. If you noticed you are feeling sluggish, you can review days where you had more energy, analyze what has changed and adjust. Have you strained your back multiple times? Perhaps a history of your journal and workouts will show you what workouts or life stress leading up the injury put you at risk.

Here are the details for writing a successful fitness journal. 

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