Tension Chart

Last Christmas my brother-in-law Ed taught me about the tension chart.  The idea is there is a certain amount of tension between the things you say you want to do and the things you do.  Now, in the interest of transparency, I'm not a very good student.  I don't remember the way the chart actually looks but I'm making up my own chart for you to see!  I think about this principle often and this is what it looks like in my head:

Oooo man would you just LOOK at that graphic design.  Who knew my skill set would reach so far?!


Anyway, on with the tension chart. Ed mentioned the example that many people have a goal to lose weight.  But to lose weight you need to create new eating habits, start or change your exercise routine, possibly wake up at 5AM to get time to work out, maybe you need to log all of your food....it's a lot of work to reach that goal.  You have to change a lot of your old behaviors that don't jive with your new goal to reach it!  Someone who is likely to reach their goal would need a chart that looks like this:

Well friends, my goal is to run (not walk) the Pittsburgh Half Marathon this May. I am feeling the tension...and my chart for the last few days has not looked much like that inspiring chart above.  Currently my chart is looking a little more like:

Guys!  I'm a lightning bolt of danger!  I want to be a star! 

The reality I'm learning is that I am not necessarily super at change.  I want to change, but man do I love my old behaviors, I'm just so good at them! What are these old behaviors you ask?  Well watching Heros on Netflix is one...sleeping until the last possible minute is another. Really this boils down to the number one thing that I'm struggling with: making running and working out a priority.

Most days I get up for work with about 45 minutes to brush my teeth, figure out what to wear, get dressed, eat breakfast, pack lunch, and probably these days clean snow off the car.  That's assuming I showered at night, some mornings I might need to fit a shower in those 45 minutes too...yikes!  Then I go to work, like so many other people, all day .  Usually my day after work is pretty filled up, I might have about an hour between work and some kind of commitment in the evening.  If I get home between 9 and 10, I'm really just too tired to go to the gym.

So the only time I can run would be before I start those first 45 minutes.  I've really been struggling with getting up and getting myself moving, I'm just not good at it.  I know that I can get good at it(I'm being renewed, remember?!), but I'm still definitely a work in progress. 

Then there are nights when Netflix really does just call to me.  It says "Jenna, you've been running around for 3 days, why don't you just sit here and see what Sylar, Claire, Peter and the gang are up to?"  And you know what, I do it!  I just sit down and watch Heros because that's the show I'm watching these days.  And I don't run even one mile. Not one.  That's not too good for the old tension chart.

All this is to say, I want to be a super star, not a lightning bolt!  There isn't much more to this post than to come clean.  My chart is not in good shape, but with a little accountability it can get into good shape, and so can I!  Good enough, in fact, to run half a marathon.

...And with that, it's time to hit the gym.  30 minutes of strength training on the agenda for tonight and it's already almost 10.  But I've got a goal and I'm going to make it!