Community, Competition, and Tools
It’s amazing what competitive people will do to show that they are winners. Several friends of mine have recently been introduced to fitness tools like FitBit and Nike Fuel. These small devices have been having quite an impact among many of us. Not only are we all more self-aware of the patterns of our daily lives, we are becoming more and more driven by the reports, rewards and recognition we receive along the way.
My FitBit – and my awareness of what it tells me – has gotten into my head. It measures my sleep patterns, the steps I take, the floors I go up and down, and tracks the calories I burn along with the calories I consume. It offers me encouragement on a digital dashboard that let’s me know how close I am to my daily and weekly goals, and it smiles at me when I reach them. The bracelet-like tool is actually sort of addicting. And I love it.
So far, I’ve received recognition badges for things like flights of stairs climbed and number of steps in a day. Those are the little merit badges that you win by competing with yourself. The real test, is getting a group of friends from the FitBit community and pushing one another to new highs. I’ve got a few of those that have actually caused me to go for a second walk or hop on the elliptical when I’d normally be relaxing. I know it’s a little crazy, but like the beer commercial tells us, “It’s only weird if it doesn’t work.” So far the peer pressure and encouragement is making a difference.
I appreciate my community of supporters, competitors, and the tools that record all the effort. It’s been a good week. Thanks friends!
January 26, 2013
