A better me

Warmup

I'm currently at a conference for IT professionals and accountants. Now before your jealously takes over and ruins your day keep in mind you could be sitting we me in my class of "Effective use of predictive analytical and actuarial tools." And what makes it worse I cut a call with my wife short to get to my class. Not feeling good about that.

I am a recovering IT professional. So it's been a different convention for me.  Every morning we gather for breakfast and hear a keynote speaker. Yesterday it was Al Gore. Today it was a fighter pilot from the organization Afterburner. www.afterburner.com

Main Set

During his talk he shared the winning model that all fighter pilots use. In order for them to win, they - plan, brief, execute, debrief. While listening I came up with many uses for this model at work. Then it struck me when he was talking about debriefing - I could use this or improve these methods in my exercising.

Each week I will try to come up with an exercising schedule (plan). I do this most weeks but it could be improved. I try to communicate my plan and what we are accomplishing with my team. This is as simple as telling Becky where I am riding or when I am swimming. It also is used when I handout the swim workouts or the bike route maps. (brief). Executing the plan is the most straight forward. It is interesting that he shared that even he flys with a wingman and needs mutual support to get his job done. It really does help when you exercise with a friend. Last is reviewing how your workout went (debrief). Did you have equipment issues? Did you work hard - don't lie? How was energy levels? Did you stay hydrated? Other issues? Etc. By debriefing your workouts you can improve your efforts and improve your fitness.

Cool Down

Sometimes with all the planning your plan fails. That is when you grant yourself some grace and have flexibility. I will never be a fighter pilot nor will I be a top notch athlete. But what I can be is a better me.