Beautify Me !

I started my athletic career as both swimmer and wrestler. Sort of an odd combination, don't you think?

At any rate, one of the things I began doing as a young boy, that I was never formally taught, was a very simple but powerful task that I, sorry to say, had to "relearn" later in life.

Here tis: Just before I went to sleep at night, I made a list of the exercises I was going to do the next day and how many I would do of each.

The next day, upon arising, I would glance at my list, then get to work. Oftentimes I began the day with a 2-3 mile run, followed by pushups, situps, pullups, dips, rope skipping - and so on.

After college I dropped the practice of making a list - opting instead to simply "remember" what to do.

Now, I'm not saying I "forgot" what to do when I didn't have a list. What I am saying is that "the list" represented specific goals I wanted to accomplish in my workout.

And when I referred to it - then made a little "check" mark next to each task I finished, I found that the practice built confidence, power and a feeling of momentum.

A couple years ago, during one of my frequent visits to my second home on China's Hainan Island, I went bowling with my brother-in-law. It was the first time I had picked up a bowling ball since 1997.

Anyway, the first day we just bowled - and as I'm not an avid bowler, and not very technical, I was happy to hit a 147 for my high of the day.

Then I got to thinking. The best score I had ever gotten in bowling was 154, and that was back in high school, when we went once a week for a six or eight-week period.

So I looked for and found a slip of paper on the desk, asked myself what score I would like to hit before leaving to come back to the states. My answer was 180. Considering I rarely bowl and have "caveman" technique, this was quite a stretch.

Nevertheless, I folded the paper and put it in my jacket.

Over the course of the next four days, my brother-in-law and I went bowling every day. And my scores were, pretty much, what they had been for 20+ years.

But then, on the last day of my trip, in the third game, I was on fire. Nearly every frame was a strike or a spare. The numbers were adding quickly and I sensed I would meet my goal.

After the final score was tallied by computer, I nearly fell over when I saw I hit 182. What a thrill. I pulled the slip of paper out and showed my brother-in-law. He looked at me, smiled and said, "You're lucky."

Although I smiled back and said, "Yes, I'm very lucky," I disagreed. It wasn't luck. It was mental preparation and the science of achieving predetermined goals.

I took the folded paper out of my jacket and put a check mark on it. Done.

In the interim, start making a list before your workout and watch how much you instantly improve.