Blogging during the work-week at times is tough due to an erratic schedule (read: my schedule depends on YOUR schedule). So, on this family-day long weekend Monday, I thought I’d blog about a topic I’ve touched on time and time again: Setting Goals. You can most certainly stumble into accomplishments. But, for proper motivation, set your goals ahead of time. Be realistic, yet challenging. Without setting your goals, you have nothing to aim for. You might, instead, just hope for the best.

As always, my motivation for this blog topic is health and exercise. In years past, you’ve read about my various goals: (i) Run 5km; (ii) Cycle 60km with my father; (iii) Finish a Try-a-Tri length Triathlon; (iv) Finish a Sprint-length Triathlon. Goals set and met. My next goal is to run 10km, and compete and finish the Sporting Life 10km race on May 13.

The last four and a half months have been the busiest of my life, juggling work and new fatherhood. But, I reached a point recently when I realized I had yet to set my exercise goals for 2012. As a result, no exercise was being performed. I set my goal (10km), and started finding the time to work towards the accomplishment. Running at lunch-time or work breaks has become my new ‘thing’, due to my new time restraints of being a daddy (read: love spending time with Nathan).

Point being: Without having set my goal, I would never have gotten off the couch to start achieving it. Need helping planning a realistic goal for your current level of health and fitness? Talk to me. I’m no expert, but I play one in the office ;)

I’m just saying!

P.S. Just wrote this blog after returning from an 8.03km run in 42 minutes. Pace and distance both personal bests. This 10km race will be a piece of cake! Ha!!

For the majority of us who work five, six, or even seven days a week to earn a living and support ourselves and family, finding time to work on our health gets lost in the shuffle.  Conceptually, most of us prioritize our health.  But, practically, getting back, maintaining, or improving our health falls to the end of the priority list.  Necessarily, it falls behind work, nourishment, and sleep.  Sadly, it also tends to fall behind television and other lazy, yet enjoyable, past times.

Today's blog is just a reminder to move your health promotion up the list.

Factors that dictate our health:

1. Genetics
2. Luck (see Genetics!)
3. Sleep
   
4. Healthy Diet
5. Exercise
   
6. Intervention

We have no control over #1 & #2.  Diet requires some planning, but is very doable.  Exercise requires the most commitment.  Finding time to exercise may be the most difficult health promotion we need to find time for.  Perhaps we need to drop a few t.v shows from our weekly repertoire.  Or, maybe we turn our lazy lunch into an exercise session.

Intervention - refers to my role in your life: Chiropractic, Massage, Dentist, Medical Doc, etc.  It boggles my mind when people tell me they don't go to the dentist twice a year, or see their family doc every year for a physical.  Less mainstream, but equally important, I find it odd that more people are not making chiropractic and massage part of their routine.  Just like the maintenance of healthy gums and teeth, the value of a healthy spine, loose muscles is enormous.  The quality of your daily living improves, your functional capacity increases, and it will begin to influence the improvement of the other factors: Sleep, Exercise, & Diet.

I'm just saying!

Dr. B

We consciously or subconsciously calculate risk or cost to reward ratios in a lot of our decision making.  What are the risks?  What are the rewards?  Is it worth the risk?  A common example is when we choose to risk j-walking on the street to get to work on time.  Is it worth the risk?  Depends on the consequences of being late and the value to getting there on time.  Maybe you'll miss a call worth a lot of money?  Maybe I'll be late for a patient who will, in turn, never return due to the doctor's tardiness.  How about the risk/cost to reward ratio of choosing to be an amateur Luger, or Snow Board Aerialist?  High reward: Huge achievements of athletic proficiency, maybe fame, an olympic medal, perhaps.  High risk: Very sad story involving Canadian Sarah Burke who died in a training run when she fell and hit her head on the ground.  My deepest condolences to her family and friends. 

Risk/cost to reward is calculated in a more direct manner as it pertains to our health all of the time.  Is the reward of ordering bacon worth the risk of heart disease today, any day, everyday?  Should I do a certain back strengthening exercise in order to prevent low back pain?  Maybe the exercise will be performed wrong causing back pain?!

The motivation for this blog began the other day when I was discussing long term chiropractic care with a patient.  I was explaining the value of ongoing care: maintaining healthy spinal joint motion, a healthy nervous system, loose muscles and decreased stress.  The risk or cost to reward ratio here seems to focus more on the perceived value of reward compared with the cost to gain such reward. The cost includes a financial and scheduling commitment. The scheduling commitment can be overcome: We are creatures of habit. If we build one early morning, or one lunch-time, or one after-work treatment into our schedule, the reward will be enormous. Regarding the financial cost, I will say this: The cost of maintaining a healthy spine now will be far outweighed by the cost of pain control and arthritis treatment later in life, not to mention the improved quality of life now.

From my perspective, the reward far outweighs the risk or cost.