Dear Tony Robbins,

The other day I was picking up around my apartment and I found an old notebook. This wasn’t any ordinary notebook though, this was a notebook with a purpose. For you see, this was a notebook I had entitled “My Fitness Journal”. I vaguely remember hearing somewhere that if one wanted to get in better shape, it was helpful to keep a diary of daily dietary and exercise routines. Progress is much more easily assessed when it stares back at you from a piece of paper, and thus a journal becomes a motivator. The struggle for a less-sightly muffin top bound together by spiral wiring. Apparently at some point I followed this advice, and it is now the time that I’d like to invite you into the analog of my previous attempt at fitness.

The first page is pretty good. I documented my breakfast, lunch and dinner; as well as the workout I had done for the day. I also wrote about my daily fluid intake, and even wrote an inspirational quote on the inside of “My Fitness Journal” cover flap. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Good stuff. Chubby and cheesy. Lifetime movies have been made with less of a plotline.

Unfortunately for me, it seems as though on my thousand mile journey I took one step, passed out from heat exhaustion and woke up with a different expedition in mind. Page two of “My Fitness Journal” includes some doodles at the top of the page and a list of names I wanted to call my future dog at the bottom. One of which is Esther. Not too sure where that came from. The rest of the notebook entails what appear to be drawings from a rousing game of pictionary and a particularly articulate page with the sentence “I love sun glasses and balls on my face” scrawled across it. Classy, yes, but in no way helpful for cutting caloric intake.

Even though it got diluted through a combination of ADHD and a deep love for pictionary, I was still pretty impressed to see that an attempt had been made at the documentation of goals. I usually only go so far as to think about doing things like that, and it was nice to see that action had actually been taken – even though it was short lived. Who knows, maybe I’ll take another crack at tending to a goal journal. Re-living this experience taught me that some limits are clear while others are a bit hazy and therefore deserve further exploration – sometimes in the form of brushing up on state laws and other times in the form of keeping a progress log. Will I ever be Oprah’s personal trainer? No. Will I ever again have balls on my face? Based on this…well…it’ll probably be awhile, but at least there’s a window.

Reach for the stars people. And then wash your hands.