Call me competitive, but I always like keeping score in a game. There is something powerful about seeing the numbers in writing, especially when you win. And if you lose, you can show your opponent how close of a match it was, or that you would have won if the game had ended five minutes sooner. It is all there in writing after all.
I loved being a student because I’d get that wonderful thing called a report card. I was always excited to get an essay back from a teacher because if you turned to the last page you would see that little letter with a circle around it indicating your grade. Some teachers used a fat red pen, like they were shouting at you on paper. But my favorite teacher always wrote our grade in pencil. It showed he trusted us. Those small penciled letters were the highlight of my week.
Knowing that someone is keeping score or writing down a grade makes me try hard. I love to see those winning numbers, bold or quiet. Perhaps this is why writing down my calories is so effective for me. I see the marks; I am pleased with myself. I hardly ever have the heart to splurge into an eating frenzy when I know I will write down what I eat. In fact, recording the numbers provokes me to make the right choice consistently.
So why don’t I write down the numbers every day for every food I eat? It sounds like the ticket to success. I smile when I ponder that question because I really do know the answer. When I want to succeed, I write down the numbers. When I feel like throwing caution to the wind and giving up for the day, I don’t write the numbers down. So the real question is, do I want to succeed?
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