What's Measured Gets Managed

One of the biggest reasons that folks decide to go to a retreat like ours is because they've got a bucket list and there’s something on that list that is not just about buying a ticket or making a reservation. Sometimes you’ve got something on your list and it’s gonna take commitment and work - day after day, week after week, month after month. Like making money, or paying off debt, or losing weight.

Transformation is always an inside job, but, again, sometimes it’s more than just getting up the courage. Sometimes it’s about committing, and recommitting over and over. Like AA wisdom preaches, you gotta take it one day at a time.

I had a personal growth teacher years ago that intoned over and over, “What’s measured gets managed.” That’s one reason that I love Insight Timer is because each day that I meditate, I get stats that show me how many days in a row that I have meditated, and how many total hours and days I’ve been on the cushion. Insight Timer is like my own personal cheer squad! Same goes for Amy with Duo Lingo - once you get a good streak going, you don’t want to break it. I’ve seen our daughters do the same thing with SnapChat - they like to see how long they can keep it going. What’s measured gets managed. When there are stats, you make sure to keep the streak alive.

That’s the beauty of routine, and keeping track.

When you get to the point when you can say I’ve exercised four times a week for the last six months, or two years or the last decade - it’s part of you. You don’t just skip a day because you don’t feel like it. Same with tracking expenses. When you do that every week for 3 months, you feel pretty good about yourself and an episode of Grey’s Anatomy is not alluring enough to break your streak. You are now the person you believed in the possibility of becoming. You’ve read about those people and admired them. And now...You are one of them! Woo hoo!

When you come to a Perfect Avocado Retreats, after marinating in the empathetic camaraderie and digging deep for the story, you get permission to really, seriously bask in the possibility of your big dreams. We stay there for a long time, relishing in the reality of the dream come to fruition. You play there and see it crystal clearly in your imagination and feel it in your bones. You are ‘sensorly’ there - with all the corresponding sights, tastes, smells and tactileness.

Then comes the best part. You make a plan. A little baby plan that is the seed for the dream. And the plan pulls in all the day to day plays that make up a game plan. They are the seed for a routine. And you know what that means! You are ready for a streak! A streak that you won’t, couldn’t, shouldn’t, don’t want to walk away from. One day at a time. And it builds. And you brag about it to your circle of empathetic women. And they cheer for you. And suddenly, it’s 6 months, twelve months, two years later. And the debt is paid down, or the language is acquired, or the equanimity is part of you. Because what’s measured gets managed.