Earlier this month I had presented a fitness device called FitBit to Mabel. Imagine my surprise when I received a present from Mabel. A FitBit. And a message. "Its Awesome. Try it out".
It was ironic that I was being presented something I had presented. Seemed like I had no clue about its value. As far as I knew, FitBit was a simple wrist band that was a pedometer. Something that measured the number of steps you walked. In fact, its such a simple device that most smart phones have a free app, that will do exactly that.
I opened up my FitBit and set it up. The default setting was 10,000 steps, 30 minutes of moderate activity and burning of 2500 calories. I got an invite to become friends with Mabel and Claudian and Kurund. And was able to see that they were able to do their targets consistently every day for the last few weeks.
Seemed like I had no choice. If they could do it, so could I. And so I did Day 1. I realized that it was relatively simple but needed at least 30 minutes of walking in addition to the daily activities of moving around.
I found myself becoming conscious of the target and subconsciously began modifying my behavior in little ways. I began parking my car at the far end of the lot not the closest. Walk whilst on the phone,...
And then realization hit me. What made FitBit effective was not the pedometer. It had managed to integrate 2 simple but powerful things. The first was measuring your activity on an ongoing basis as opposed to a pedometer that you switched on and off. And the second was connecting and displaying the statistics of your friends. Human nature works very hard in the realm of relativity. If someone else is doing it, then so can you, and so will you.
I'd like to write more, but will allow you to check it out. I gotta go and take a walk.
It was ironic that I was being presented something I had presented. Seemed like I had no clue about its value. As far as I knew, FitBit was a simple wrist band that was a pedometer. Something that measured the number of steps you walked. In fact, its such a simple device that most smart phones have a free app, that will do exactly that.
I opened up my FitBit and set it up. The default setting was 10,000 steps, 30 minutes of moderate activity and burning of 2500 calories. I got an invite to become friends with Mabel and Claudian and Kurund. And was able to see that they were able to do their targets consistently every day for the last few weeks.
Seemed like I had no choice. If they could do it, so could I. And so I did Day 1. I realized that it was relatively simple but needed at least 30 minutes of walking in addition to the daily activities of moving around.
I found myself becoming conscious of the target and subconsciously began modifying my behavior in little ways. I began parking my car at the far end of the lot not the closest. Walk whilst on the phone,...
And then realization hit me. What made FitBit effective was not the pedometer. It had managed to integrate 2 simple but powerful things. The first was measuring your activity on an ongoing basis as opposed to a pedometer that you switched on and off. And the second was connecting and displaying the statistics of your friends. Human nature works very hard in the realm of relativity. If someone else is doing it, then so can you, and so will you.
I'd like to write more, but will allow you to check it out. I gotta go and take a walk.
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