An App for Those That Need External Motivation

Feature Entry: An App for Those That Need External Motivation

Here is what Carolyn See of the Washington Post said about law officer Sunderson: “He is still sick-in-love with Diane, who’s married again, and he’s a compendium of bad habits, but he walks every day and somehow keeps his life in balance.” It seems that many of us are a ‘compendium of bad habits.’

Another bad habit is related to exercise and the store front fitness centers in your neighborhood. January is their busiest time of the year for these usually worthy entrepreneurs. We gain weight, we repent, and then we join a fitness center. The centers charge a non-refundable minimum membership fee and a length-of-time contract, three months minimum due at signing. Joining is not the bad habit, regular attendance is. Too many people join, attend a time or two and then lose interest or motivation to continue. Then at the end of the year, we purchase new clothes, one or two sizes larger than the year before.

Want to change the cycle? Harvard behavioral economists may have the answer. Professor Sendhil Mullainathan teaches that people are more motivated by “immediate consequences than by future possibilities.” Two of his students moved from theory to practice and created a rapidly growing company based on an app that works off of their customers iSO phone (think iphone, ipad, ipod, and others). The company??? Gym Pact!

http://www.gym-pact.com/

Gym Pact works with local fitness centers. When you sign up, you make a commitment to exercise a certain amount of time. If you skip your workout, you get fined $5 a day. The money goes into a user’s pool and at the end of the week, surplus dollars are given to the people that honored their pact. When the exercisers checks in to their fitness center using their iSO phone, Gym Pact confirms your presence via the GPS. The money is handled through credit cards and PayPal. In their beta test, 90% met their pact requirements.

It is that simple: “When you sign up, you make a commitment to exercise a certain amount of time.” There are four simple steps: 1) join, 2) set your pact, 3) check in at your gym, and 4) get rewarded.

Somewhere, in some dimension, B.F. Skinner has a big smile on his face. Go ahead, check out the Gym Pact url listed above.

MoneyWalker

Photo by Richmond College Fitness Center

Refrigeration Door Wisdom for Weight Loss

Feature Entry: Refrigeration Door Wisdom for Weight Loss

A nice lady well known to the MoneyWalkers has an interesting habit of creating and posting great advice on her refrigeration door; we will call her “G”. On a recent visit, we noticed this gem posted as if her teen daughters had provided a reminder note for her benefit. It read as follows:

Mom, remember…
• No sugar or alcohol on weekdays.
• Eat only fresh vegetables for smacks
• Select smaller portions during the regular meals
• Eat only whole grains

These are great pithy reminders and easy to remember. G is not forsaking sweets and a fine glass of wine; instead she is using these treats as rewards for healthy vigilance. She is not eliminated snacking. In fact she implies that snacks are important component of strategies for losing or maintaining weight loss. Eating snacks reduces hunger cues which often lead to eating sweet or over processed treats. The Moneywalker really enjoys raw carrots.

It takes discipline but G has learned to take smaller portions of her delicious entrees, and then eats more slowly so as to send a “filling” message to her appetite sensors. She doesn’t forgo breads and pastas but is careful to eat more digestible and less fattening whole grain varieties.

G is an exerciser, but as a busy mom, she knows that completing time consuming calorie burning exercise often is set aside so as to meet her obligations as a busy house of pre-teens and teens. She is correct; calorie management is a more efficient weight loss/maintenance tool than is aerobic exercise, although both are importance.

Want my pithy addition? What she said!

MoneyWalker

Weight Scale Data: 177.0 lbs
Money Found today: $1.47 with several “sweet” finds; very motivating

Altruistic Walking

Altruistic Walking

The MoneyWalker is intrinsically motivated to sustain his walking habit because he has internalized and accepts the scientifically demonstrated values of walking e.g. weight management, emotional energy, avoidance of premature memory loss, cut the risk of heart disease, and reduce the chance of type 2 diabetes. There are more. However, walking is not necessarily a strong ally of intrinsic motivation. The steady routine can lead to boredom and walkers’ burn-out. One cure for walkers’ burn-out is altruistic walking, a fence straddler it turns out on the motivation internal/external continuum.

How so external motivation as a tenant of altruistic behavior? The research of Alberto Oliverio, a genetic and molecular biologist, leads him to believe that one of the important motives of altruism and moral judgments is grounded on the principle of reciprocity. In other words, we expect to be treated as we take care of other people. Neuroscientists including “evolutionary psychologists” are now able to probe deep into the brain lobes and learn much about behavior, much of it traced to evolutionary sources. Interestingly, the area of the brain that fires neurons during selfless behavior is the same area that fires during selfish behavior and with the same intensity and duration. For the ancients, success in the survival game might have been just as dependent on being a helper as being helped.

As a near daily walker, opportunities for altruism abound. For example, during a Christmas morning walk, the MoneyWalker found a Louisiana drivers license. It belonged to a Mario with an Hispanic surname and included his address. My first thought ran to selfishness; not my culture, dump the card. Then selfless behavior kicked in and I sought to find his telephone number from the address. No success. I then remembered that an Hispanic work crew had been renovating a building behind the curb where the license was found. Later, finding the crew at work, I stepped into the building and was greeted with coolness by one of the workers (not his culture group). Not deterred, “Do you know someone named Mario?” as I showed him the license. He exclaimed in a loud voice to one of his co-workers, the one that seemed to be the boss, “Mario, come here, look at this (In English obviously for my benefit.)” One look told me the license belonged to Mario. “Thank you, Thank you”, he repeated over and over; “You have made my Christmas!” And his joy helped make mine.

Now will someone help me find my cell phone, it must be out there somewhere!

Happy New Year everyone.

Remember the big four resolutions for weight lost: Weigh every day and journal the results; eat a healthy breakfast; walk 10,000 to 15,000 steps a day; and practice portion control.

The MoneyWalker

Recent money success: Found a $20 dollar bill during last Sunday’s walk. It, like all found money goes into the charity bag.

Recent weight gain/loss: Up two pounds from the Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year’s holidays. In the words of Governor Perry—Opps!

The Joy of Christmas, The Joy of Walking

Feature: The Joy of Christmas, The Joy of Walking

One of the MoneyWalker’s followers sent an off-list link to an article from the current issue of the Economist, perhaps the world’s finest news/commentary magazine. The article, “The Joy of Walking," discusses the moral, legal, and financial aspects of Walking in England, Europe, and the U.S. A few quotes follow:

• From “Song of the Open Road”, Walt Whitman wrote:

Afoot and lighthearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.

• The modern traveler will approach the bridge across the river Wharfe with a different purpose. A sign at its foot heralds the start of the Dales Way, a 76-mile (122-kilometre) trek through some of the prettiest parts of England.

• The joys of walking have long inspired poets and writers. Some have spoken of the sense of freedom that comes from leaving the city behind; the delicious choices offered by forked paths that lead through deep woods or over hilltops.

• Walking seems to set the mind free for contemplation. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said that “All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.” The Welsh writer Lloyd Jones, who was inspired to produce his first novel by a 1,000-mile trek round his homeland, said that “The moving landscape provides an absorbing diversion which frees the mind and gives us a fresh viewpoint, and we’re most at ease with the world when we walk because everything is happening at a manageable pace.”

• Some politicians like the ability to ponder the great issues of state as they plod. William Gladstone, a Victorian prime minister and moralist, was an enthusiastic daily walker, opening a route up Mount Snowdon at the age of 83. While mired in the euro zone’s financial woes this year, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, chose to spend her summer holiday walking in the south Tyrol.

The MoneyWalker will allow the Economist’s commentary to speak for the “Joys of Walking.” He will comment on his own personal commentary on the “Joys of Christmas.”

• Sharing the food preparation with Ms. MoneyWalker on Christmas morning. Her roast turkey and pecan pie are unbelievably delicious. Ditto for her homemade cranberry sauce, cornbread dressing, and baked sweet potatoes. I pitch in with Paul Prudhome’s great Corn Maque Choux. It takes hours of prep time, but so worth it. The cooking is amplified with ample amounts of well “seasoned” eggnog and an appropriate amount of time under the mistletoe.

• Reading the Christmas story before blessing the food to the visiting MoneyWalker clan while keeping Christ in Christmas.

• Quality time with the grandchildren and watching them play with their toys.

• Listening to our church’s great choir and musicians perform the spiritual and classical songs of the season.

And then to combine the “Joys of Walking” with the “Joys of Christmas,” he will take a long walk at twilight to burn a few Christmas calories while enjoyed the neighborhood lights and decorations; and perhaps spotting a few loose coins.

Merry Christmas everyone! Keep Walking!

MoneyWalker

Today’s Weight = ????

Today’s Money find = $1.43

Dude, Don’t Stop Walking?

Dude, Don’t Stop Walking?
‘Dude’ is one of those ubiquitous universal words currently in vogue. It is used in every possible corner of the globe, in every possible situation. “I aced my exam, Dude!” “Did you get that raise you were looking for at work, Dude?” Or, maybe it’s your nickname as in Jeff Bridge’s Dude Lebowski from the 1998 cult bowling film.

However, there are limits to its use. The Moneywalker is as engaged as the next person in the cultural life of our times including the slang that we use. Still, sometimes the “great unwashed” go too far. On a recent wedding trip to honor our nephew, Ms MoneyWalker and I checked into a 3.5 star Ft. Worth, TX hotel. After settling in, I approached the twenty-something at the front desk with a routine issue. His greeting, “How can I help you Dude?”

I wanted to reply “Did you say ‘Dude’? I’m old enough to be your grandfather, Dude!” It would have been a waste of time; I can hear his smart-back answer, “Whatever, Dude!” Way too subtle for him to understand not to use slang terms in discourse with people of older age brackets, of higher social status, or of greater responsibility. I like my daughter-in-law’s restraint. She only uses the word when she needs a pejorative put-down such as: “Dude, the line forms at the rear!”

As we approach the holidays and then New Year’s resolution time, these psycholinguistics lessons lead back to walking and weight control, how about a few “dude” reminders, but just for your own self-talk.

"Dude, have you stopped weighing?”
“Dude, is that your fourth glass of nutmeg?”
“Dude, your waist line is losing the battle!”
“Dude, don’t stop walking!”

MoneyWalker

Today’s Weight = 175.6 lbs.

Today’s coinage = $1.26

Game Day Walking

Free lancers in the Quarter

Game Day Walking

What can regular walkers do to avoid the staleness that comes from the routine of sameness? The MoneyWalker has been walking five or six times a week for several years. Even the enjoyment that comes from finding money along the walking paths can lead to melancholy thoughts of “is that all there is?” One boredom buster is the special event walk.

Today’s walk into the New Orleans’ French Quarter qualifies. A Sunday visit to the French Quarter is always dynamic, especially on an NFL Game Day. What a treat watching Saints and Detroit Lions fans partying with their pre-game optimism.

Today’s walk was a “Nazarite Walk” meaning that is was a long disciplined walk where finding money was secondary to physical fitness and viewing the sights of the Quarter. Even without an NFL game, the 75 degree clear skies and the usual treats of the historic streets of Royal, Bourbon, Decatur, and Chartres assured the walk’s success.

Visual and auditory delights were bountiful. One photo opt was a latticed iron balcony covered with tropical vegetation and Saints paraphernalia. Royal Street was a Carnegie Hall rival with excellent musicians playing their harmonic notes for dollar tips. One nonchalant Saints fan parking his white 30 year old Lincoln Continental on Bourbon Street for no apparent reason other than to show off his “over-the-top” Saints tuxedo with black and gold shimmering sequins. There was a momentary traffic jam but no one seemed to mind. Of course the watering holes on Bourbon Street were jamming with mind numbing versions of “When the Saints go marching in.”

Game time! Can someone help me with some musical notes… ♭♮ ♯...I can faintly hear “When the Saints go Marching in" from the Super Dome.

MoneyWalker

Today’s Weight = 175.8 lbs
Today’s money find = $.44

What is a Walking Warrior?

Drew Brees image by Fansedge

Feature Entry: What is a Walking Warrior?

EtcWarrior is a frequent poster to the MoneyWalker’s blog. A recent post stimulated an idea for three blogs: a speculation of the motive for combining etcetera and warrior as a user name, high-tech walking, and this blog – what is a walking warrior? The first two ideas will be in future blogs.

Don Flanagan borrowing a description of the French soldier Pierre Terrail Le Vieus while writing about one of Anthony Trollope’s characters provided a high standard for one worthy of being described as a “warrior”: “a 'preux chevalier sans peur and sans reproche,' a gallant knight [warrior] without fear and beyond reproach.” As a New Orleans Saints National Football League fan, the Saints’ quarterback Drew Brees comes to mind as a consummate warrior. As a person he is a model of selflessness, but on the field he takes no prisoners. Then when the game is over, he is first to congratulate the players on the opposite team for their great performance.

As a metaphor for excellence, the thinking activity from today’s walk led to the consideration of “warriors” from other disciplines, art forms, and professions. As a politician Winston Churchill came to mind. How could beat down England hold off the German juggernaut? In industry, is there a better example than Andrew Carnegie? Today we have Carnegie Mellon university; the incomparable Carnegie Hall in New York; dozens of city libraries, both building and holdings around the country; and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Carnegie was a warrior in the Drew Brees mold.

For pop music, I like Elton John, Bono, and Billy Joel. Take your pick for the warrior award, the MoneyWalker likes Billy Joel. In religion, most agree that the blessed Pope John XXIII and his Vatican II accomplishment might be the greatest warrior. Then there is Gandy, Martin Luther King, Billy Sunday, Martin Luther, John Wesley, and legions more. The MoneyWalker likes the Reverend Billy Graham. In literature, everyone has a favorite, for serious literature that is as readable today as when it was written in Victorian England, the MoneyWalker reads Joseph Conrad.

So what is a walking warrior? The MoneyWalker’s criteria includes the following categories: He or she is consistent, motivated, is a pedestrian, makes a difference in terms of the culture of walking, is safe, and walks for fitness. Rain or shine, in heat or cold, on vacation or at work, the walking warrior finds time for the walk. The warrior seeks a way to stay motivated over the long term. He or she walks as a lifestyle. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow the walking warrior will find to take a long walk. The walking warrior is a pedestrian walker forsaking the automobile when shopping needs can be met with a walk rather than a ride. He or she is a reflective walker and adds to the culture of walking by encouraging others to be walkers. The warrior not only walks for fitness but he or she finds ways to tell others of the benefits of walking by writing and verbally telling others of the merits of walking. In so doing, the warrior adds to the culture of walking. The walking warrior is a safe and considerate walker. There will be no accident due to careless risk taking by the walker. Drivers of cars, bikes, and trucks as well as other walkers hold the walking warrior in esteem for the walking etiquette followed. And finally the walking warrior walks for physical fitness keeping the body weight low and the self esteem high. My vote for the top walking warrior goes to the great Mark Twain.

Join the MoneyWalker, become a walking warrior.

MoneyWalker

Weight report: 175.8 lbs.

Money found during the last four walks: $8.31, $.89, $1.01, and $4.10