Choose 1 Lose One

Here at MAMA we have a Chose 1 Lose One board as part of our Training For Warriors Program. As an accountability tool, we ask students to write one thing they commit to taking on and one thing to eliminate in their larger goal of getting more fit, healthier and becoming a better person. While some students embrace the exercise, others seem to avoid it like the plague, while others will discount its value all together. So, the million-dollar question to ask is does something like an accountability board help us reach our goals?

In 1998, the FAA Administrator established the Accountability Board to provide oversight and ensure that management is accountable for responding to allegations of sexual harassment, misconduct of a sexual nature, and related reprisal. The Board, comprised of senior level executives, sets standardized procedures so that management responds to allegations in a timely, consistent, and appropriate manner. [source]

Many IT companies employ a Scrum Board as a tool that helps project teams make their work backlog items visible. The board can take many physical and virtual forms but it performs the same function regardless of how it looks. The board is updated by the team and shows all items that need to be completed for the current “sprint” or work cycle.

Coach Martin Rooney, founder of Training For Warriors, has instituted the Choose 1 Lose One board to not only challenge students to set goals but also serve as a rally point for coaches and fellow gym goers to encourage one another and help each other remain accountable to the goal. Goals are easy to make. Doing the things necessary to achieve them is entirely different animal. Just like Eric Thomas emphatically says, “Everyone wants to be a beast until it’s time to do what beasts do!”

Putting a goal up on a board makes it REAL. It announces to the world (your gym family anyway) that this is what I want to do, this is what I want to accomplish…please help me do it! We all need help; nobody is self-made. Some may feel it’s unnecessary, perhaps even childish, to write something on the board. Studies show those who physically write down goals, put a specific timeline against it, and tell others about them have a propensity to achieve them with greater regularity. Our experience here at MAMA confirms the same.