How Wearable Technology Can Help Us Maintain Motivation and Celebrate Success

As a former group fitness instructor in the 90s, I was skeptical when wearable technology came onto the market. I remember mixing my own tapes for aerobics music, then graduating to making CDs. At the time, I was not one to jump onto new technology, like downloadable playlists when they first came out (I know, hard to imagine!). When I realized how easy fitness technology was to use, I learned to embrace changes and try new things. Now I encourage others to lean into apps and technology as they create their own goals.

As I reflected upon the last year and focused forward into hopes and possibilities for the new year, I took time to glance back at my fitness goals and successes. I was happy to see my progress over the year one thing that helped me was allowing wearable technology to keep track of statistics as I focused on my physiological cues and milestones.

In addition to checking my stats every now and then, it is really fun for me to see badges and achieved challenges on my fitness trackers. It sounds simple, but it is a reward system that has been successful in many areas of health and wellness. In fact, ". . . behavioral therapy techniques are often used to help with developing new skills, connecting the steps required to complete a task, and rewarding desired behavior. . ." so it is ideal for exercisers. Peloton, for example, is known for motivating challenges they provide to exercisers. I was motivated by Peloton's The Annual challenge and set a goal to earn at least 2,000 minutes of Peloton workouts in about five months. Seeing the badge in the achieved category in my profile provided me with a sense of pride for reaching and exceeding my goal.

Then, I was excited to see the Finish Strong badge on my Garmin that celebrated my New Year's Eve workout (I didn't even know that was a thing!).

This propelled me to start the year out with exercise and celebrate my accomplishments so I went for a run and earned Garmin's Start Strong badge.