The Compass

According to the Oxford Dictionary, there are three meanings to the word compass, the third of which is "the range or scope of something".  A compass is also an instrument using a magnetic pointer to determine true north and your direction, relative to true north.

These days there are many instruments available to track the data of our workouts and food consumption.  They track our heart rate, number of steps we take in a day, caloric expenditure due to movement, caloric intake from food, hours we sleep, the quality of that sleep and our work capacity for the day based upon heart rate variability. It is possible to record all kinds of data about our activities and then have spreadsheets correlate that data with the results of our fitness tests: how far we ran/biked/rowed, what our speed/time was, how much we lifted, how much force we generated, how much work we did.

All of that information can be very useful; what gets monitored gets managed.  But first we need a compass.  In our case, the compass is within.  It is our own ability to become as objective as possible with ourselves, to ask ourselves who we are, where we want go and when and how we want to get there... and if we are truly willing to do the necessary work.

Once you have used your inner compass to determined where you want your fitness lifestyle to take you, and where you are now in relation to that destination, then the various tools can provide a wealth of information that allows you to objectively track your progress.  Just be sure that you have a clear idea of what you hope to accomplish, otherwise all those gadgets can become nothing more than distractions.