About twenty years ago I worked for a direct response insurance company. Our goals in marketing were clear: identify prospects who were good risks, acquire new accounts and find ways to lower the cost of every new customer.
At one point it occurred to me that these goals would never change. No matter how many new accounts we enrolled, no matter how low our acquisitions costs got, I would come to work each day looking to push that same rock just a little bit further down the road.
The rock was the rock. Follow me after the jump...
WHEE (Weight, Health, Eating and Exercise) is a community support diary for Kossacks who are currently or planning to start losing, gaining or maintaining their weight through diet and exercise or fitness. Any supportive comments, suggestions or positive distractions are appreciated. If you are working on your weight or fitness, please -- join us! You can also click the WHEE tag to view all diary posts.
At the insurance company, we would try new marketing programs, measure response, weed out things that were not working, model lists, execute, measure, repeat. Month after month. Quarter after quarter. Rarely were there any major breakthroughs... it was more of a grind.
There was a science to direct marketing, and after a while you could predict the outcome of any marketing effort in advance. Over time, the cost-per-order came down, dollar by dollar by dollar. But at the end of the day, the rock was the rock. It was never going to change. So after 18 months, I left to do something new.
So how does this relate to WHEE?
I am at that point in my weight loss journey where this whole living healthier thing is starting to look a lot like that rock. Eat less. Exercise more. Eat less. Exercise more. The science of weight loss is not any more complicated than direct mail. Track your efforts. Monitor results. Repeat. Month after month. Quarter after quarter.
If you haven’t caught on by now, I’m not the kind of person who likes to work on the same goal for an extended period of time. Once I’ve figured out how to do something, the actual doing gets monotonous.
Anybody else out there feel like you are looking to push that same rock just a little bit further down the road?
Quitting smoking was an event. Losing weight is beginning to feel like a life-long struggle.
I think I’ve gotten bored. I have not lost any weight for the past eight weeks. Have not really tried. I am still 30 pounds heavier than I should be. Yes, it’s the dog days of Whee-nter.
Today's topic: have you ever reached the point when you've thought about giving up on your quest to live healthier? What is one to do?