by Heath McBride

The general definition of an audit is an evaluation of a person, organization, system, process, enterprise, project or product.

Whether in business, relationship, sport or life in general, having the magnifying glass glaring at our activities over a given period of time reveals how we are measuring up to that activities’ rules, expectations, goals or direction. It’s the “check” to the “checks and balances” of life and yet it never receives too warm a welcome when it strolls down off the horizon overnight and greets us one morning... scheduled or not.

How often do we audit? In the everyday context of things, we hope as seldom as possible. Usually when the word comes up we fret because it usually means we’re going to visited by an agent of the state or federal government... and they are coming for our money. But are they? The auditor will tell you that they are only coming to determine if you have been doing what you are supposed to be doing, financially, according to the law. Doing what we are supposed to be doing?

During a recent audit on my business, the question above was posed regarding my sales taxes but in the process I realized that the question was all too pertinent to my daily and weekly training. Have I audited my training efforts?

I found the answer to be... yes and no. My schedule gets laid out on a monthly or weekly basis. Goals are set for the week and I do the best to meet those goals and hit the week’s sessions while avoiding the zeros caused by life. I test periodically to see where I’m at and to evaluate realized gains/losses from that period of training.

I could answer, “Yes, my training effort is somewhat ‘audited’ by testing.” However, does this fulfill the underlying question of whether or not I’m evaluating what I do on a daily or weekly basis?

Without getting too philosophical, the linear plane of time that life and training follow doesn’t have inherent button-hook patterns in it that allow for involuntary peeks over the shoulder to evaluate what we’ve done. We have to plan to stop, turn around and mentally prepare ourselves to see if we have been doing what we were “supposed” to be doing. We often feel a sense of guilt when we look back and see the zeros rather than objectively determining the “why” of a big O.

How can you increase the frequency of self-evaluation? A few thoughts:

• Acceptance - I was reminded by the tax lady that audits happen. If we accept this, as it pertains to life and training, then the frequency and effectiveness of these assessments may be improved.
  
  
• Scheduling - Just as with our workouts, put down a specific time and date of when a self-audit can be done. This may be involuntarily done, either after a bout of sickness, post race or other life traumas. Being in control of when you choose to sit down and see how things have gone may help in improving how they will be.
  
  
• Reference - Most of us already have logs of training, finances, work schedules, etc. Incorporate your audits into this. Write down what’s been working for you and likewise record what isn’t. Just as writing down goals attributes to meeting them, keeping track of the process of meeting them may also help.
  
  
• Reward - The reward of completing a tax audit and having the auditor find that you owe nothing is the reward. With life, the reward of handling it’s stresses effectively is happiness and a peace of mind. In sport the rewards are often quantified in improved results. Even if they are not, recognize when sustainable improvements are made with some sort of personal reward. It will help change the negative connotation of the process.

We all go through the daily cycle of life, doing what we need to do so that we can make it to the next day. Some days end with the “manana list” clean. The next, we wish the snooze alarm would stop the Earth’s rotational axis and the whole world would have a “snow day.”

Regardless of whether your day starts with a skip in your step or desperately fumbling for the snooze button, as the sun sets the question remains, did we do what we were supposed to do today? It’s a tough question to have to ask ourselves, much less answer every day, but regardless, the question, the evaluation, the audit, sits on the horizon.