Standard Deviation

Standard deviation is a widely used measurement of variability or diversity used in statistics and probability theory. It shows how much variation or "dispersion" there is from the "average" (mean, or expected/budgeted value). HUH? Okaaay....right. Did you get any of that? I was thinking a lot today about the term "standard deviation" so I decided to look it up since it's been a....ahem....while since I studied math in college. Not exactly what I had in mind. When I think of the word "standard," I think usual or normal. Deviation? To go against the plan, off of the beaten path, against the grain. I guess the two words are sort of an oxymoron, aren't they? But we deviate in life all the time. Things rarely go the way they were planned. For example, suppose you are in a plane, and you arrive at cruising altitude, say 30,000 feet. Your flying along (Well, the pilot is. You're just along for the ride) eating your minuscule pack of pretzels (60 calories....journaled of course) and all of the sudden: BUMP! Bump, bump...jiggle, jiggle, bump. Turbulence. This continues for a few minutes, the seatbelt light pops on, the captain explains that some unexpected turbulence has occurred and...yadda, yadda, yadda. You know the rest. SO. What does the captain do? He changes altitude, hoping for a smoother ride. He alters the original flight plan. He deviates. No biggie, right? No one gets hurt. And ultimately, you still get where you were going. If you're driving your kids to school and there's road work ahed, you seamlessly alter your route. Deviation. You had planned to wear your "I "heart" Dinos" T-shirt to school (this one's for my daughter) only to discover it's in the washing machine, so you opt for your baby blue Abercrombie instead. Deviation. None of these examples make you break out in a sweat (okay, the airplane one did for me...I HATE flying.) We take these things in stride, and life goes on. You had planned today to eat 1,700 calories of perfectly balanced amounts of fruits, vegetables, protein and complex carbohydrates (after all, the other blonde eats 2 cups of kibble, day in and day out, and seems to be just fine), and along about ten o'clock in the morning, you get a craving that swoops down on you like a starving vulture and BAM! Before you know it, you've crammed three Twix Mini's into your mouth. Deviation. No biggie, right? Um, NOOO! OMG! It's aaaallll over. The diet is OFF! You are a miserable FAILURE! What is the point anyway? You're gonna be FAT for the rest of your life. Weeeell, at least until next Monday when you start your diet all over again (okay *muttering to self* let's see, it's Tuesday...that gives me 5 days to eat whatever I want until the diet starts again...and pizza is sounding really good right now and...and...and....) Um, deviation? Hellooooo!!! What the heck happened? I thought we had decided deviation was okay. Normal. STANDARD! We can deviate a 747 Jumbo Jet off it's flight plan to avoid turbulence, but we can't incorporate a Twix Mini into our diet plan? Well, I propose a complete change to that thinking. A paradigm shift. A....well....a deviation. Let's crunch some numbers. My coach showed me this on day in a session, and I must say, I was skeptical. No actually, I was scared. Scared that by allowing deviation into the equation, I would never be able to succeed. That by veering off course just a tiny bit I had derailed the whole operation. He was trying to ease me out of the "all or nothing - black and white" perspective, and I wasn't buying it. But let's take a practical look. Go back to that moment at ten o'clock in the morning and the "Twix Mini episode." Let's say you'd already consumed 400 calories that morning. Your goal was to stay at or under 1,700 calories. The Twix Mini's set you back by 210 calories. So now your grand total for the day is 610 calories. That leaves you 1,090 calories to work with. We can make that work, right? Right. Okay, I know what your going to say. Most diet deviations involve WAY more than 210 calories. Yea. I get it. But here's the point. Diet blips feel so permanent. So catastrophic. So...well....deviant. But they don't have to. I submit that we start making these deviations STANDARD. Normal. Just...living. Eat, journal, repeat. Satisfy your sweet tooth. Journal, take a breath, and move on. Work out, break a sweat, and laugh in the face of the Twix Mini. You can't succeed if you expect utter perfection. Life is full of deviations. Embrace them. Let's make standard deviations our new standard operating procedure.