Hello *|FNAME|*,
Have you ever thought to yourself?
‘why when it comes to the 11th hour can I not make the right decision and do what I need to do?’
you know this would benefit your self improvement and wellbeing
but instead you do something else that distracts you and steers you further from your goal.
The reason why comes down to several things:
1. Your reliance on motivation
Permanent motivation is a fantasy. No one is always motivated!
If you’re conjuring up an image of someone in your head. They’re not, it’s a misconception.
You might even perceive me as someone who is motivated. I’m not!
My motivation is fleeting at best. I’ve made my peace with not being motivated for protracted periods, and yes I seize it when it’s there.
But motivation only makes the task a little easier, it’s not the determining factor of whether I do what I need to.
My point is this..
…the majority of the time I don’t feel like doing what I need to. But I crack on regardless.
Because I’ve built my discipline and increased my self control.
Plus, I’ve cultivated a routine and environment that doesn’t test my urges, a ‘Ulysses contract’ if you would. So I’m not getting distracted.
That’s not to say I don’t experience temptation and the lure of distraction. I do.
But I’m able to fend it off by acknowledging the distraction.
Then I hear the voice of Gold Five from Star Wars telling me to ‘Stay on target’ and I swat the temptation away like an annoying mosquito.
So I stay focused on the task, present with what I’m doing. Giving it my full attention.
2. Hardwiring
We human beings have some outdated programming.
Our operating systems are running the command: avoid pain, seek pleasure.
Whilst this programming was beneficial for us in the Palaeolithic era (to keep you alive). In the modern era it’s become detrimental to your wellbeing.
We live in an environment where food, fornication, stimulants, amusements are abundant.
This constant drive for pleasure, this archaic programming, is now self destructive.
Companies have tapped into this pleasure drive and are selling you products to appease it.
(which is insidious because they profit as you perish).
There’s now so much pleasure immediately available we’re over consuming. And it’s making us weaker and unhappier.
But you can help yourself. You can recognise the outdated pleasure command and start re coding your mind.
Enter this:
}
partake in activities (that bring) {
short term pain(and long term gain);
}
}
3. Irrelevant goals
Ask yourself; is it actually your goal or are you going along with the masses?
Are you confusing society’s goals with your own? ‘Keeping up with the Jones’. Upgrading your lifestyle but never stopping to ask yourself:
‘if I didn’t care about what others thought, would I still have this as a goal? Or have I been caught up in the facade that I need x because they have it?
When we’re not doing the things that improve our human experience (the things that enhance our wellbeing) we’ll distract ourselves.
We’ll start looking to others. Making comparisons with people who we shouldn’t be. Forming goals and desires based on what they’ve got.
Reminder: if the grass seems greener it’s usually because you haven’t been watering your side!
but these desires are usually superficial.
And here’s the kicker; with superficial goals come superficial rewards.
Happy on the outside (what’s shown to others), but unfulfilled on the inside.
So dig deep and do what you want to do. If it’s different to the herd’s ideal then you’re on the right track!
4. Absence of a routine
Do you find your days are pretty much you performing random tasks based on how you feel?
Or tasks other people have given you because you have no plans of your own?
This is the definition of operating on a whim.
Without a plan, a routine, you’ll experience inconsistence.
Here’s where a routine would be beneficial.
Before you open your calendar and start inputting tasks to fill your time.
I’ve found the best way to go about this is to reverse engineer your goal.
Start off with your purpose, which is your North Star, your direction to follow. This is important because when you have purpose, what you’re doing will mean more to you.
Then you’ll need to set a goal. It’s one thing to know your purpose, but how will you go about fulfilling it?
Set a goal that’s tangible. Make it big, make it specific and give it a deadline.
Now you know your purpose and you know how to realize it (with your goal). You need to know how to get there.
This is why having a plan is important. It allows you to break your goal down. All the way to daily actions.
After that you build habits. Habits are systems and processes for your life. They ease the smooth running of your day. Most of the time you’ll do them automatically.
Achieving your goal is inevitable when you transfer actions from your plan into habits.
Voila.
Speak soon
Andrew
Tag: lifestyle
When it comes to a healthy way of living the Mediterranean’s always seem to get a mention.
They are renowned for their longevity and wellbeing. Many attribute their diet to the reason behind this.
Although over the years I’ve come up with a hypothesis. The premise is that it’s more to do with their geography and culture.
Yes the Mediterranean diet is pretty good, (if you delve into it they get a balance of fats in their diet; monounsaturated, saturated & polyunsaturated and it is high in nutritional value.
But if you look deeper into their lifestyle they also have geography and culture working for them.
The abundance of sunlight they receive provides them with sufficient vitamin D. Something that us Northerners (hemisphere that is) lack.
And, the most salient point, the emphasis they put on sleep.
Biphasic sleep is sown into their culture. Think about it. They down tools every afternoon for a nap.
Siesta.
Not to mention they have such stringent laws on light pollution.
They protect their sleep and it pays off in spades. Especially when it comes to their national health bill.
The same can’t be said for us in the UK. Incurring a £197.4 billion health bill in 2019. And that cost has increased every year since.
Our geography is not as favourable, and our culture not as health conscious or cognisant. And that my friend is a problem because;
when everyone is sick, we no longer consider it a disease!
– Ravikant.
We wear sleep deprivation as a badge of honour when it’s work related.
Which is ironic seeing as though sleep loss over an extended period of time can cause decreased cognitive performance.
Essentially with poor sleep you’re not in control of your emotions and your emotions can control your behaviour.
This leads to the inability to make sound judgments. Poorer choices and below par performance. Along with it health concerns.
Which is why to be at your best you have to optimise your lifestyle. Nutrition, Stress management, Exercise and Sleep.
All these things done well will see you operate at your best.
You’ll have emotional regulation which aids self control, which is a superpower. I would say better than invisibility or flying.
Ultimately you will be making better decisions.
And you are the sum total of all your decisions!
Most people are playing a multiplayer game.
Comparing and contrasting against others.
‘What have they got?’
‘I should have that too’
‘I need to better them’
If you want to progress what it would be prudent to realise is;
You’re playing against yourself!
No one else.
The people that progress in their lives are playing a single player game.
By adopting this approach only then do you win.
You will no longer be making uneven comparisons. And you’ll find yourself making better decisions.
Decisions derived from the principle of;
short-term pain long-term gain.
When I say pain I’m not talking about the searing pain of exercising whilst injured. Or other methods of seld destruction.
Because those things have no long term gain!
I’m talking about the acute that leads to future returns.
The healthier meal option
The workout.
The decision to turn off the TV and go to bed on time.
The decision to put down a device and think.
So when faced you are faced with your next decision. Ask yourself which has more short term pain and long term gain.
I read a fascinating article yesterday about mountain climbers. It was the Headline that caught my attention;
Mount Everest record-holder says — ‘it’s the trek down that kills people!‘
Veteran Everest climber Kami Rita Sherpa — (who holds the world record for Everest summits with 24 to his name). Said all Everest climbers should focus on making sure they have enough energy to get back down the mountain.
And that’s the thing, most people don’t even consider the journey down. All their attention is on clambering up 8849 meters of rock reaching the summit and celebrating.
Which is the same when people are working on a weight loss goal, when they manage to meet their goal weight they fail with keeping it off!
Most people don’t even contemplate the part where it comes to maintaining their new shape. (That’s if they get there).
Which is why so many people rebound hard to a wosre postion than which they started. That’s because they only tackled the diet aspect of their lifestyle and not the other aspects which have an effect on their diet.
They are hanging by a thread. Until the other factors that haven’t been addressed (stress, poor recovery, poor sleep, inactivity) start to make an impact. Then the diet gives way, which sees the weight rebound.
Your weight management is an indicator that those other factors in your life are in a good place (excluding smokers). So it is prudent that those things are addressed as well as your diet.
Rather than all the attention put on your diet, getting to a certain weight, falling down the mountain and ending up in a mess at the bottom.
If you are in need of a Sherpa to guide you on the health and fitness terrain click here.
If you are looking to make a change it’s not an hour of exercise per week you need help with.
It’s the support outside of that gym session. Sure a trainer beasting you in the gym is fun and exercise is great and you’ll feel good it. But to make changes you need to go beyond that. You need to look past someone counting how many burpees you’ve done. To someone who can give you support outside of that gym session.
I’ve seen people that have had trainers for years and made zero change. That’s because one hour of the week that you exercise is futile when it comes to improving your health. It’s a drop in the ocean.
As I said it will make you feel good for having done it but if you don’t have your nutrition on point it doesn’t matter. if you don’t have your sleep and stress managed then you aren’t getting to the crux of it.
It’s like putting a plaster on a broken arm
Lifestyle choices, the things that you’ve engrained over the years. Are the things that have got you into this situation. One hour of beasting a week isn’t going to help.
And what happens outside of that gym session with a trainer? You’ll have a vague idea of what to do from the sessions you’ve had but as soon as you walk out of the gym. You are on your own. This is tragic because that one hour in the gym accounts for only 4% of your day.
The other 96% is going to be a guessing game, the foods you eat your sleep cycle, how you manage stress, your activity. Plus all the other things that encompass your quality of life.
Without knowing what to do for the rest of the week you are stuck. Unaware of what you need to do to change your body nor do you have the mindset to facilitate change.
That one hour with a trainer does nothing to help you understand your metabolic rate. To determine the calories you need for fat loss and improving your energy. What needs to be a part of your diet to optimize testosterone levels and ensure you are helping keep lean mass. What exercise frequency and type you need to build muscle. Mitigate stress and elevate testosterone levels. What your sleep cycle looks like to ensure that you are energized. So you have focus and improved executive function.
Don’t get me wrong it’s admirable taking action to make a change but when you are not changing. It’s a poor investment. And it’s not the trainer’s fault, I’m sure they’re doing the best. But unfortunately, the entry standard into the fitness industry is low.
Gym staff will be able to guide you with exercise techniques. But someone with a Degree in sports science will have advanced knowledge of physiology. To program your sessions and recommend what exercise is relevant to your goal.
A Nutritionist will be able to plan out your diet to ensure that you achieve your goal of getting leaner. Whilst ensuring that you adjust your diet to optimise your energy and productivity. Increasing your testosterone levels.
An NLP Practitioner will help you manage stress. And ensure that cortisol doesn’t diminish your vitality and energy.
This is why it would be prudent to have a health coach in your corner. Someone qualified in all those areas. Who can program your lifestyle to improve your health.
Ask yourself ‘what is the cost of not doing so?’ To continue on spending thousands on trainers whilst making no change. Wasting time getting nowhere with the newest fad diet that claims to be better than the last fad diet. To carry on feeling tired, exhausted, and stressed.
That is going to be very costly in terms of time and money. Not to mention the toll on your health.
The Limitless Lifestyle Blueprint covers every area of your lifestyle. To ensure that you are in the best possible health to live the quality of life that you want. To look good, feel good, and have that abundance of energy that helps you perform at your best.
Have you ever set a goal and not achieved it?
Are you struggling to do that currently?
It could be the way you are thinking about it!
Setting the intention is great. But, when you’re trying to attain it, your thoughts towards it are very important.
Normally you set a goal in the future. It is great to have something concrete and specific. Measurable and precise.
Writing down the intricacies. And to ensure that it is measurable. Not a state. Your goal doesn’t want to be a feeling.
For example, ‘I want to feel healthy’. Of course, you want that but it is better if you have goals that you can measure accurately.
For example, ‘I want to lower my blood pressure to x/y’. ‘I want to have produced x by this time.’ ‘I want to have improved my health markers for my next health assessment’.
The common problem is after you set the goal. With regards to how you are thinking about that goal.
Saying to yourself ‘it’s going to happen’ is telling your subconscious that it’s in the future.
Making it even more elusive.
You want to be thinking that you have already achieved said goal. Telling yourself ‘I have just achieved my ideal body weight’. ‘I have just secured that contract’. ‘I have got the promotion’.
Telling your subconscious to take the required action to meet the instruction/affirmation. To close the differential from where you are now to the desired version of you.
Maybe you are stuck not progressing? As well as not having the right mindset, it could be because you’re taking advice from the wrong people. They mean well and they are more than happy to offer you their opinion. But you should not be taking advice from people who don’t have the lifestyle you want.
And they should not be offering it if they have not achieved what they are advising. After all, you can’t give what you don’t have.
Which makes me want to ask you. Are you…
someone that knows what they have to do but doesn’t take action or put in the work required?
Or are you trying all manner of things? Working away tirelessly to improve your health. But not getting the results from the work you are putting in. You don’t know what you should be doing.
The latter is the type of person I work with. Those that know that there is work to be done to improve their health. But there are gaps in their knowledge of what to do. With regards to diet, exercise, sleep, stress, and performance.
I’m not interested in working with people that are trying to avoid the work required for change. Reluctant to put in the effort to transform them from the person they are now.
When all it takes is some guidance and some elbow grease. To become the future happier, healthier, more confident, better-performing version of yourself.
You 2.0