“What is really important is what you learn after thinking you know it all.” Waite Phillips
Ever said:
“I know what I need to do, I just need to make myself do it”?
If you’re telling yourself that, here’s a sanity check for you:
YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO.
That’s not to say you don’t have any good ideas, but that statement actually points out a significant blind spot.
What the statement assumes is your (or my) lack of results is simply discipline problem, a lack of accountability, a character defect, or a mysterious, motivation blackhole.
In reality, it’s none of those things.
HERE’S THE REAL PROBLEM
Or more accurately, here are the two problems.
PROBLEM #1
You have unhelpful, partial, or poorly-timed advice.
Examples of unhelpful advice include:
Blind faith in the "eat less, exercise more" mantra
Trying to lose weight without addressing your digestion, hormones, sleep, or mindset
High-intensity-interval training as your primary exercise strategy
Reducing weight loss to a "food-math" or "cardio-math" equation
Your blind spot is you mistakenly think you have transformative information, when in fact you don’t.
Sometimes trial and error reveals the limitations of the above methods, but often we simply think we have a discipline problem and the inevitable “falling off the bandwagon” only reinforces the self-defeating belief that you can’t stay disciplined—that you are the problem.
What most people do when things like the above don't work, is resolve to “try harder next time,” ad infinitum.
SIDEBAR: In our, admittedly non-scientific recollection of several hundred consultations, both Nina and I estimate people have unhelpful information roughly 60% of the time (talk about a frustrating waste of time running hard in the wrong direction!). What's worse is that having Problem #1 doesn’t mean you won’t also have the more difficult, Problem #2.
PROBLEM #2
You are armed with good advice, but lack discipline.
This is the opposite of Problem #1. Yet, ironically, it still means you don’t know what to do—i.e. you don’t know how to stay disciplined.
More specifically, failing to consistently practice good habits means you don’t know how to:
Adjust your boundaries
Set up systems
Find welcomed accountability
Set realistic expectations
Replace false narratives
Stay positive through struggle
Progress yourself after your initial success
Keep going after the excitement of starting is over
Level up your emotional intelligence
Create white space to absorb and outthink the unexpected so you can stay on track
That’s a pretty gnarly puzzle right?
You can probably see why Problem 2 is even more challenging than Problem 1. Furthermore, put the two together and it makes sense why only 8% of people successful (permanently) lose weight, and why the average person goes on a diet 55 times!
The good news is, you are not the problem. But, overcoming the above blind spots means you have to rethink the way you’ve been approaching change.
You either have an education gap, a systems gap, or both.
Both are fixable.
OVERCOMING THESE BLIND SPOTS
Practical Tip #1: Look for and learn from people who have changed their health and sustained their results. Such people are much more likely to have overcome both of the problems mentioned above.
Practical Tip #2: Pretend a friend asked you for advice on how to solve your exact problem. What advice would you give him/her? In light of the two problems mentioned above how would you help someone think differently?
Practical Tip #2: Analyze your own advice. Turn the tables on yourself. Are you currently following the advice you just gave your friend?
Practical Tip #3: Take your own advice. Take five minutes and figure out how you’re going to implement the first piece of advice you gave. Then go do it.
SUMMARY
Creating change that lasts requires two things simultaneously—1) accurate, practice information, and 2) a continuous focus on learning, iterating, and mastering yourself through an ongoing process.
One without the other will not produce fruit. Both together, game changer.
WANT SOME HELP?
Not 100% confident you’re armed with good health advice?
Not sure what systems to set up to keep you on track?
I got your back.
I recently recorded a webinar where I laid out an entirely different process for addressing this challenge. It's the process we use to create health breakthroughs.
The presentation is 100% free…my gift to you for reading this far.
I’d be shocked if the presentation didn’t reshape how you think about the process of losing weight and building lasting health.
Here’s to your true health and wholeness,
Christian
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