When we make major decisions in our life, we apply a mental model to help gain clarity and hopefully make us choose the best option. Nerds like us love to use the inversion model. This involves looking at a problem from the opposite point-of-view. Instead of looking at how successful something can become, we can explore how to avoid that thing from failing.
But what does that have to do with fitness we hear you ask? And why do you sound like Mark Zuckerberg on trial?
Planning for the worst sets you up for reality. Rarely are conditions perfect and so making a fitness plan that assumes no obstacles is short-sighted. When you have a plan for what you'll do when things fall apart, you won't act in a reactive and unconscious manner.
Here are 3 tips on how you can look ahead for obstacles, so that when you do hit them, you'll have strategies to stay on track.
1) Figure Out The Conditions That Will Make You Quit
Usually, we're told to come up with conditions that will make you successful. Advice for this can look like a mix of determining your values, setting up a schedule or routine, and then installing boundaries to keep to that routine. This is great advice that we also champion. But success in fitness can be dreamy, whereas failure can resemble reality. Nothing will ever be perfect.
Explore the conditions that would have to happen to make you quit your fitness routine. Your partner runs late. Kids move slow to get to their activity. Your job gets demanding. A parent gets sick.
This is a great exercise because the conditions are made visible. Kids taking priority, for example, is probably already happening to you, whereas working out in a perfect environment is in your head. Make potential roadblocks visible. It allows you to come up with IF/THEN solutions right now in order to get around them.
2) Schedule Your Craving
(From Kevin) Being British, I have a constant craving for deep fried fish and chips. It would be my final meal on death row. Every time I drive through Laird, I want to pull over to Olde Yorke, devour their haddock and chips, burp profusely, lick each finger when I'm done, and then slide home using the grease trail from the bag. However, I know that too much of that brings on heart disease.
So, I throw a visit to Olde Yorke onto my schedule (usually when Victoria is out-of-town). When I do have a craving or find myself driving through Laird, I can remind myself, "Not yet, but soon" and carry on with my day. Planning not to eat unhealthy food is incredibly ineffective, so if you find yourself constantly thinking about the good "bad" stuff, schedule it for a future date.
Another quick tip is to portion out your snacks like you would when prepping meals (like a kid's lunch box). Some people, like Patrick Bateman, will even write on the treat the day and date that they get to eat it.
Note: This should be a short-mid term strategy. You want to build up a routine that becomes automatic. Scheduling, at least to begin with, helps save you when a more vulnerable version of yourself shows up.
Turn it Up, Turn it Down, But Never Let The Dial Hit Zero
The top 3 major changes to your fitness routine occur at the birth of a child, pressure at work, or a death or sickness in the family. For new parents, your routine is built around the newborn so maybe your long run becomes a brisk walk with the baby strapped to you. If you're running late or have excessive meetings, your high intensity weight training class becomes an online bodyweight session. When put under a lot of mental stress, your usual 60 minute Yoga class turns into a 25-minute stretch-n-go routine.
Exercise is one of the few concrete things that will help you have more energy and clarity to get through a hard time. From that perspective, and as hard as it sounds in the moment, dropping to zero doesn't make sense.
It's much easier to keep working out if you're already working out. It's very hard to get going again from scratch.
Gain traction and don't let go.
Kevin & Victoria
