Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

You know those people who set their mind to something and just seem to make it happen?

Sure they put in the work. They may even encounter a hurdle or two to step smoothly over. However each time you check their progress they don’t appear to be pushing a boulder up a mountain – in torrential rain – while being buffeted by relentless wind.

I’m not that person. In fact I’m a little more the slippery boulder up a mountain in the rain and wind type.

I didn’t choose to be this way. And if you can relate then today’s show is for both of us! Today:

Are You Making This Harder Than It Needs To Be?

I’m going to make today’s show applicable to FUEL (so that’s everything food) and MOVE (that’s everything exercise) and also look at each through the lens of Action, Expectations and Judgement.   

Let’s get rolling…

One: FUEL.

Although I now follow a 100% plant based diet, a couple of years ago I ate fish for a year or so. I’d been vegetarian for 20+ years and hadn’t touched meat or fish and subsequently had zero fish cooking skills.

One or two delicious restaurant meals into my fish phase and I decided to try my hand at cooking it.

I was actually house-sitting a stunning mansion for a dear client who had kindly insisted that I ask my mum and dad to town to stay for a long weekend. What a prefect opportunity to put to use a magazine spread worthy kitchen and a decadent looking Neil Perry snapper dish.

The more trouble I go to the more impressive right? And how hard can it be?

Well that depends on how many steps (many), what number of unique utensils are required (surely the mansion stocks a covered clay dish the exact size?) and also how many elements need coordinating (too many).

The dish did work. It was delicious. However I certainly made it much harder than it needed to be. And I’m sure some fish on the magazine spread worthy BBQ would have been at least as delicious.

To make this more specific to you,

First, when you look at your ACTIONS relating to the fuel you feed your body: Are You Making This Harder Than It Needs To Be?

=> Perhaps you make a big batch of the biggest, most nutritious veggie soup on the weekend and expect you’ll be satisfied eating it for lunch and dinner for the rest of the week? Maybe that’s possible if you really love that veggie soup AND add satisfying protein and good fats to it (like hemp and pumpkin seeds) however you know YOU. If you get huge joy from food (as I do) and you’ve gotten bored with same old in the past, you super-likely-will again in the future.

=> Or maybe you’ve suddenly cut everything non-ideal from your daily eating however have not replaced each eliminated food with a better option? Restriction based actions are never going to be sustainable.

=> Possibly you’re modeling the eating approach of someone who has more time and even money than you? I have clients who will happily spend $17 on a green smoothie to start their day. To me that’s ridiculous. I’m more a batch my own smoothies on Sunday girl. Equally, although I now make my own pesto and hummus I wasn’t always willing to make the kitchen time available for such things… and I’m still not up for making my almond or cashew milk.

In short, it’s not about the best actions… It’s about Sustainable Actions.

Second, what are your EXPECTATIONS regarding those actions?

Put another way… What’s a Pass?

=> More on plan meals than off plan? Or are you setting yourself up for failure and expecting perfect?

=> Maybe a Pass is learning from something that didn’t work and not making that mistake again? 

=> Hopefully a Pass is not never making a bad choice but rather getting back on track with your very next meal and preventing a detrimental downward demolishing spiral.

Finally, what sort of JUDGEMENT do you level at yourself so far as your actions and expectations?

Although I’m a harsh personal judge in a lot of areas I’m pretty kind to myself with cooking. As much as I was keen to prepare a beautiful meal for my parents I didn’t see it as catastrophic if the fish was a failure. I knew the kale chips, roast brussels and salad would work!

My ego could handle it.

Perhaps because I didn’t feel I’d set myself much of a bar to live up too. And my mum is such an amazing cook, that the notion of competing with her is beyond ridiculous. I’m much happier to funnel my energy into appreciating her glorious creations.

I guess Judgement put another way… could be: What are you making this mean?

=> Letting your huge bowl of salad go limp and soggy in the fridge at work while you buy sandwiches each day with your colleagues does not mean you’re: Weak. Undisciplined. Or that you don’t want it enough. It means you need to create a more enticing lunch option for yourself.

=> One or 19 failed approaches does not mean you can’t or won’t be able to stick to it next time either. Unless of course you decide it means that. It’s your choice though.

=> More time, effort and frustration than you had anticipated does not mean you’re not cut out for this. However this relates to your goal. On the contrary, I like to think it means “I’m the type of person who will do whatever it takes to create a fit, strong, healthy body I love.”

Stepping away from the kitchen…

Two: MOVE.

There are a couple components of exercise that 100% guarantee you’re making it harder than it needs to be.

In short: Trying To Out Train A Bad Diet and,

Consistency or lack there of.

So to stick with our previous 3 questions:

First, when you look at your ACTIONS relating to the way you move your body: Are You Making This Harder Than It Needs To Be?

=> Perhaps you see exercise as what you do to ‘make up for’ excessive eating. Or put another way, exercise is the punishment you must endure to ‘eat normally.’ 

=> Rather than a non negotiable training plan that happens regardless of and separate to your eating actions you drag yourself to the gym or out for a run when you feel guilty enough for the food you’ve been demolishing.

It’s a vicious, reactive self perpetuating cycle of excessive eating => excessive exercising => excessive eating…you get the UN-fun picture.

=> It’s also a cycle that is more Stop:Start than consistent. You get to keep experiencing the hard part of starting an exercise program when you’re lees fit, when you’re motivated by guilt or discipline rather than carried along by a habit born of consistency.

=> It’s also a cycle that means you get to endure all the sacrifice and sweat without the results that make it worth while. 

Not many of us will stick with something that is all about sacrifice without results.

Second, what are your EXPECTATIONS regarding those actions?

Again, What’s a Pass?

=> More exercise days than rest days? Or are you setting yourself up for failure and expecting perfect?

=> Maybe a Pass is a walk around the block rather than nothing.

=> Hopefully a Pass relates to the actions you take rather than the results they deliver. I always recommend focusing on the right actions rather than for example, the result on the scales.

The right actions will always deliver results. Perhaps not as easily or swiftly as you would love. However, if you’re consistent (!) they will deliver the result.

Finally, what sort of JUDGEMENT do you level at yourself so far as your actions and expectations?

Even: What if your body responded to the Judgement you level at it?

I hope I haven’t lost you here (!) however if you consider some of these comments I regularly hear:

=> “I’m just not a natural exerciser!”

=> “I’m lazy… and I have a slow metabolism… and I’m not 20 any more… my body is built for comfort not sweat. At least I’d survive for a while on a dessert island!”

=> “Maybe I’m just meant to be chunky on bottom and scrawny on top?”

(that last one was something I used to believe)

I’ve also seen enough non-natural-athletes transform their bodies into smokin hot, strong, healthy, fit machines and equally I’ve seen the genetically gifted get complacent and couch-potato their bodies into unhealthy and unhappy.

As I mentioned earlier, whether we’re talking Food or Exercise, More time, effort and frustration than you had anticipated does not mean you’re not cut out for this. It means instead: “I’m the type of person who will do whatever it takes to create a fit, strong, healthy body I love.”

To get actionable today, Are You Making This Harder Than It Needs To Be?

In relation to your eating or exercising here’s a question to ask and then implement on accordingly.

*Full credit to Tim Ferris as I heard him ask this question in his recent podcast on How To Optimise Creative Output:

That question: “What would this look like if it were easy?”

If you liked, Are You Making This Harder Than It Needs To Be? you’ll also like:  Self Sabotage: 5 Things To Stop Doing Today.

If you’re yet to share the Healthification love – just click here to zip over to iTunes and leave an honest rating and review. It’d help me out big time. With gratitude, Kate.