Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

I believe it’s important to have a high degree of confidence in ourselves. However how do we weigh that up against a debilitating little habit of overestimating our ability to make the best decision?

=> We constantly throw ourselves unprepared into tempting situations and trust that we’ll make the best decision.

=> We allow ourselves to get into un-resourceful states and trust that again, we’ll make the best decision.

=> We even indulge in a wrong decision today with the misguided trust that yep, we’ll doubly make the best decision TOMORROW.  

You’ve been there right?

Perhaps even the trifecta: You’re at the pub with your dear hot chip and beer guzzling friends, you’re starving after skipping lunch, you tuck into the chips, the beers and order a burger too AND TRUST that tomorrow your food and exercise will be so supremely perfect that surely it’ll make up for today’s decisions?

Except that tomorrow you wake up hungover and a green juice and walk before work is hugely less appealing than an extra 1/2 hours sleep and something quick and refined from the cafe near work.

In today’s show I’m weighing-in on: How To Eliminate The Decision Making Process.

Obviously decision making is a valuable skill… my angle today is that it makes sense to save your decision-making ability for those important once off decisions and let as many food, exercise and even sleep related decisions become habits instead.

To admit that in some circumstances you don’t always make the best decision and then in advance to save yourself a bad decision and eliminate the decision-making process.

The three places where this will be most impactful on your health and in achieving your body gain goal are:

ONE: Your Exercise Plan.

I’m a huge advocate of the strategy that 6 days a week you exercise and 1 SET day a week you enjoy a well-deserved rest.

YES, because life is so sedentary there really aren’t many of us that couldn’t benefit from moving more. We’ve drastically cut our day to day incidental exercise and as a result 2-3 exercise sessions a week just won’t cut it.

Not for a fat loss type of body gain goal.

Even more so because, it eliminates the decision-making process. No “Will I or won’t I rubbish?”

To exercise or not to exercise is NOT dependant on how you feel… whether you’ve had enough sleep, are hungover, have a super-crazy-busy day.

It’s only dependant on whether today is one of those 6 you exercise or not. Simple.

Ideally you will not only exercise on set days however also at a set time and also with a set plan as to whether it’s weights, intervals – what body part if you do a split weights program… as specific as you can get.

The LESS decisions you have to make regarding something that is a non-negotiable essential to achieving your body gain goal the better. Decide once and for all and make it a habit you nurture and protect and strengthen rather than a daily decision you negotiate and reason and risk letting yourself down with.

If you’re yet to set you weekly exercise plan I cover: Your I.D.E.A.L. Training Plan in the 059 podcast.

TWO: Your Eating Plan.

Now before you freak out I don’t mean some strict calorie and portion controlled approach that you document daily in a food diary.

I DO recommend a food diary initially, for a period of a couple of weeks just to get clear on your eating habits and what they are affected by. I cover: Do I Have To Fill In A Food Diary? in the 025 podcast.

Generally an eating plan that works enough to protect you from those over-tired, late night, UNPREPARED eating decisions is just going to be the series of Go2Meals you have up your sleeve for each of the main meals.

It might be as simple as my personal Monday – Friday plan: Green Smoothie for breakfast, Huge Salad for lunch and Big Omelette for dinner. As long as you start each meal with fibrous veg, add lean protein and finish with a little good fat well you can throw away your measuring cups and scales and you won’t go wrong!

It’s only boring if you have the exact some thing every single meal. My smoothies, salads and omelettes are always slightly different the main thing is if I make any decisions they are EASY food decisions… What leafy green? What fibrous veg?

That sort of thing that will never have a detrimental impact on my body gain goal.

THREE: Your Required Hours Of Sleep.

It blows my mind that such a vital component of feeling and functioning optimally is something too many people don’t even consider protecting with good habits.

Sleep is all to often that thing you squeeze in either side of your late night habits – and your early morning commitments.

Decide how many hours sleep you need to function at your best. It’s a ONE TIME decision. Perhaps it’s 7 hours like me or maybe you really struggle with less than 8 hours.

So now the habit that let’s you eliminate the bad decision to stay up and play another round of whatever or flick through another social media feed is that 7 (or 8!) hours before the time you need to get up tomorrow that is the time to be snuggled up in bed with lights out by tonight.

It’s something important enough that it deserves to be a non negotiable habit rather than a nightly decision.

If these three areas in which I suggest you eliminate the decision making process sound like a bit of work… here’s the good news: They Build On Each Other.

AND here’s the bad news: They Build On Each Other for better OR worse!!!

So it really is worth getting a supportive cycle spinning in your favour rather than struggling to fight one bad decision feeding the next bad decision.

To get actionable today: Let’s start with just ONE.

Of the three, Exercise. Eating. Sleep. Which one has most often resulted in a bad decision over the past 30 days?

In this area commit TODAY to make a positive habit you nurture and protect and strengthen rather than a daily decision you negotiate and reason and risk letting yourself down with.

That’s it for another week in Healthification.

Super huge thanks to you for listening and especially to YOU if you’ve left me an iTunes rating and review.

Especially big thanks today to Elke Kora from Aus who writes: Open friendly positive.

Thank you for such a positive podcast real honest and helpful so many wonderful ideas.

Elke, you are so welcome, I’m incredibly grateful you took the time to write a review. It means a lot. Thank you.

If you liked this you’ll also like: My Food Diary: Cheat Day + Ideal Fat Burning Day. (part two)

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.