With the Whole Life Challenge starting tomorrow, I’ve been considering strategies and practices to help both myself and others succeed in their efforts to change their habits for the better.
One of the most pivotal practices in changing habits is that of setup. I’ve seen (and experienced personally) this practice determine the success or failure of an attempted change over and over. The basic idea is this: if you don’t set yourself up to succeed, you’re unlikely to succeed. It sounds obvious, but we ignore this practice more often than not.
Let’s say that, as part of the Whole Life Challenge, you’ve decided to cut out all processed foods and foods with added sugars. The common way of doing this would be to say to yourself, “I’m going to cut out all processed foods and foods with added sugars,” and to leave it at that, resting on your ability to simply cut yourself off and resist temptation, cold turkey. Nine times out of ten, this doesn’t go well. The first week or two go fine, but after a number of days with no sugared indulgences or processed convenience, the Cheez-its in the pantry find their way into your daily snack habit, and that ice cream in the freezer is just too tempting not to eat.
The alternative to this “I’ll just do it” approach is to invest yourself in the setup -- to give yourself a little help and set yourself up with the tools you need to succeed. In the case above, this would look like donating all of the processed and sugar-filled foods in your pantry that you’re planning to avoid, planning meals in advance, setting aside pre-made healthy snacks for the times of day that you know you’ll get hungry and not want to prepare anything, etc.
In a big way, this comes down to ego. The individual who decides to “just do it” without any setup is resting on the assumption that their willpower alone is enough. While we all would, in an ideal world, be able to live our lives as we want just by our willpower, this is not how reality goes. The majority of us have a willpower that we have not developed enough to say “no” every time a temptation arises.
For one reason or another, we view the cold turkey, willpower-only approach to habit change as a sign of strength, and anything else as a sign of weakness. But if it’s change we’re actually looking for, it’s foolish to assume that we can do it without giving ourselves help and creating the tools for success. Chances are, your willpower needs help, and that’s okay. This may mean removing all junk food from your house, subscribing to a meal-plan service, bringing lunch to work instead of going out, placing a bet with a friend, or otherwise putting some skin in the game to help you succeed. The key is recognizing that success is achieved not through convincing yourself that you can say “no” every time, but in setting yourself up to have already said “no” before you even start.
Here’s to getting better with you all over the next 8 weeks of the Whole Life Challenge!
- Preston Sprimont
Spend 10 minutes working on ring muscle-ups and muscle-up drills
Then:
2 rds for reps
In 90s, complete:
30s L-sit hold
AMRAP box jumps (24/20)
Rest 90s
In 90s, complete:
30s hollow hold
AMRAP pistols
Rest 90s
*record total reps
Posted on 01/20/2017 at 12:00 AM
