Good Morning,
Although it’s been quite a hectic week, I cannot in good conscience complain.
With tensions continuing to rise between Russia and Ukraine, there are many people fearful for their lives. The speed at which the events unfolded took many by surprise, leading to families scrambling to get out of cities on Ukraine’s Eastern border.
I felt it personally this week as I have team members based in both East and West Ukraine. They may be from a vendor, but as far as I am concerned, they are part of my team.
Knowing that their safety is under threat, seeing Teams calls drop out due to internet issues and hearing of military advancement puts everything into perspective.
It must be terrifying.
Wishing everyone a good weekend as I logged off for the day, made me take stock. We are very lucky. Thankfully I don’t have to be part of a conscription, fighting for my country but many do.
My heart goes out to anyone affected by Ukraine’s invasion.
I can only imagine what it must be like.
Lightbulb Moment
When was the last time you bought a magazine?
Not a digital version through your iPad or smartphone, I mean a real life, hard copy magazine.
My answer is I’m not sure, but it was definitely a long time ago.
If push came to shove, I would say it was probably a Men’s Health magazine.
You know the one, there’s usually some half naked famous man on the front cover flexing his 6-pack or showing off his guns. All with a view of proclaiming that you too can get ripped, strong and sexy.
I was infatuated with such magazines for a long time. Harbouring after a physique I could be proud of.
The truth is, although I was a decent sportsman, I never trained properly.
* I didn’t know how to train
* I didn’t know how to eat
* I didn’t know how to recover
So it’s no surprise that I didn’t have a body like on the front cover. I could always dream I suppose.
(Embarrassing photo taken on holiday in Nice in 2006)
Whether it comes with age or inquisition, wisdom is the key to unlocking potential. That, and action (but that’s for another day).
Because as I approached my 4th decade, I became incredibly vain and set myself the challenge of ‘getting into the best shape of my life’.
If were you to read between the lines, the honest answer is I wanted a 6-pack.
We were hoping to go on holiday to the Maldives for my 40th and I wanted to be in good shape. I know it’s vain but capturing the moments on camera was important to me. There were bound to be many photos and some would end up on the ‘Gram for sure.
So I started a transformation.
Not in an Optimus Prime kinda way, but one akin to generating before and after photos. If I was going to do this properly, I knew I couldn’t do it alone because, if I could I would have done it already.
(One of my favourite toys when growing up was the Optimus Prime Transformers truck)
So I reached out to my best mate and Behavioural Change Specialist, Coach Ben, for guidance.
Over the course of the next 12 weeks, I would track, train and monitor everything.
I started planning meals, working out in the garden (it was mid lockdown in the UK at the time) and trying to be more conscious over what I ate and did. It would be remiss of me to say it was easy because it wasn’t.
When you see transformations, they are impressive. But what you don’t see are the sacrifices made to get there.
Most are not willing to give up the wine / beer / pizza / desserts / peanut butter (insert your guilty pleasure here) to get to where they want to be. Rather thinking, they can retain some moderation and achieve their goals.
Simple answer is this is bullsh*t.
It won’t work.
No matter how much you think it will.
“To achieve goals you’ve never achieved before, you need to start doing things you’ve never done before.” ~ Stephen R Covey.
What marketing companies won’t tell you is that the secret to success is unsexy.
It won’t sell ebooks, it won’t set the world alight and it certainly won’t hit the front covers of magazines.
But it’s all about consistency.
Doing the hard yards every single day, especially when no-one is looking. This is how success is achieved.
As I set out on my 12 week transformation, I started to wonder if it was just my diet that needed a change.
The fact I’ve asked the question should give you an indication as to what the answer should be.
What I was really looking for was a bit of a life overhaul.
As we get older, it is easy to think that age is the reason to succumb to unhealthy habits, a bit of a paunch and a reason to start letting go.
I don’t want that.
So if my 12-week transformation was the catalyst, with diet and training being only 2 aspects of life, what about the rest of it?
To become healthier we need to look at more than just food and exercise.
* What about social interactions?
* What about your hobbies?
* What about your social media?
If we think of life as a Trivial Pursuits game; a fulfilled life is achieved through answering questions about different topics until we answer them correctly. This results in a prize (i.e., a slice of the pie in the game or a learning in life) and freedom to pass on to the next section.
In the game, winning is achieved when all sections of the pie are filled. And life is the same.
But I had only addressed 2 of the pieces of pie. There were at least 4 more to get.
And that’s when it dawned on me.
If the goal is to have a healthier life, you have to start removing all the junk from your diet. And this is not just about food.
It could be doom scrolling late at night through endless social media posts, or hanging around with people who don’t encourage & build you up.
Conversely it could be about what you read or watch.
In much the same way of making long lasting nutritional change, it’s not solely about eliminating, but rather about including more of the ‘good stuff’.
* Don’t eliminate carbs, include more fruit.
* Don’t eliminate social media, include more positive real stories.
* Don’t eliminate Netflix, include more learning content.
It’s a bit like conducting a life audit - keep what is good, reduce what isn’t and identify where to improve.
And that’s the point.
Nothing ever happens in isolation.
If you want to get fit, exercise is only one part. There are many other facets which contribute to the success or failure of the goal. Being aware of this is the easy part, what you do about it is the hard part.
At the end of the day, health is wealth. And health is both body and mind.
So to create a healthy life, we need to remove the junk from both our diets and our lives.
This is easier said than done but will reap huge rewards.
This instalment of Lightbulb Moments is free for everyone. I send this email weekly. If you would also like to receive it, join the 100s+ other smart people who absolutely love it today.
👉 If you enjoyed reading this post, feel free to share it with friends!
