I remember racing down the escalator at Macy’s at the Cape Cod Mall.
My mother, who was riding calmly up the escalator like an ordinary person, said that I was going to hurt myself (possibly) or that I was making a scene (correct) or interrupting the people who were trying to get the escalation down ( also correct).
Sometimes I would reach the top exhausted and out of breath, while my mother arrived at the same time and laughed at how hard I had to work.
Spend enough time in an airport (or traveling with young children), and within a few minutes you’ll see kids trying to run on a People Mover moving in the opposite direction. Exhaustion for them, entertainment for us.
See where I’m going with this?
My friend Mark Manson added the following his newsletter this week:
“All the perseverance, persistence, and motivation in the world won’t get you anywhere if you’re doing the wrong thing. In fact, it will do the opposite.”
Which brings me to today’s question…
Where do you run DOWN on the escalator?
I remember having a conversation with Coach Matt from Team NF earlier this year about coaching clients those who succeed and those who struggle.
- Those who find success: they identify the escalator that is moving in the right direction, and work hard to board it. Each step actually increases their efforts.
- Those who struggle: they continue to spend their energy, willpower and effort on changes that yield nothing.
I bet you’ve had moments where you wondered if all the effort was REALLY worth it, or why progress seemed harder than usual.
Here are a few examples of attempts to run up the escalator:
- Spending a lot of money on expensive supplements (not prescribed by a medical professional).
- Switch to organic, gluten-free or low-carb keto snacks exclusively on the latest trend.
- Try complicated diets that don’t Actually reduce the amount of food you eat.
- Sports you hate exclusively for weight loss reasons.
Running (and anything else considered cardio) is Great for heart and lung health. But running and cardio are much less effective at losing weight than we think (unless we ALSO adjust our nutritional strategy).
My guess is that you want to look “toner,” which means you don’t just want to “lose weight,” but rather keep the muscle you have and lose the fat on top.
If these are our goals, then it is critical that we focus on the right escalator.
Here are examples of climbing the escalator:
Show me someone who eats mostly protein, fruits and vegetables, and strength training (with progressive overload) for 30 minutes a few times a week, and I’ll show you someone who goes UP the right escalator.
Here’s the thing: humans are not wired to like exercise. We’re also not designed to thrive in a world where delicious, high-calorie, low-nutrient foods are always available.
That means we spend valuable brainpower and energy doing something, we might as well choose the right things to deceive ourselves.
Yes, there is also a whole change component in “life versus behavior” (which I talked about in a previous newsletter). Manageable versus meaningful). But deciding “how quickly do I want to implement these meaningful steps” is a better question to ask than “Why am I not making progress despite work so hard?”
Get off the wrong escalator and onto the right one.
Might as well put this effort to good use!
-Steve
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