In life there is no substitute for doing the work. The ‘work’ can take many different forms: exercise, investing, sleeping to name a few. Doing the work requires you to be mindful of an area and put action towards it. Since these actions are cyclic by nature they rely on a certain amount of self-discipline. They also compound over time and are easy to manage (in theory) but… why should you care?
Before we jump in lets first discuss how things can be classified as unknown or known (to various shades of grey). Ever since you were a child you might have heard consistent messaging to ‘eat a balanced diet’ or to ‘do everything in moderation’. But say you were never told this when you grew up, it might be a long time before you realise that eating a certain diet makes you feel fine while a different diet makes you feel lethargic. A simple difference between unknown and known.
The information above is useful on its own but also uncomplete and doesn’t guarantee change. The next shade of ‘knowing something’ might come when we hear someone we know talk about their healthy diet and corresponding weight loss. Here tribalism starts to take effect as someone close to us gives apparent evidence that this works. What’s next? Well, we might try this ourselves; not too fast and not all at once is the most common practice e.g. incorporating more vegetables at dinner or swapping out soda for water.
We might be in this phase for some time as small gains take time to compound and for the results to be seen. The good news is that a habit has started to form. If you take the experimental approach of incorporating another vegetable at dinner time and holding yourself accountable, then the compounding machine keeps on building.
The story above is nice but probably one we have all heard before. So why do so many people stop at this point and fall back into old habits? What I found to be helpful when transitioning from unknown to habit is a compensating book that allows oneself to combine theory with action. Here are some examples:
Sleep. Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker is the book on sleep science. Its fascinating to read about the many benefits that sleep has on your wellbeing, health, sex life, work life. Consistent sleep is one of our main sources of energy. We need both REM and NREM sleep for rest and learning, getting by on less sleep interrupts sleep cycles that allow us to get both. I despise hustle culture and the people grinding it out on minimal sleep in order to make more gains. It is often bad practice in the long run.
Diet. Fiber Fueled by Will Bulsiewicz touches on the importance of diet. It explains the benefits of plant diversity in ones diet, progress over perfection when building eating habits and taking the time to train up your gut fitness.
Investing. The Richest Man in Babylon by George Samuel Clason explains the beauty of compound interest. It’s a short read but gets the point across through a series of stories. What you should know about investing money and the compound effect is it takes time to build up and once it starts you should not stop its momentum.
Exercise. Rather then a book I think the best ‘in’ for exercise is finding a sport or activity you enjoy that you look forward to each day. Once you have found this its easier to keep the momentum going as you feel and see benefits. Anecdotally, my experience with running in high school or rowing in the gym has been to accept and enjoy the pain. It started out with wanting to be the best, but it turned into a focus and desire to push myself to the limit.
I’m sure there are many other habits in which doing the work pays dividends. Stretching and mindfulness/meditation are two that I think have great benefits.
I would be interested to hear where you are putting in the work.
Email me contact@phgorman.com