Health Improvement Insights

The most important skill for getting (and staying) healthy

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 20:50:56 +0000

In 1933, an overwhelmed and frustrated woman named Frau sent a letter to psychologist Carl Jung, asking “how to live.”

(She didn’t have any Instagram influencers to yell motivational platitudes at her, I guess)

Jung replied:

“Your questions are unanswerable, because you want to know how one ought to live. One lives as one can.

…if you do with conviction the next and most necessary thing, you are always doing something meaningful and intended by fate.”

He was sharing the key to life.

It’s part of recovery communities like Alcoholics Anonymous.

It was even the title of a song in Disney’s Frozen 2.

“The next right thing.”

Revisiting this story caused me to reflect on how much my thoughts on success and progress have changed over the years.

“Success” Redefined

I’ve been doing this Nerd Fitness stuff for 15+ years.

Millions of people visit the site every year, 50,000+ customers have bought stuff through NF, and our coaches have served 15,000+ 1-on-1 clients.

In that time, I’ve changed my perspective quite a bit on “success” and “living well.”

I used to think that the only path to success required militant discipline following a specific plan. I never missed a workout, and was unbelievably proud of this.

It didn’t occur to me just how much of a privileged and simple life I lived, where I was 100% in control of my time.

(Apologies to all the parents and caregivers who read my 25-year old perspective!).

Now that I’m 40, and I can see the types of people we actually help with Nerd Fitness, I’ve changed my perspective on success and “living well” fairly dramatically.

Success happens not when we learn how to do everything perfectly, but instead when we get better at staying afloat even when things go poorly.

In other words, success is learning to be inconsistently consistent. Learning to be good enough for long enough.

And that means, when life seems chaotic, narrowing our focus down to “the next right thing.”

Do the Next Right Thing

A recent newsletter from author Oliver Burkeman talked about how he’s chosen to retain a tiny bit of sanity in an overwhelming world.

It led me to these sentences from author Eckert Tolle:

“What you refer to as your “life” should more accurately be called your “life situation.” It is psychological time: past and future.

…Forget about your life situation for a while and pay attention to your life.

Find the “narrow gate that leads to life.” It is called the Now.

Narrow your life down to this moment. Your life situation may be full of problems — most life situations are — but find out if you have any problem at this moment. Not tomorrow or in ten minutes, but now.

Do you have a problem now?

When we ruminate on what already happened, and we freak out about all the things that could happen or need to happen in the future…

It’s easy to feel out of control and overwhelmed.

Which brings us back to that cliché solution: “the next right thing.”

It’s a cliché only because it’s true.

We can zoom wayyyyyy in, and narrow our focus to something that is still in our control. In some situations, yes, there is a problem right now. And we can just focus on that one thing.

But in many other situations, it’s often us worrying about all the problems that might be, or the problems outside of our control, that keeps us from taking action on the actual things we can control.

Burkeman continues:

As for telling myself I only needed to do the very next thing… you always only can do the very next thing, then the next, whether you like it or not.

It’s a little strange, actually, to refer to any of these techniques as “narrowing your horizons”, as if they involved somehow artificially limiting yourself.

Really, you’re just consciously recognizing how limited you always already were.

We all know how easy it is for us to overcomplicate things.

And when the world feels like a dumpster fire, it can help to zoom way into that next decision, the tiniest goal, and just do the next right thing.

It might involve a workout or a walk, focusing on the next meal, calling up our therapist, or finally saying no to a commitment.

If “now” is the only time that exists, then “the next right thing” is the only thing that we can really do.

I’m gonna go do the next right thing for me: take a walk.

-Steve

PS: Maria Popova has a great writeup about “the next right thing” as it pertains to her life as a writer that inspired this piece.

PPS: Nerd Fitness is hiring a few remote, part-time humans (especially with flexible nights and weekends) to take inbound, scheduled calls from potential clients interested about our 1-on-1 coaching. Click here to learn more.

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The Past Isn’t Set In Stone

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 15:48:55 +0000

I’m currently reading The Tainted Cup, a fantasy detective novel.

Think “Sherlock Holmes set in Westeros.”

The main character has this augmentation that allows him to absorb every single detail of every interaction, crime scene, and then recite back these exact details at a later date.

I remember a horrifying Black Mirror episode about this very thing: being able to recall every fact of every interaction in the past.

Here’s the thing: in all of these scenarios, the facts might be true, but the analysis of these facts still leaves plenty of room for improvement.

I thought about this a lot recently when I stumbled across two stories I want to share:

“The Past is Not True” from Derek Sivers:

When I was 17, I was driving recklessly and crashed into an oncoming car. I found out that I broke the other driver’s spine, and she’ll never walk again.

I carried that burden with me everywhere, and felt so horrible about it for so many years that at age 35 I decided to find this woman to apologize. I found her name and address, went to her house, knocked on the door, and a middle-aged woman answered. As soon as I said, “I’m the teenager that hit your car eighteen years ago and broke your spine”, I started sobbing – a big ugly cry, surfacing years of regret.

She was so sweet, and hugged me saying, “Oh sweetie, sweetie! Don’t worry. I’m fine!” Then she walked me into her living room. Walked.

Turns out I had misunderstood.

Yes she fractured a couple vertebrae but it never stopped her from walking. She said “that little accident” helped her pay more attention to her fitness, and since then has been in better health than ever.

Then she apologized for causing the accident in the first place. Apologized.

And this story about “the good ole days” from author Morgan Housel:

A few months ago I reminisced to my wife about how awesome [life was in our early 20s]. We were 23, gainfully employed, living in our version of the Taj Mahal. This was before kids, so we slept in until 10am on the weekends, went for a walk, had brunch, took a nap, and went out for dinner. That was our life. For years.

“That was peak living, as good as it gets,” I told her.

“What are you talking about?” she said. “You were more anxious, scared, and probably depressed then than you’ve ever been.”

…In my head, today, I look back and think, “I must have been so happy then. Those were my best years.”

But in reality, at the time, I was thinking, “I can’t wait for these years to end.”

It has me thinking a lot about the past, and our future. It turns out, neither one is set in stone!

Which Past Story can you rewrite?

As the cliché goes, it’s easier to connect the dots looking backward than it is looking forward.

Is there a story from your past about a particular moment you’re still carrying with you?

Maybe it’s one full of shame about something that happened, but it led to something even better for you.

Maybe it’s longing for a past life that never actually existed.

The past already happened, but that doesn’t mean it’s set in stone!

Returning to Sivers:

“You can change your history.

The actual factual events are such a small part of it. Everything else is perspective, open for re-interpretation.

The past is never done.”

I’d love to know which story you’re telling yourself about the past, good or bad, that you’re deciding to rewrite?

-Steve

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Wasted Effort

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 14:43:30 +0000

I remember racing up the down escalator in Macy’s at the Cape Cod Mall.

My mom, calmly riding the Up escalator like a regular human, would say I was going to hurt myself (possible) or I was making a scene (correct) or interrupting the people trying to get down the escalation (also correct).

Sometimes I would be able to get to the top, exhausted and out of breath, while my mom would arrive at the same time laughing at how hard I had to work.

Spend enough time in an airport (or travel with young kids), and within a few minutes you’ll see kids trying to run on a People Mover moving in the other direction. Exhaustion for them, entertainment for us.

See where I’m going with this?

My friend Mark Manson put the following in his newsletter this week:

“All the grit, persistence, and motivation in the world won’t do you any good if you’re working on the wrong thing. In fact, it will do the opposite.”

Which brings me to today’s question…

Where are you running UP the DOWN escalator?

Earlier this year, I remember having a conversation with Coach Matt from Team NF about coaching clients who succeed and who struggle.

Those who find success: they identify the escalator moving in the right direction, and work hard to get on that one. Each step actually magnifies their efforts.
Those who struggle: they continue to spend their energy, willpower, and effort on changes that don’t move the needle.

I bet you’ve had moments where you wondered if all the effort was ACTUALLY worth it, or why progress seemed harder than normal.

Here are a few examples of trying to run up the down escalator:

Spending lots of money on expensive supplements (not prescribed by a medical professional).
Switching to organic, gluten free, or low carb keto snacks based solely on the latest trend.
Trying complicated diets that don’t actually reduce how much food you eat.
Doing exercise you hate exclusively for weight loss reasons.

Running (and anything else considered cardio) is great for heart and lung health. But running and cardio is far less effective for weight loss than we think (unless we ALSO adjust our nutrition strategy too).

My guess is you want to look more “toned,” which means you don’t just want to “lose weight,” but rather keep the muscle you have and lose the fat on top of it.

If these are our goals, then putting on our focus on the right escalator is key.

Here are examples of walking up the up escalator:

Finding ways to eat fewer calories without feeling restricted.
Prioritizing strength training a few times per week.
Making “more protein” a focus for each meal.
Being okay with accepting all the tools available for health.

Show me somebody that eats mostly protein, fruits and vegetables, and strength trains (with progressive overload) for 30 minutes a few times per week, and I’ll show you somebody who is moving UP the right escalator.

Here’s the thing: humans aren’t wired to love exercise. We’re also not designed to thrive in a world in which high calorie, nutritionally-empty delicious foods are always available.

Which means if we’re going to spend valuable brain power and energy on doing something, we might as well pick the right things to trick ourselves into doing.

Yep, there’s a whole “life vs behavior” change component to this too (which I covered in a previous newsletter about Manageable vs Meaningful). But deciding “how quickly do I want to implement these meaningful steps” is a better question to be asking than “Why am I not making progress despite working so hard?”

Get off the wrong escalator, and get on the right one.

Might as well put that effort to good use!

-Steve

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Beware the Story, Embrace the Science

Mon, 21 Oct 2024 14:38:47 +0000

Have you ever heard of “Blue Zones”?

These pockets of the world are known for having citizens who live exceptionally long, healthy lives.

Some of these locations may sound familiar:

Okinawa, Japan (home of Mr. Miyagi from Karate Kid!). Sardinia, Italy. Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica. Icaria, Greece.

These locations have a higher percentage of people who live longer due to their local-whole foods diet, high vegetable consumption, low instances of disease, rich social interactions, low stress, and plenty of physical activity.

Books, documentaries, and countless news articles have championed these societies, and millions upon millions of health conscious individuals have modeled their lifestyles after how these people live.

There’s just one problem with this amazing story.

It’s not actually true.

The First Ig Nobel Prize in Demography

Last month, Dr. Saul Justin Newman was awarded the first “Ig Nobel Prize” in Demography.

These awards are given out annually for scientific research that “makes people laugh, then think.”

For this particular award, Newman was recognized for debunking pretty much all of the findings of any study relating to the Blue Zones.

Here’s what Dr. Newman discovered:

“The highest rates of achieving extreme old age are predicted by high poverty, the lack of birth certificates, and fewer 90-year-olds.

Poverty and pressure to commit pension fraud were shown to be excellent indicators of reaching ages 100+ in a way that is ‘the opposite of rational expectations.’”

It turns out that most of the “very old, healthy” individuals in these blue zones were simply a result of very poorly kept records, pension fraud, and outright lying.

Let’s take a look at what actually happens on Okinawa:

“Despite vegetables and sweet potatoes being promoted as key components of the Okinawan ‘Blue Zone’ diets, according to the Japanese government, Okinawans eat the least vegetables and sweet potatoes in Japan and have the highest body mass index.”

Ooooof. So, what the heck do we do now!?

Beware anecdotal narratives that make dramatic promises

Spend enough time on social media, and you’ll stumble across people telling you to only eat meat, eliminate carbs completely, how “this one supplement saved their life,” or that doing XYZ cured their illness, and so on.

These anecdotal stories, especially when they have a villain, a victim and a heroic tale about overcoming adversity, are unbelievably powerful. They’re also often used to sell you a solution in a pill or powder form.

The good news is we data that is being constantly refined by science.

We don’t actually need to know what the people of Okinawa eat, nor do we need to study the daily habits of a particular community in Costa Rica.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good whimsical tale about the habits of a far off land too, but it still comes back to reality and science!

And we can remember that we need to do what’s best for our particular situation. That might include therapy, it might include weight loss medication, it might include just focusing on sleep right now!

That’s up for us to decide, and we can do so confidently. Not because it’s what happens in Costa Rica or Greece, but simply because it’s what’s best for us.

Here are some of the ways in which we can positively impact our lifespan and/or healthspan.

Eating the correct number of calories for our goal weight. (Obesity is one of the highest correlated indicators for increased all-cause mortality).
Diets that consist primarily of lean protein, whole foods, vegetables, and fruit.
Reducing smoking, drinking of alcohol, and some processed foods (known carcinogens).
Strength training for muscle synthesis, balance, bone density.
A strong social network: friends and family.
Regular physical activity (even walking!).

Yep, some of these things are part of the “Blue Zone Diet”… just without the sensationalism and pension fraud.

And many of them might be outside of our control!

For example, social determinants of health (financial stability, access to health care, education, our neighborhood) are strongly correlated with all-cause mortality, and many of these things might be unavailable to large portions of the population.

Life is Messy

I don’t bring all this up to tell you to avoid a Blue Zone diet.

Heck, you could do a lot worse than eating a Mediterranean diet! Of course you’ll most likely lose weight and feel healthier if you eat mostly fresh fish, whole foods, and vegetables.

I bring all this up to remind you that life is messy.

A long healthy life is a combination of dozens interconnected things (like those listed above), thousands of decisions made over our lifetime, plus stuff like genetics, society, and luck! What works for one person might not work for the next person, and there’s no “one diet fits all” solution to our problems.

We could get hit by a bus tomorrow, get a cancer diagnosis despite “doing everything right,” or experience a freak accident that changes everything next week.

So, rather than chasing immortality through sensationalized anecdotes, or getting swept up in the latest Social Media trend…

We can keep our focus on the stuff that we feel pretty damn confident will make us better off tomorrow than we are today.

Like the things on that list above! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go do some push-ups, eat a vegetable, and take a quick walk while calling a friend.

-Steve

P.S. Hat tip to my friend Jodi Ettenberg, whose heartbreakingly powerful story about acceptance I linked above. It was her newsletter that led me to this article!

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Boundaries: the Cure for Burnout?

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 14:59:50 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve felt this uncomfortable.

I had an empty afternoon last week and saw Speak No Evil (trailer here), a horror/suspense film about a family who goes to visit another couple they met on vacation.

And shockingly, things don’t go as expected.

If you saw the “Dinner Party” episode of The Office where Jim and Pam go to Michael and Jan’s house for the most uncomfortable house party ever, and thought to yourself…

“What if this was a 2-hour horror movie instead?”

…that’s essentially the plot of Speak No Evil.

This movie is based on a 2022 European film of the same name, so naturally I had to watch that too. And boy, that version was even bleaker and more shocking.

This movie has some really cutting commentary on relationships, masculinity, and even parenting…

But here’s why Speak No Evil made me so uncomfortable:

This movie asks, “How many of our own boundaries are we willing to cross to keep the peace and not hurt somebody’s feelings?”

I always joke about how much of a conflict-avoidant people pleaser I am, which means this movie shook me to my core:

Which brings me to the point of today’s newsletter!

Guilt and Overcommitting

My father was raised Episcopalian (a form of Christianity), while my mother was raised Catholic. My mom always joked that the Episcopalian faith was “like Catholicism, but without the guilt!”

So we went to Episcopalian church as kids.

And despite this, I managed to get all the Catholic guilt!

I will bend over backwards to keep the peace. I’ll do whatever I can to not offend. I’ll overcommit, I’ll put myself in really frustrating situations, simply because I don’t know how to set healthy boundaries.

Long story short, I would NOT have done well in Speak No Evil.

I used to think this was just me being nice, but I came to realize that it was something different.

I was being disrespectful to myself and my own wellbeing!

Over the years, I’ve learned to establish and enforce healthier boundaries. Not just to protect myself from others, but to protect myself…from myself.

I have a hunch there are quite a few people who are reading this newsletter who are also people-pleasers, struggling with burnout, and feeling overcommitted right now.

If that’s you, I have a truth that’s hard to hear.

The Solution to Burnout isn’t a Yoga Retreat

When we feel burned out, too busy, and overwhelmed, we think the solution resides in a very specific form of self-care:

Escape: We just need a massage or a “digital detox” or retreat.
Achievement: We just need to work harder in the gym!
Optimization: If only we had a more optimized schedule!

The problem is that all of these solutions treat the symptom, not the root cause.

As pointed out in Anne-Helen Peterson’s Can’t Even:

“You don’t fix burnout by going on vacation. You don’t fix it through “life hacks,” like inbox zero, or by using a meditation app for five minutes in the morning, or doing Sunday meal prep for the entire family, or starting a bullet journal. You don’t fix it by reading a book on how to “unfu*k yourself.”

You don’t fix it with vacation, or an adult coloring book, or “anxiety baking,” or the Pomodoro Technique, or overnight f***ing oats.”

As I share in my essay on the problems with Self-Care, the solution isn’t found in a Yoga studio or on a deserted beach, nor is it found in a journal or meditation app.

The solution requires us to have an uncomfortable conversation with ourselves.

We need to put on our own oxygen mask first before we can help others.

Boundaries Protect Against Burnout

Us people pleasers spend most of our time keeping the peace and catering to everybody else’s needs, very rarely considering our own.

This is usually how we find ourselves overcommitted, unable to do the things we want/need to do, and potentially feeling resentful of our generosity being taken for granted.

The problem?

It’s not somebody else’s responsibility to establish our boundaries.

It’s on us to establish them, explain them, and protect them.

This is where boundaries come in.

Boundaries are healthy because they allow us to actually consider our needs too. Something I never considered for a long time. I bet there are a lot of amazing moms and dads on this newsletter list who also haven’t considered their own needs in a long time.

This doesn’t mean we need to suddenly become “I AM THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS,” but rather, it means we need to address the fact that our feelings and needs are valid, and we need to take care of ourselves if we’re also going to take care of others.

As Dr. Lakshmin points out in Real Self-Care:

“To practice real self-care, you must be willing to make yourself vulnerable – whether that means having uncomfortable conversations to set boundaries or making the clear and deliberate choice to prioritize one aspect of your life over another.”

Here is your challenge for the day:

Say NO to one thing you are currently saying YES to out of obligation or guilt.

Establish this boundary for your own wellbeing and mental health.

Yep, this will require you to rely on those around you, and maybe even *GASP* potentially disappoint somebody!

Especially if they’re used to you saying yes to everything all the time.

I promise you, their reaction isn’t your responsibility to manage.

One final reminder I had to internalize: “No” is a complete sentence.

We can’t time-travel, which means the only solution to burnout is to put fewer things on our plate.

This requires us to develop boundaries to protect ourselves…from ourselves.

I’d love to hear what boundary you establish, so hit reply and let me know!

-Steve

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The ONE thing that finally worked…

Tue, 08 Oct 2024 14:49:04 +0000

I stumbled across a reddit thread that really grabbed my attention.

Somebody asked “What was the ‘one thing’ that finally made weight loss work for you?”

And this question had 5,400 replies (and counting).

Some of the answers involved environmental changes or changing how they prepared their food:

“Pouring snacks into little ramekins to eat them. Suddenly I ate a normal amount of snacks.”

“I meal prepped my typical amount of food and instead of putting it in 2 containers, I spread it evenly in 4 containers. I forced myself to only eat 1 container per meal and tricked my brain into thinking it was my normal amount.”

Others changed what they ate:

“Found a salad I actually really like. Sounds dumb, but I’d never craved a salad before, and having one I actually really liked meant I strung together a solid few weeks of eating a lot of lettuce – it snowballed from there, because I actually felt good and then started craving feeling good.”

Some had a more holistic approach that involved reevaluating their relationship with food, hunger, and discomfort:

“Realizing it’s a lifestyle change NOT a diet.”

“Embrace the suffering. Expect that you’ll be breathing hard and uncomfortable when you’re doing cardio, expect that you’ll be sore after you lift, and expect that you’ll be hungry when you’re restricting your intake.”

Others used apps to track their calorie intake, which made them realize just how much they were eating:

“Using an app to track everything I ate. I realized a lot of “healthy” things I was eating, in the quantities I was eating them, were a lot more calories than I thought. Just cutting down on certain foods did the trick.”

And some succeeded thanks to an initial push with medication:

“Saw a doctor about my type 2 diabetes. I weighed over 300 lbs and also had coronary artery disease. I qualified for diabetes medication that also helps control appetite. Started tracking calories and exercising.”

“Semaglutide”

Some prioritized physical activity instead of focusing on food:

“Finding a hobby. I was binge eating because I was bored. Coming home from work to sit on the couch would make it way easier to eat like sh*t… now I just go and do something I like so I won’t find distraction in eating.”

“Walking. Validation that I’d lost 45 lb in 7 months by just walking every night around my neighborhood. It was free and low impact, I walked rain or shine even through snow storms. Now I have a treadmill and walk indoors but the feeling is still as great as it was in the beginning.”

As we look through this list, reading thousands of comments of people thinking back on the ‘one thing’ that changed their life, and just how different many of them are, we can draw some fascinating conclusions.

3 Short Lessons We Can Learn

LESSON 1: “Success is moving from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.” -Winston Churchill.

The toughest part of getting healthy is not losing hope when some strategy you try doesn’t work out. I bet for each person who shared their answer above, they tried dozens of different strategies to try and get fit. Hell, I bet they tried most of the things that worked for other people, until they found the one that worked for them.

What we can learn from this: “Hope is the warrior emotion that lays waste to cynicism,” and it’s okay to have hope that each failed attempt means that’s one less strategy to need to try in the future.

For example, if you’ve tried Keto 5 times before and you can’t stick with it, congrats! You found the diet that doesn’t work for you.

If you can keep that ‘beta test’ mentality of “I’m going to see if it works for me,” you might just find the first domino to fall for your journey!

LESSON 2: Beware the Charlatan.

Spend enough time on social media, and you’ll eventually encounter health and wellness charlatans. These are the folks who tell you they alone have the one solution to all your problems. They often have a villain for all of the world’s evil (“its sugar! It’s carbs! It’s X ingredient!”).

And sure enough, once they’ve fear mongered and scared the crap out of you, they provide hope to you with their expensive unregulated supplement or foolproof system.

As you see in the examples above, there’s no “one size fits all” solution to this stuff. Every human is a unique weirdo with different baggage and triggers and traumas and experiences that make certain solutions a homerun and other solutions will be a nonstarter.

You can read more about how to spot and avoid charlatans in my past essay here: “How to not go crazy on the internet.”

Which brings me to my third point!

LESSON THREE: All stories of getting fit have 3 boring commonalities!

Although all of these “one thing” solutions to getting in shape are different, they all do have a few similarities.

The good news? None of these things are revolutionary, proprietary, or fancy.

Getting fit down to literally 3 things:

Eating the correct number of calories for your goal weight
Getting some form of physical movement
Making these two things part of a lifelong lifestyle adjustment.

Weight loss isn’t magic. It’s math and behavior change.

As I cover in my weight loss guide, science is settled on this.

Any diet can work, if it puts us into a caloric deficit. We have coaching clients who are vegan, others who go Keto, some who count calories and others who do intermittent fasting.

Our ability to turn dietary changes into a lifestyle we can live with is how we find success, and that looks different for everybody.

Speaking of lifestyle changes, most of the answers above also involve finding ways to make exercise a regular part of life.

Remember: it’s okay that you don’t LOVE to exercise. We’re not designed to love exercise! Especially if it’s an activity we don’t actually enjoy! We’re designed to survive in times of scarcity, NOT thrive in times of unlimited abundance.

So how do we make exercise part of our lifestyle?

We need to find ways to make exercise fun, beneficial, or necessary:

Fun: join a walking/running club with friends, try temptation bundling.
Beneficial: fall in love with getting stronger and more confident and how much better you feel after exercise.
Necessary: pre-pay for a trainer, park at the end of the parking lot, bike to work.

Remember that hope is the warrior emotion.

We humans are unbelievably adaptable creatures who are capable of change.

Keep trying different strategies, beware the charlatans, and don’t forget the basics!

And pretty soon one day, you too could be sharing the first domino to fall that changed things for you.

-Steve

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94 Years of Wisdom

Mon, 30 Sep 2024 20:15:07 +0000

Last week, I flew to Massachusetts to visit my 94-year grandmother in the hospital.

Let me tell you about this amazing woman.

Barbara, Auntie B, or Gramma to us grandkids, was born in 1930 to first-generation Newfoundlanders.

(No wonder I love the music of Alan Doyle (and Great Big Sea), it’s in my DNA!)

Gramma was a preschool teacher for 22 years and has been an active member in her community for her entire life. She was a heck of a quilter and helped launch multiple quilting initiatives over the years. She volunteered at the Council on Aging. She often drove for Meals on Wheels too, “delivering meals to the old people” (as she called it), which she did well into her 80s!

During past visits to Massachusetts, I would swing by Gramma’s for an afternoon, habitually checking my phone, often distracted with some unimportant work thought that occupied my brain. I think having known her my entire life, I just had this thought “Gramma has always been here, and Gramma will always be here.”

Fortunately, I stumbled upon an ancient Japanese concept that helped me recognize and course correct this pattern. It allowed all of my recent visits with Gramma to be decidedly different.

Ichi-go Ichi-e 一期一会

There’s a concept dating back to Japanese tea ceremonies in the 1600s called ichi-go ichi-e:

This translates to: “one time, one meeting.”

It’s a reminder for us to treasure and embrace each unrepeatable moment in time. No matter how often we do something or see somebody, it is the only time that it will truly happen this way, in this moment.

This concept can remind us to be more present.

Instead of checking our phones, we can focus on the person or task in front of us.
Instead of worrying about tomorrow or zoning out, we can be here now.
Instead of going through the motions, we can be a bit more deliberate with our behavior.

I’ve reflected a lot on Japanese Zen philosophy over the past few years (see my essay about Wabi-Sabi), and this concept of ichi-go ichi-e has stuck with me too.

Which brings me to my trips to visit Gramma this summer.

I stopped worrying about the future or ruminating on the past, put my phone down, and just sat with her.

I treated each visit as if it was the only time that I would get to have that interaction.

I asked her questions about her childhood. I learned that she spent a few summers living in a tent with no running water or electricity, while her father built their home with his own two hands. And how much she loved it.

She told me about her teenage years, including the time she snuck out of the house and got caught, and had to sit at the foot of her parents bed until the sun came up.

I learned more about my grandfather. She even shared photos of her wedding that I had never seen before:

She also found some photos of me and her from way back in the day!

This one was my favorite:

I returned to Nashville last month, unsure when (or if) I’d get to see her again.

It still felt different. I had connected with Gramma more deeply in a few visits than I probably had in the past 10 years combined.

Which brings me to this past week at the hospital.

Gramma’s Community

Last week, my brother and I drove up to visit Gramma in the hospital each day.

And each day, a revolving door of guests would show up to check on her:

Her nieces and nephews. My uncle and father. My sister and mother (who just had surgery!). Her grandkids. The son of her best friend. Her friend Anne. Friends from the Council of Aging. Fellow quilters. People from her church.

At one point, there were 10 of us visiting at the same time, and it turned into an absolute party.

I was in awe of this woman and how many lives she has impacted.

If there’s a clear sign of a life well lived, it’s being surrounded by people who love you. Gramma has been selfless for so much of her life, and I was amazed and inspired at how many people dropped everything to come and spend time with her, swapping stories and keeping her company.

Despite the circumstances, she still has a great sense of humor too:

The first time she opened her eyes and saw me, she smiled and said, “I remembered another story!” She then told me about the time she “borrowed” a car, even though she didn’t have a license yet, to drive through the streets of Boston to track down her boyfriend.

While talking on the phone with her 94 year old brother in law, she asked “how are ya, you old geezer?”

When the doctor asked “are you feeling better today?” she replied “better than WHAT!”

Spending time with Gramma and all of the people from different parts of her life felt like the best possible use of my time. I am in love with the community she has around her, and I am constantly moved to tears by the love that so many people have for her.

This point was driven further home by my Gramma’s hospital “neighbor”…

Live Deliberately

The hospital in which my Gramma is staying is right next to Walden Pond, the very pond made famous by Henry David Thoreau in his book Walden.

One day, after visiting Gramma, I took a quiet walk around its perimeter, watching the light of the setting sun dancing through the trees.

(The Japanese have a word for this too, it’s called “komorebi”.)

I then read the sign with Thoreau’s most famous reflection:

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

Thoreau retreated to solitude to discover what was most important to him.

Gramma went the other direction, prioritizing what’s most important to her: family, friends, and community.

Two different scenarios, the same end result:

Choosing to live deliberately.

I don’t have plans on moving into the woods and living simply, but I do think I’ve done my best to live more deliberately these past few years.

Specifically, re-prioritizing what’s most important to me too: friends, family, and community.

All We have to Decide…

A few years ago, Gramma presented my brother, sister, and I with three of her favorite handmade quilts.

“I was going to have these given to you grandkids after I passed away, but I want to give them to you now so that we can enjoy this moment together.”

She took the time to explain the meaning behind each quilt and why they were selected for each of us. I’m so thankful she did this, rather than waiting to hear about these beautiful quilts after she passed.

When I visited Gramma this summer, I discovered that she had printed my essay about my grandfather, her husband, who had passed away. I hoped I made Grampy proud, but I realized I never got to tell him just how much I learned from him before he died.

For that reason, I’m writing this essay now to make sure she knows just how much she taught me. I’m so proud of my Gramma and I’m appreciative for having the opportunity to learn from her for 40 years (and counting!).

(I got a text from my father yesterday letting me know that he read this draft to her in the hospital and she loved it. Mission accomplished!)

I certainly hope Gramma gets better and is able to get back home. After all, she told her friend Laurie “I’m not done yet!”

But I also know that this is not up to us to decide.

As Gandalf tells Frodo in The Fellowship of the Ring:

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

I hope my Gramma and Thoreau can inspire you to live more deliberately:

If you’re willing to put your phone down and be present with the people in front of you, life can feel so much more rich.
If you’re willing to prioritize what’s actually important instead of the stuff that tries to steal your attention, you’ll never go wrong with the choices you make.
If you can find a way to focus on the important people in your life, they’ll still be a part of it when you’re 94.

And finally remember, no matter what you do today, this is the only time this moment will happen.

Act accordingly.

-Steve

PS: If you want a thought-provoking film about being present and Ichi-Go Ichi-E, I highly recommend Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days.

The post 94 Years of Wisdom first appeared on Nerd Fitness.

You’re overcomplicating it.

Mon, 23 Sep 2024 20:24:44 +0000

I know you’re overcomplicating things, because everybody does.

Including me, the nerd who studies this stuff for a living.

I shared a quick story the other day on Threads (and Instagram):

A few thousand people resonated, and I couldn’t help but chuckle at the replies. Magdalena jokingly said it best:

When life asks me to juggle chainsaws and then sets those chainsaws on fire, I tend to get away from the things that keep me functioning as a fulfilled human.

Lately, I found myself feeling a bit discombobulated and sluggish in the morning and struggled to focus.

So I asked myself where I was overcomplicating things and could simplify.

I went back to basics.

I got some exercise. I ate a balanced dinner (protein, vegetables, mini potatoes). And even though I’m hooked on Playstation’s Astro-Bot (delightful), loving Slow Horses on AppleTV+ (Gary Oldman is the man), and I’m really enjoying my time on Threads…

I put down the phone.

I turned off the TV.

I climbed into bed at a reasonable time.

Instead of scrolling social media, I read some of Matt Haig’s new book The Life Impossible, and then went to bed.

Weirdly, I woke up feeling like a million bucks

I had no problem focusing on my work.

I felt better.

It works. Crap.

Simple, Not Easy.

Many companies manufacture complicated problems to sell us complicated solutions:

“Be afraid of THIS ingredient, balance your gut microbiome, take these expensive supplements, do this complicated workout, buy this expensive mattress and mask and glasses and machine, only eat between 12:17pm and 7:34pm!”

Here’s your friendly reminder to go hard in the direction of simplicity:

Eat the right number of calories for your goal weight. Eat protein, fruits, and vegetables. Strength train 2-3x per week. Go for walks. Put down the phone and go to sleep.

If the scale isn’t going down, reduce calories consumed. Full stop.

Once we accept that the solution is simple (but not easy), we can figure out WHY we can’t get ourselves to do it.

This is the far more important question. We have hormones and kids and jobs and messy fights with our spouses and we’re all overwhelmed with inputs and information 24-7. Of course doing these things isn’t easy!

We don’t need to make it harder by focusing on the complicated. Instead, we need to remember that the simple solution is the right one, and put our focus on making that behavior the default one:

Speaking of which, Coach Matt Myers from Team NF put together a new resource that dives into both aspects of the above:

It’s our Starter Guide: how to eat and how to train, AND how to get yourself to do those things.

You can download it free here at the top of our Free Guides page.

What part of your journey are you currently overcomplicating, and how can you simplify it today?

-Steve

The post You’re overcomplicating it. first appeared on Nerd Fitness.

This is a Test (Year)

Mon, 16 Sep 2024 19:13:28 +0000

We have two choices for how we spend the rest of 2024:

Path A: Coast and say “I’ll start back up in January.”
Path B: Treat it like a Beta Test for 2025.

Our brains are going to try and convince us to pick Path A.

I want you to pick Path B.

Here’s how Beta Testing works:

We’re going to experiment with our lives and find out what we want to work on in 2025.

We’re not looking to stick with the perfect workout, or trying to build a flawless streak of running every day. We’re not trying to be 100% adherent to the optimized diet.

Want to be “somebody who goes to Pilates or Yoga” but you’re worried about the ongoing commitment? Great! Sign up for ONE class this week or next week. Try it out! You’re not committing to a lifetime. You’re trying it out to see if you want to do this in 2025.
Want to be somebody who gets really strong, because you want toned arms or you know getting stronger is important? You don’t need the perfect workout plan to follow. You need to work up the courage to go to the gym and pick up one weight.
Want to be somebody who has a better relationship with food? You don’t need to plan out the next 40 days of meals. You don’t need to perfectly plan out each portion of your diet every day. You need to figure out which healthy meals you don’t hate preparing.

The fun part about beta testing is that you can stop doing things without feeling badly.

You’re an engineer, tinkering away at a project to see if it fits your lifestyle and schedule. You’re dabbling in different disciplines, sampling different foods from the buffet line, to see what works for you.

Your goal is to experiment and find a workout strategy and diet plan that work for you that you can implement more regularly by the end of the year. This way, instead of starting from a dead stop on January 1st, you get to start with momentum and knowledge about what actually works for you.

Give yourself permission to try and fail a different diet.

Experiment with a different productivity strategy.

Let go of the strategies you keep trying and failing to implement. They don’t work for you.

Try new stuff.

After all, 2024 is just a beta test for 2025.

What are you going to test and try out this fall?

-Steve

The post This is a Test (Year) first appeared on Nerd Fitness.

I apologize for my sideburns and striped shirt

Mon, 09 Sep 2024 17:59:02 +0000

For the first time in 10+ years, I rewatched my 2012 TEDx talk:

“Nerd Fitness and Resetting the Game of Life.”

My first thought: “Whoa, Steve. Those are some EPIC sideburns.”

My next thought: “Bold choice with the striped shirt, jeans, and flip flops!”

Then I gave myself some grace.

I’m deeply uncomfortable with the spotlight. I hate public speaking. It makes me want to vomit every single time. I also don’t like being on camera.

And yet, I have ideas that I think can help people.

So I write and share my ideas. And sometimes, I force myself to get on stage. For this talk, I had to take two buses through the jungles of Ecuador (where I was living at the time), and then take two flights to get to Atlanta.

I stayed at my friend Kappy’s house, and the night before the talk, I decided to stay up and rewrite the whole damn thing. That morning, I practiced my talk to his two dogs, and then hurried over to Emory and just went full YOLO and shouted my talk into the universe.

12 years later, rewatching this talk, I have thoughts.

If you want to take a trip down memory lane, you can watch the talk on YouTube, which surprisingly has over 100,000 views.

My Biggest Surprise Rewatching…

It wasn’t as embarrassing as I thought!

Baby Steve actually had some decent ideas and was an okay storyteller! Especially when you consider I had rewritten the entire talk 12 hours prior and was on zero hours of sleep. Oh, to be young and naive again.

This is the slide that cracked me up the most, and I think the one I want to spend the most amount of time on:

Throughout most of my early 20s, I spent an unhealthy amount of time playing video games. At the time, I had convinced myself that the video games were the problem. They had become too addicting, too enjoyable, and they were the reason I wasn’t making much progress in my real life.

The reality is one level deeper. It wasn’t just the video games. It was that I didn’t have much life to look forward to. I didn’t like my job (selling construction equipment), I didn’t have goals or things in my personal life to look forward to. So I escaped into video games.

Older and wiser and with shorter sideburns, I have a better understanding of human behavior and my own personal struggles with procrastination and escape.

As laid out in my friend Nir Eyal’s book Indistractable, if we don’t address the root cause of distraction or escape, our brains will get very good at finding yet another thing to get hooked on!

In other words, if you can go one level deeper as to WHY you’re procrastinating or avoiding reality (possibly with the help of therapy) it can help you get out of the rut.

Once I found something to look forward to (for me it was turning life into an adventure video game like Zelda and EverQuest), suddenly video games became a far less appealing use of my limited free time.

These days, I still play video games regularly (I just finished Fallout 4), but I now know more.

When video games take over too much of my life, it’s probably because I’m avoiding confronting the reality of a problem in life.

Maybe I’m scared to get back to work on my secret-book-shaped project, because I worry it’s not good enough. Or maybe I’m avoiding an uncomfortable conversation or addressing a real problem in my life.

So, the solution isn’t unplugging the Playstation. It’s addressing the problem I’m actually working hard to avoid.

It’s better to know why I’m procrastinating instead of just blaming it on video games.

How’s My Epic Quest Going?

In my talk, I talk about my Bucket List, which I renamed my Epic Quest of Awesome. For a good 8 years, this was a big focus of mine.

Literally earning experience points for accomplishing quests in real life.

I did this after exercising around the world and living 14 months of adventure travel.

I even got a book published about turning life into a game, Level Up Your Life, back in 2016. I recently reacquired the rights to this book, and I’m hoping to put out a Version 2 in the coming year.

(This is why you can’t buy it now, sorry about that!).

12 years later, life is a bit different.

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for the past year, you might have noticed a theme: acceptance and self-compassion.

I’ve changed my perspective on goals.

I had run myself ragged for over a decade, building Nerd Fitness, giving as much as possible, chasing the next goal. Each goal led to the next goal. Each dragon slain required me to go find another dragon.

It became an endless loop of perpetual “more more more.”

And eventually I realized that I had gotten pretty far away from what actually made me happy.

These past few years, I’ve decided to live a bit differently.

Instead of big long term goals with dramatically organized plans, I’ve narrowed my focus to: “How can I have a good day today?”

I live as if I will NEVER “get there.”

I still have goals, and I still have things I hope to accomplish in life.

I’m just playing a different game than I was at 28. I think this “life is a game” philosophy served me well at the time, and I think now I have added a few extra doses of reality to how this plays out.

For somebody stuck in a rut, and escaping too much into virtual worlds, I think thinking about life like a video game can be a pretty fun way to try and break out of that rut.

It might not work for everybody, but I think having things to look forward to, and goals to work on, and then finding ways to make tiny bits of progress can help.

I cover this in an article called “A Nerd’s Guide to Success and Happiness” which still holds up!

A little bit of nuance and perspective can go a long way when gamifying life!

Wading into the Comment Section…

I made the perilous choice to wade into the cesspool of the internet:

The comment section on my video.

I was shocked to see that 95% of the comments were super positive!

There was one comment though, that provided me a unique opportunity to do something I’ve always wanted to do.

Prove somebody wrong on the internet.

In my talk, I mentioned that I hoped to one day deadlift 400+ pounds. I grew up scrawny and weak, and I later learned that I have spondylolisthesis, which means two of my vertebrae don’t line up.

For the past 15 years, deadlifting has been my favorite exercise. It’s the movement that has made me feel the most strong and empowered.

I went and found a video of myself from 2018, where after 6+ years of dedicated, slow growth and focus on getting stronger, I deadlifted 420 pounds at a bodyweight of 172 lbs. No belt, straps, and double overhand grip too!

And yes. 12 years later, I HAD to reply and let the guy know I did it.

Not gonna lie, it felt good proving a random internet commenter wrong! Hahahaha

Petty and unnecessary? Yep!

Satisfying? Very.

Two Buttons: Power and Reset

I finished my talk with something that was far more powerful than I had expected.

The original Nintendo Entertainment System has two buttons: POWER and RESET.

In the game of life, we get to hit the power button once. It turns on when we’re born, and it turns off when we die.

But we also have an opportunity to hit the RESET Button. If there’s a thought or identity you have that’s no longer serving you, or some aspect of life that just isn’t working…it’s okay to hit the reset button.

It’s okay to try again, even if you failed the last time.

Remember, our knowledge carries over, and we never start back at square one.

Game on, my fellow nerd!

-Steve

###

The post I apologize for my sideburns and striped shirt first appeared on Nerd Fitness.

Doggie Not Down With Human Doing Yoga

Thu, 07 Sep 2017 00:16:45 +0000

Upstaging yoga-practicing humans is doggie de rigueur on the Internets but somehow it just does. not. get. old. Note to self: wipe down yoga mat before and after each use. Also: use a yoga mat. You may also like… What Happens In Dog Yoga Class Pets Interrupting Yoga is Adorable, Hilarious, and So, So True […]

10 Ways To Resist As A Yogi

Fri, 25 Aug 2017 19:29:24 +0000

In the wake of the recent domestic terrorism attack in Charlottesville, many are wondering what can be done to fight oppression. Oppression and systemic racism have always had a strong hold on our nation, but with the circus that is the current presidency, blatant racism is on the rise.

Reflections On Michael Stone, Mental Health And Yoga’s Cult Of Positivity

Thu, 24 Aug 2017 07:01:06 +0000

It's over a month now that Michael Stone is gone. What a strange word that is: gone. Gone, Gone, Gone beyond Gone utterly beyond

Are You Ready For The Eclipse? Warnings, Rituals And Other Fascinating Tidbits

Sat, 19 Aug 2017 22:49:12 +0000

Eclipses have always been ripe for radical change, according to astrology. This upcoming “Great American Eclipse,” as it’s so been dubbed, could very well be just the perfectly timed cosmic catalyst this country needs to cause even more disruption to our already fragile state. Is it good? Is it bad? That’s for us to find […]

Stop Outsourcing Your Self-Care

Wed, 16 Aug 2017 07:33:26 +0000

Self-care is all the rage and along with this surge in popularity, a certain watering down has also occurred. I’m not knocking the move to mainstream. We ALL need to prioritize care for ourselves in the hustle and bustle of daily lif

Want To Be An Expert Yoga Teacher?

Thu, 10 Aug 2017 07:23:11 +0000

Here it is, the video you’ve been waiting for! Phew…we could use a laugh, huh? While the world’s kundalini is coiled tighter than a handbasket to hell, JP Sears is here to bring us what we can only describe as…wait, are those skin-tight yoga pants or is this man just half cheetah? JP Sears, well-known […]

More People Are Doing Yoga To Survive In Trump’s America—Let Us Not Retreat

Tue, 25 Jul 2017 19:42:32 +0000

While our national healthcare hangs in the balance, some people are taking wellness into their own hands—a lot of them out of sheer necessity, and for some, maybe even a little desperation? (Serenity NOW.) But it doesn’t go unwarranted. We are living in a brand new era, one the likes of which we have never […]

Chicken Nugget Yoga Takes Wing

Fri, 21 Jul 2017 10:51:20 +0000

The zen-est thing to happen to fast food since Subway’s yoga mat bread. It’s so ridiculous it could be true. Chicken Nugget Yoga has taken wing! That’s a terrible pun. We’re very sorry. But not as sorry as we are about this new yoga blend. Chicken Nugget Yoga* is, of course, a joke (we think!) created […]

Finally, A Yoga Emoji!

Thu, 20 Jul 2017 10:18:50 +0000

Here’s some fun and silly…uh, we mean VERY serious news. Apple debuted new emojis and guess what? We’re finally getting a yogi! For when the prayer hands and om symbol just won’t cut it. World Emoji Day was July 17th (you knew that, right?) and the iPhone overlords at Apple celebrated by announcing some fun […]

Check In To Check Out

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 15:05:32 +0000

by Tiffany Holmes “Go inside,” the Iyengar teacher at my home studio likes to say. This is where we check our business without worrying about how the shape we’re in looks, but rather how it feels. When I started teaching yoga, I took cues from all over the place, including the mobility/recovery, and CrossFit world. […]

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Health Improvement Insights

The most important skill for getting (and staying) healthy

“Success” Redefined

Do the Next Right Thing

The Past Isn’t Set In Stone

Which Past Story can you rewrite?

Wasted Effort

Where are you running UP the DOWN escalator?

Beware the Story, Embrace the Science

The First Ig Nobel Prize in Demography

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Boundaries: the Cure for Burnout?

Guilt and Overcommitting

The Solution to Burnout isn’t a Yoga Retreat

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The ONE thing that finally worked…

3 Short Lessons We Can Learn

94 Years of Wisdom

Ichi-go Ichi-e 一期一会

Gramma’s Community

Live Deliberately

All We have to Decide…

You’re overcomplicating it.

Simple, Not Easy.

This is a Test (Year)

I apologize for my sideburns and striped shirt

My Biggest Surprise Rewatching…

How’s My Epic Quest Going?

Wading into the Comment Section…

Two Buttons: Power and Reset

Doggie Not Down With Human Doing Yoga

10 Ways To Resist As A Yogi

Reflections On Michael Stone, Mental Health And Yoga’s Cult Of Positivity

Are You Ready For The Eclipse? Warnings, Rituals And Other Fascinating Tidbits

Stop Outsourcing Your Self-Care

Want To Be An Expert Yoga Teacher?

More People Are Doing Yoga To Survive In Trump’s America—Let Us Not Retreat

Chicken Nugget Yoga Takes Wing

Finally, A Yoga Emoji!

Check In To Check Out

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