Some of the most valuable advice I have ever received came from Dan John. Dan is really great athlete and coach based out of Utah. In 2007 I flew down from Alaska to L.A. for a Strength and Conditioning Seminar where I met Dan.
One of the things he told us has stuck with me for years and has been critical to my ability to succeed at what I set my mind on. Incredibly simple and elegant; it goes like this:
Look at your behaviors. Look at your goals. Make your behaviors match your goals.
It's so simple that it's something that can easily be overlooked, but this is crucial for achieving what you want to do from health to athletics to academics to relationships.
When people ask me why they can't improve their body composition or get stronger or whatever, I ask them these two questions.
- What are your behaviors or habits?
- What are your goals?
- Do your behaviors match your goals?
Usually any problems are easy to spot right there. Setting goals is great, but it's futile unless you also make the commitment to actually change part of your lifestyle to meet these goals. If you don't make an attempt to change your behaviors to match your goals, then obviously that goals was not worth the "cost" of changing the behavior.
If your goals is to lose weight, improve your health, or just feel better..
- Using a paleo or evolutionary diet?
- Are you still eating vegetable and seed oils or cooking with with them oil? Change your behavior, replace them with foods that bring you closer to your goals- butter, ghee, coconut oil, egg yolk, olive oil.
- How much sugar are you eating?
- Have you eliminated cereal grains from the diet? Replace them with safe starches- sweet potatoes, yams, potatoes, etc. Or if you really want to lose weight fast, decrease your carbs as well.
- Are you doing some type of physical activity that you enjoy regularly?
- Getting at least 8 hours of beauty sleep each night?
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| Sprinting makes you very lean |
You don't need to change every behavior at once, especially at first you can probably make great progress starting with one at a time. Just keep in mind, the more behaviors you change to be in line with your goals, the faster you will reach them.
It's difficult to completely stop a habit/behavior. Instead, modify that behavior so that it is health promoting and brings you closer to your goals.
You can implement this right now. Honestly look at your behaviors and see if they match up with your goals. Make changes, refine, and repeat.
The next part of success? Preparation.
The next part of success? Preparation.
It would be motivational. It is true that success is heavily depends on our goals. How we managed goals and how we followed those is really crucial.
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