The Behavior of Change
“Every day represents an opportunity to start a new. To make the change you’ve been dreaming of”
Stay Close to the Pin
This is the advice I gave my buddy the other day. It’s also the mantra I repeat to myself. Particularly during times when my normal exercise and diet routines have been thrown off. Whether that’s by choice, like taking a trip abroad, or it’s out of my control, like hosting my fiancé’s family for a couple of weeks over the holidays. Stay close to the pin, the pin is your goal or desired outcome, means focusing on what is in your control that can keep you from veering too far off.
If there’s three meals in a day, and you know dinner is going to be an indulgent affair, like say going out for Italian, or celebrating a friends birthday, then make sure that the other two meals balance it out. As an example, when I’m traveling I like to have a big healthy breakfast with fruit, eggs, bacon, yogurt, and a garden salad. I like to fill myself up before I leave to explore for the day. This way I’m not jonesing for every piece of food or pastry I see. Also, so that when I indulge at dinner, which is inevitable when traveling, I at least know that I started my day on the right food. And, at breakfast the next morning I can balance myself out again. I’m just trying to stay as close as I can.
With family visiting, I try to do the same thing with breakfast, and I’ll also sneak other healthy snacks throughout the day. Some raw nuts. Some fruit. A protein shake. So when we sit down for dinner, I’m hungry, but not starving and in danger of overdoing it.
Exercise is similar. What can you fit in during your trip? Or while you have company? Or whatever else it is that might be throwing off your routine. Maybe it’s 10 minutes of squats, push ups, crunches, and lunges to start your day. Or a few variations of plank holds. If you’re staying in a city where you’re going to be walking non-stop, then maybe you don’t need to formally exercise. Just choose to walk over getting into a taxi, or taking the stairs over escalators or elevators. On a recent trip my fiancé and I walked for an hour from our hotel to where we were meeting friends. My one buddy kept messaging me asking where we were. They Ubered to the destination and ended up arriving 30 minutes before us and the rest of the party. When we finally got there I told him we walked. He immediately started laughing. He said, “We thought about walking but decided to take an Uber. I told the group if anyone would walk it, it was Jen and James.” He was right.
The idea is not to make physical gains while you’re traveling, or when you’re out of your routine in general. You’re not going to be able to make progress during these times anyway, so don’t force it. Take it as an opportunity to break routine. But do just enough to keep the muscle memory of your routine fresh in your mind. It might not be the 60 minute high intensity workout you’re used to doing, but something is better than nothing, and something keeps the habit front of mind.
Stay close to the pin also means to give yourself a little slack. Don’t torture yourself with your routine. If you’re torturing yourself, it won’t be sustainable. If it’s not sustainable then you won’t stick to it long term. And the most important thing when it comes to making progress is consistency over a long period of time. Back off a little bit if you need to. Indulge a little bit if you need to. Just keep an eye out throughout your day for opportunities to strike a balance. A big dinner out with friends can be followed the next day with a light healthy breakfast and lunch. A missed workout can be balanced by a long walk when you get home or in the morning the next day while you sip your coffee.
Stay close to the pin, so when you’re ready to return you don’t have far to go. Poor health, weight gain, is not the result of 1 or 2 missed workouts or bad meals. People don’t end up in a hole because they fell off. Everyone falls off at some point. What matters is how far off you fall and for how long. Stay close to the pin.
And if you have a desire to start eating better and getting more active, don’t ever let that desire die. Think about it every day. Tell yourself that today is the day. And if not, then tomorrow. That is the day. My boss used to take home a briefcase every night filed with work. But he never did any work at home. Finally one day I asked him, “why do you keep bringing everything home when you never work on it?” He said, “It’s the intention that matters, and one day I will.” Never lose your intention, and one day you will make it happen. Every day is an opportunity to make the change you want.