HIA Series | Make It Easy to Be Successful
Action 4: Make it as easy as possible to start doing what you want to do more of
You were born lazy.
It’s okay, so was I. Instead of trying to force ourselves out of lazy tendencies with more willpower, why don’t we lean into our lazy nature and work with it?
One way we can do this is by trying to make it as easy as possible to start doing what we want to do more of.
This idea is exactly what we will be exploring more through this article.
Why our laziness is a good thing.
[1] By lazy, I’m referring to our tendency to choose the path of least resistance (we’re in good company as we observe this universal Law of Least Effort in physics as well). This, honestly, is not a bad thing. We only have so much energy and self-discipline, so it’s good that we naturally try to be as efficient as we can with what we’ve got.
I love how writer, Dan John, puts it when he says “you get one can of discipline for each day.”
Quick aside: while our energy and self-discipline may be finite, I do believe you can improve upon the capacity of how much you have (you can increase the size of your daily discipline-can overtime with deliberate practice). With this being said, I don’t think it is wise to try to intentionally make things more difficult on ourselves to “increase our capacity.” Instead we can make our actions easier to follow through with and build our capacity more naturally over time as we accumulate more helpful actions with a greater success rate.
With a finite amount of energy and self-discipline it makes sense that we naturally gravitate toward actions that require less.
Here are some of the most depleting sources of our energy and self-disciple in any given day for us:
Deliberate actions we are doing
The # of steps it takes to get started doing an action (these are still actions)
Choices (requiring us to make decisions)
Stress
Now briefly pause and think about how much of your day is unavoidably filled with these sources above already…
Next, consider how much discipline you might have left in your discipline-can for changes (aka new actions) you want to incorporate into your life…
Changes = more choices + more actions + most likely more stress as you get started
…Probably not much. Which is why it's appropriate to acknowledge that CHANGE IS HARD.
Since change is inherently hard, let's not make it any harder than it needs to be, rather let's work with our nature, and try and make the process as easy as we can to get started.
If we use the change equation above, to make the process easier we want to try and
Reduce the amount of choices
Reduce the amount of actions (especially actions to get started)
Reduce the amount of perceived stress by making it easy enough to feel confident in our ability to follow through with our new actions (which will also naturally improve as we successfully stick with the process)
By reducing these variables we spare ourselves the total cost of energy and self-discipline that may just make it possible for us to have enough in our daily discipline-can, day after day, to fully adopt the change into our lifestyle!
[1]
Less energy and self-discipline demand = better chance of success
Keeping our 3 ways to make the process easier in mind, we will now look more into the practical mindset and strategies for how we can approach getting started as easy as possible within the focuses of Training/Activity, Nutrition/Hydration, and Rest/Stress Management.
The Getting Started Mindset
[set yourself up mentally for success and reduce perceived stress]
[1] The temptation when getting started with a new and exciting change is to give into the initial surge of motivation and approach it with the mindset of SOLVE EVERYTHING AT ONCE and GO BIG or GO HOME.
Sadly, often the result is that we end up going home sooner than later.
Once the novelty of the new actions wears off and the challenges of our new reality set it, our initial surge of motivation will wear down as well. This leaves us unprepared to sustain the level of energy and self-discipline required, as we slide back into our nature of choosing the path of least resistance (previous habits) to cope with our day.
So, instead, we can respond during this initial time of excitement by asking and answering the following question for ourselves,
What would it look like if this was easy for me?
This is a golden mindset approach to starting and sticking with new actions because it will help us resist the urge to over complicate the process and overload our future selves.
Push back to this idea may be the very valid concern that starting so easy won’t help you to really make the progress you want to make.
My part 1 response to this concern is that we all easily underestimate the value that a sustainable, small or short action has on our life. A glass of water every morning for years can have a great effect on our health and our bodies ability to respond to other actions - we just may not feel a wave of vitality rush over us as we finish our water each morning (feelings can also be deceiving - a topic for another day).
My part 2 is that we don’t intend to stay in the same place. Our intent is to add another action onto the initial action when we are good and ready. No need to rush this process.
[1] Once we become better at the initial action and it becomes less energy intensive to follow through with, we can level up our action, adding a new one with a similar demand requirement as when we started with the first action. We can then ask and answer for ourselves,
What would one step better look like and how can I make it easy to follow through with?
In an effort to paint a mental picture for you, if the first action demands 1 oz of discipline (from my daily can of discipline) to get started, as I get better at following through with the action, it may only take 0.25 oz of discipline (or less) to keep following. Once I decide to add the next step, I want to keep the discipline requirement around that 1 oz so that I stand a better chance at successfully integrating this next step into my lifestyle as well.
These incremental, appropriately challenging, next steps will compound over time until you are satisfied with the level you are at and making the progress you want to make.
The Getting Started Mindset Blueprint:
Start with answering the question, “What would it look like if this was easy for me?”
Casually experiment with your approach until you prove to yourself you can easily follow through with your new action.
Once you are ready for another challenge, answer the question, “What would one step better look like and how can I make it easy to follow through with?”
Casually experiment with your approach until you prove to yourself you can easily follow through with your new action.
Repeat Step 2’s question and keep making strides forward one easy action at a time.
Every once in a while look back on where you were, and acknowledge how far you’ve come. It’s too easy to take for granted the effort we’ve given to make the progress we’ve made already.
Now that our mindset is in a good place we can address some direct strategies to make it as easy as possible to start doing what we want to do more of as it relates to improving our health and physical abilities. These would be some strategies to consider when you are answering the “what would it look like if this was easy” question for yourself.
While they will require some initial effort up front to set up, they will save you way more future effort/discipline once put into place. Resets (which you will soon read about) require some continued effort as well BUT will save you total future time and effort, and will become more automatic (requiring even less energy/discipline) the longer you do them.
Strategy for Training/Activity
[Set yourself up for success by reducing the amount of choices and actions to get started]
Focus on Your Environment not “being more motivated.”
[1] Priming your environment is a powerful approach because by designating what you need to set up properly and by setting it up ahead of time, you will have less choices to make and actions to perform day after day when trying to start doing the action.
We want to set ourselves up as close to grab and use as we can. Ultimately requiring less motivation to get started each day.
Ways you can prime your environment for following a training program and activity/sport:
Dedicate a space in your home to training (establish a home gym space) with equipment already set up and with each item easily grabbable for use.
Invest into equipment that is dependable, can be used for a multitude of movements, can easily be grabbed and used, and the settings quickly changed so it’s easier to get started with each exercise. I have a list of 14 Foundational Items that I believe do a great job delivering on these qualities and set a great foundation for a really nice home gym.
Identify a very convenient gym and/or park that is dependable (equipment is mostly available and kept in good condition)
Could be a gym at your work building
Could be a gym or park on your route to work each day
Could be a gym or park 5-15 min. Away from your house (the closer the better)
Could also have an Option A (favorite setup) and Option B (good backup setup), for when A is disrupted.
Make a list of the items you need to have with you to best follow your training program (such as training shoes, shirt, shorts, water, towel, etc.) and keep that list easily accessible on your phone or on paper, placed where you’ll see it every day.
If training at home, have these items placed in your home gym already or together in the same spot in your bedroom to grab and get into your session.
If training at a public facility or park, pack a separate bag with just the items and clothing you need for training to have with you.
Keep whatever equipment you need for sport/activity in a designated place, so that you always know where it is and can quickly grab it for use.
If you use a lot of equipment for your activity/sport it may help to make a list for quick review to make sure you always take everything you need.
IMPORTANT: Once the environment has been primed you can easily continue to prime the environment, so that it’s easier to repeat the action next time, by [1] Resetting the Space.
If using a home gym, put the items back where they belong for easy access next time.
If at a public space, put the items back where they belong so you are supporting others efforts to more easily get started with their training (if everyone did this what a wonderful world it would be).
Replenish your items that you use each day (whether at home or in your bag). If you replace your clothing and training items after using them you’ll always have what you need and will avoid rushing to do it at the last minute…or not doing it at all.
Put your sporting/active items back in their designated spot so you aren’t looking for them (or doing without some of them) the next time.
The Value of Having a Plan
Priming your environment becomes easier if you know what you’ll be doing.
Having a plan ahead of time also decreases decision fatigue by eliminating more and harder decisions you would need to make without one.
With a good plan, you just need to focus on showing up and finding ways to enjoy following it (something we’ll dive deeper into in a future article).
For training, have a plan that guides you through what to do with consideration to progressively challenging your abilities over time (which will drive your ability to make improvements) in a way where the demand is balanced and scaled appropriately to help you stay consistent and injury free.
This is one area of value I provide through my Fit for Life Program, designed for those who want to improve their strength, mobility, endurance, and athleticism (along with overall health and confidence in their body). I also have put a lot of thought and work into making the programs very easily accessible and quick to follow through my training app.
For sport/activity, schedule when you’ll go enjoy the activity/sport. If you join a league or pick-up group this will already be done for you. If you aren’t in an organized group, take initiative and organize it for yourself. You can talk with friends or family you’d like to invite to join you, or just get out and do it to enjoy yourself (maybe listen to some good music or an enjoyable podcast/audiobook while you do it). Just make sure you put it on your calendar and make it a priority (just like your training, nutrition, and sleep). This is an important time to enjoy being active and can be restorative, mentally and physically, throughout your week.
In Fit for Life we use 30+ Active Days to promote dedicating two days each week to this type of activity for at least 30 minutes or more. By pairing a structured program - designed to improve our physical capabilities - and at least two days a week where we allow ourselves to use our improved physical abilities in whatever sport/activity we enjoy, we create a powerful weekly structure to keep improving while enjoying the process!
Strategy for Nutrition/Hydration
[Set yourself up for success by reducing the amount of choices and actions to get started]
Focus on Your Environment not “being more motivated.”
It’s an approach so nice, we’re saying it twice. Your nutrition environment is just as important as your training/activity environment, if not more so. In most cases we train once a day, but when it comes to eating, we typically have 2-3 meals a day with snacks possibly mixed in. That's a lot more opportunity to make or break our efforts when it comes to making the health or physical progress we desire.
You will wear yourself out very quickly trying to be more motivated to make better nutrition decisions all day. Instead, you can direct that energy and discipline to setting up your food and drink options around you in order to make the more helpful choices as easy as you possibly can.
Ways you can prime your environment for better nutrition and hydration:
Buy and prepare items as close to grab and use as possible
Don’t let items sit in the fridge without being washed, cut up, cooked, or whatever steps are needed to make it where you can grab it to eat or use in a meal/snack.
For protein sources, have at least one item already cooked, stored, and ready for consumption.
If it makes sense with your budget, it may be worth it to buy some items already prepared for grab and use.
Invest into tools and storage containers to make preparing food as quick, easy, and accessible as possible.
Idea 1: make sure you have dependable cutting knives and cutting boards to easily cut up foods
Idea 2: have a strainer to more quickly wash food items
Idea 3: use a rice cooker and steamer combo for easy grain/bean and vegetable cooking (it's one of my favorite kitchen items).
Also make sure you have plenty of storage containers so you never run out of ways to keep your prepared food items.
When preparing an item, prepare as much of it as you can.
For instance, if I buy 3 peppers, I will cut up all 3 at the same time to store in containers, rather than just one at a time.
When you’re not at home, have a dedicated spot in your bag or take a dedicated bag with food items in it that are helpful to you.
This could be for meals and snacks or just a snack depending on how long you’ll be gone and your preferences. If you’re tempted with certain types of food throughout your day that don’t align with your goals, have a replacement option for those foods in your bag that you still enjoy and are more helpful toward your current goals.
Keep a water bottle with you wherever you go.
I have a 20oz Yeti that I really like, because it keeps my water colder for longer and it’s easy for me to add in my head how much water I’m drinking in a day.
Remember to reset your space.
Keep helpful food and drink items stocked in your home (it becomes instantly harder if those items are not easily accessible to you).
Having a weekly grocery shopping trip (or delivered) and a weekly prepping time is a great way to make sure helpful items are always available.
Wash dishes on a daily or bi-daily basis to make sure the kitchen items that make your life easier to prepare foods are available when you need them.
Replenish your to-go bag or spot in your bag where you keep food items when you are out of the house.
This is only possible if your home is properly stocked with what you need to transfer into your bag. Make sure your home is stocked and items are prepped for grab and use, so that all you have to do is transfer them and go.
Have a Plan!
(Guides how you prime your environments and reduces decision fatigue)
You don’t need a meal plan, but having either a weekly menu for dinners or at least a determined protein source to build meals around will take a lot of stress out of following through with helpful meals.
What a Weekly Dinner Menu could look like:
With a weekly dinner menu you would determine what meals you want to prepare each day of the week, with the option to leave a day or two open ended if you’d like (just remember where there’s freedom, there are decisions to be made, and as a result, energy/disciple to be used).
You can also designate a meal for each day and then change any given day if you decide you want to. Your menu could act more as a default option so you don’t have to make any further decisions unless you wanted to that day.
You can make a weekly menu so that you have the same meals each day, week after week (changing up a meal here and there when you decide you want to), or you could determine a bi-weekly dinner menu that is a little less repetitive. You could even create a monthly menu if you are a superstar planner and would enjoy that.
Typically with this menu in place you can have leftovers for lunch over the next day or two. Also, if you make enough of the protein source (such as chicken) you could use that same protein in the next day's meal with different sides (such as chicken, rice, and veggies on day 1 and then chicken tacos on day 2).
In Fit for Life, you have access to a planning tool called “My Menu” that helps you organize what foods you enjoy having and provides a template to fill in for weekly meals. It’s also easy to copy meals and expand the template to as many weeks as you’d like to plan for. I have found it very helpful to have all my food preferences organized in one place that I can quickly reference and use for planning whenever I need.
What a Determined Protein Source strategy could look like:
With a determined protein source, the goal is to make sure you always have a protein source cooked and available to grab and eat or use, while also having another protein source ready to be cooked.
I have used the menu strategy in the past and it worked great, but this determined protein strategy has become my current favorite way to approach my meals (because I’ll admit I’m lazy and this requires less planning ahead of time). I use my Baseball System for Protein to follow through with this meal strategy.
With a determined protein source available for your meal, you would then just make decisions around what grain and/or vegetable based sides sound good that day. Just make sure you have options for these stocked in your kitchen already.
In Fit for Life, you have the option to work through a nutrition skills program that, first and foremost, instills the skill of making an easy use shopping list that you then utilize on a weekly shopping trip to make sure you are always set up with the foods you need to implement a strategy such as the Determined Protein Source strategy. You can also use the “My Menu” tool to keep your preferences organized and easily memorable for when you are thinking of items to include on your shopping list (which the nutrition skills program walks you through setting up as well).
Strategy for Rest/Stress Management
[Set yourself up for success by reducing the amount of choices and actions to get started]
Focus on Your Environment not “being more motivated.”
Had to say it one more time so that you never forget it. It’s easy to overlook sleep (deep rest), relaxing (rest), or methods that help your body recover; and think of them as things that will just happen as you have time for them. In truth, we can only adapt and improve as well as we can recover from the challenges we take on. In other words, our ability to rest and manage stress can be one of the biggest limiting factors in our ability to make the progress we desire in our health and physical abilities.
This can be direct, in the sense that we are unable to give our best effort when training, being active, or needing to show up at our best for something important.
This can be indirect, in the sense that our body feels like it's working against us, by craving the wrong things, not responding to the actions we are doing, and tricking us to believe we have no motivation for anything.
By making rest and stress management a deliberate focus throughout our week we can improve our ability to perform and our capacity to handle more challenges over time.
Ways you can prime your environment for better rest and stress management:
Have your favorite relaxing activities easily accessible to enjoy.
If it’s a good book, keep it with you wherever you go or keep it in an easy spot to grab and open wherever you most enjoy reading it.
If you enjoy being outside in nature; identify a nice, nearby park, path, or even place at your home where you can escape to without needing a large time commitment to enjoy (you are welcome to spend as much time as you want in this space but you don’t want it to be too much of a time demand getting there, otherwise it will be harder to fit into your day and less likely to happen).
If it’s a soak in a hot tub or bath, keep a towel and whatever other items you use (bubbles, oils, bathing suit, rubber ducky, etc.) already together and in a consistent place, so that you can just grab them and go relax.
If it’s a tv show, have access to a tv/tablet/phone where you can enjoy it without others potentially needing the same space (just remember to use tv time as a relaxing activity and not life-dominating one).
If it’s time with family and/or friends you enjoy being around, try to live close enough to them to get together frequently, or schedule weekly time to spend together doing something that everyone enjoys and isn’t counterproductive to your health and physical goals (such as meeting up for a walk and talk, having a cook-out with some yard games, enjoy some pool time in the summer, play games, or just getting together to sit around and chat or watch a show/movie together).
These are just some ideas above. There are a million and one different ways to relax, so find what works for you and then make it as accessible in your week as you can.
Set up your sleep environment to make it as relaxing and easy to fall asleep as you can. I provide many ideas to do this in the sleep environment section of my article about sleeping 7-9 hours each night.
Keep recovery tool items easily able to grab and use wherever you spend time (where appropriate).
Idea 1: Keep a foam roller or message gun easily accessible in your home gym or take a travel roller in your bag when not at home.
Idea 2: Keep a foam roller or message gun in your living room and/or bedroom that is easily able to be grabbed and used while watching a show, spending time with the family, etc.
Idea 3: Keep a message gun or ball at the office or home office you can easily grab and use on any stiff or sore muscles while taking a short break
Remember: you can stretch just about anywhere. Have a short list of 1-5 of the most impactful stretches for you to perform whenever you take a break or are feeling stiff (if you know you won’t remember to do them, write them down on a physical list and make copies to place anywhere you spend time and will see the list)
Then remember to reset your space!
Replace any items you use in your relaxing environments, so that you can easily use them again.
Reset or keep your sleep environment set up for another good night's sleep.
Put your recovery tool items back where you originally, strategically placed them.
…and let's not forget, have a plan.
(Guides how you prime your environments and reduces decision fatigue)
Here are 3 ways you could plan that would improve your rest and stress management:
1. Schedule time to relax, which would look more like leaving some dedicated time open for you to use your favorite relaxing activities guilt free. It can also help you push through challenging moments if you know you have a relaxing time to look forward to.
This might not look the same for every week, realistically some weeks are much more demanding than others, however, do your best to look for time within each week or day where you can spend time relaxing (no matter how limited that time may have to be).
2. Identify an ideal bedtime, by working backwards from when you need to wake up, and then set an ideal wind down time window to know when to start taking steps toward relaxing to be able to fall asleep sooner. I dive deeper into how to structure this wind down time with examples in my sleep 7-9 hours each night article.
3. Have a go to Recovery Session that you enjoy and can use on off-days or sometimes in place of a training day when needed.
I like to approach this as a Mobility and Move Session where you engage in some foam rolling where needed, easy deep range of motion movements (promoting some mobility and strength), and then transition into easy effort movement that encourages more blood flow through your entire body (I now refer to it as Range 1 Heart Rate Training but it is popularly known as Zone 2 Training).
Fit for Life provides multiple mobility sessions that target different joint areas that we can plug into the “Mobility” part for a Mobility and Move Session.
Recap
Key ways to set yourself up for success by making it as easy as possible to start doing what you want to do more of:
Approach it with a good mindset, asking yourself “what would it look like if this was easy for me? so you can get started with more confidence that you could stick with it forever.
Prime your environment to have things already in place that make it as quick and easy for you to start doing what you want to do throughout your day/week.
Reset your space so it remains primed and ready to be quickly and easily utilized next time.
Have a pre-established plan, along with a primed environment, so you can cut down on the amount of daily decisions and actions you will need to make to be successful.
Either take the time to think through a plan and resources to easily follow/log/reflect on weekly for yourself, or invest into a done-for-you system (like Fit for Life) that aligns with what you desire to improve on.
Keeping in Mind:
Less energy and self-discipline demand = better chance of success
While I’ve provided strategies in the 3 important domains of Training/Activity, Nutrition/Hydration, and Rest/Stress Management; be careful about trying to improve on each of these areas all at once. Think about what your time currently allows for and then where you would either benefit the most from improving on right now, or which area you would most enjoy trying to improve on right now.
You can then just maintain the other areas you aren’t initially focused on improving.
This will deter you from unintentionally overcomplicating or overloading yourself with too many improvements at once. Remember, you can build up actions, expand your focuses, and make incremental improvements over time. There’s no rush!
Make sure you start by feeling very confident that you can do what you plan to start doing. And make it as easy for yourself to follow through with as you can.
I’ll leave you with a sentence that summarizes this whole article and that helps me remember how to stay on the right track as I continue to try and improve myself:
A good plan paired with good environments makes it a good chance I’ll follow through with what I want to do.
Happy training!
Direct Sources I Used:
[1] Atomic Habits by James Clear - The 3rd Law: Make It Easy - Chapters 12-14 - pages 149-178