Folks out there are obsessed with checklists and action steps.
“Just tell me what to do bro.”
If you get philosophical, like I like to get philosophical, that’s the number one complaint.
You ignore the philosophical at your own risk.
One thing I noticed time and again with our friends the checklist-followers.
They might follow the plan to the letter. Do every set, every rep, eat not more or less than exactly the calories you prescribe.
They’ll even get results to show for their troubles after a few months of it.
That outer work creates change. Then what?
Odds are in favor of the house that they’ll go right back to the old ways. The old ways mean the old results.
The outer change isn’t all about vanity of the result.
A true transformation begins inside. The true purpose of the outer work is to rebuild the inner world.
The habits that got you fat, lazy, weak, and out of shape will bring you right back there if you don’t attack them with savagery.
The outer change in your life can only reflect the inner world.
Hire a trainer and get the workout, and you’re borrowing somebody else’s plans — even their motivation.
If you don’t figure out how to bring it inside and adjust your own habits, the outer change is skin-deep and temporary.
By habits, I’m not talking just about your automatic responses, what you feel, think, or do habitually.
Let’s go deeper than that and talk about habits of the will.
Habits of wanting, desiring, and making your intentions into actions.
That’s the kind of habit that comes before all the rest.
The more you get comfy doing things because you choose to do them — not because it’s in your plan, to-do list, spreadsheet, kanban board, or email inbox, the easier this gets.
I told people over a decade ago that there is little point plugging your umbilical cord into any one workout. That’s outer change. Important in its way, but I shrug my shoulders.
Pick the workout you’ll enjoy and stick with.
What matters is dehypnotizing yourself from the lifetime of entrenched habits of willing.
Change what you want and now you’re talking about a lasting difference.
Matt Perryman
https://matts.email