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Running from the bear in 2021
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Instead of "perfect, be "good enough."
Outdoor survival tip!
If a bear is chasing you, you don't have to run the fastest.
You just have to run a little bit faster than the slowest person.
In other words, when you want to improve your habits and choices, you never have to be 100% "perfect".
All it takes is to be a little bit better, consistently.
The 0% Game
Try this game.
Think of those parents who focus on how much less than 100% their children got in an exam?
In other words, "If you get 90% on your English test, what happened to the other 10%?"
They start from 100% (i.e., perfection) and work backwards. So, everything is always less than 100% and therefore not good enough.
Let's try an Opposite Day:
1. Start from 0%. 2. Then add.
Consider this.
• What is 0% fitness? Well, maybe lying day in bed all day watching TV.
• What is 0% nutrition? Hmm. Maybe eating fast food morning, noon and night.
• What is 0% health? Dead.
So how could you apply this to 2021??
• If 0% of fitness is watching TV all day... what's your current fitness level?
• If 0% of nutrition is eating fast food every
night... how much better are your nutrition habits?
• If 0% health is dead, then even if you've got raging stomach flu today, you've got to be at least 50% healthy.
See how much better 2021 is going to look when you start from the worst-case scenario? Now keep playing the game.
1. Start at 0%.
2. See how much better than 0% you are right now.
3. Think about what would make you just 1% better today. (Or 0.5%.)
What would move you just a little bit forward on January 1st? What could make you just a little bit better?
Progress, not perfection
Consider two options.
Option 1: Making yourself crazy for the first week of January 2021, chasing a "100%" performance, then burning out and giving up.
Option 2: Trying to be 1% better every day, for 365 days of 2021. Let's do the math.
7 days x 100% effort + 365 days x 0% effort = no change, or backsliding. You end up feeling like a failure.
365 days x 1% better every day = significant transformation. You end up feeling like a winner.
Focus on "making a little progress" each day rather than chasing "perfection".
Start from 0% and add. Notice your small accomplishments. Let yourself be "good enough for now".
Start January 2021
Don't wait for the "perfect" day, "perfect" body, or "perfect" schedule full of free time to come.
It never will.
Do something NOW.
Take the next 5 minutes to do whatever you can do, immediately, to stay on track. Do that, and you're already 1% better. Congrats.
What to do today
Use the next 5 minutes to act on something.
In terms of health, fitness, and nutrition, what's your 0%?
If you had to put a number on it, how much better than 0% are your health, fitness, and nutrition habits today?
How are you 1% better now than when you started 2021
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