I remember riding the escalator at Macy’s at the Cape Cod Mall.
My mother, calmly riding the escalator Up like a regular human, would say I was going to hurt myself (possible) or was making a scene (correct) or interrupting people trying to go down the escalator (also correct) .
Sometimes I would get to the top, tired and out of breath, while my mother would come up at the same time laughing at how hard she was working.
Spend enough time in an airport (or travel with kids), and within minutes you’ll see kids trying to run into a People Mover moving in the other direction. Exhaustion for them, entertainment for us.
See where I’m going with this?
My friend Mark Manson posted the following .their newsletter. this week:
“All the commitment, persistence and motivation in the world won’t do you any good if you’re working on the wrong thing. In fact, it will do the opposite.”
Which brings me to today’s question…
Where are you running on the escalator DOWN?
Earlier this year, I remember having a conversation with Coach Matt from Team NF .coaching clients. who succeeds and who struggles.
- Those who find success: they identify the escalator that moves in the right direction, and they work hard to achieve that. Each step actually magnifies his efforts.
- Those who struggle: they continue to spend their energy, willpower and effort on changes that don’t move the needle.
I bet you’ve had moments where you wonder if all the effort was really worth it, or why progress seems harder than normal.
Here are some examples of trying to climb the escalator down:
- Spend a lot of money on expensive supplements (no prescribed by a medical professional).
- Switch to organic, gluten-free, or carb-based Keto snacks alone on the latest trend.
- Try complicated diets that are not indeed reduce how much you eat.
- Doing exercise you hate exclusively for weight loss reasons.
Running (and anything else considered cardio) is great for heart and lung health. But running and cardio is .much less effective for weight loss. than we think (unless we also adjust our nutritional strategy).
My guess is that you want to look more “toned”, which means you don’t just want to “lose weight”, but rather keep the muscle you have and lose the fat on top of it.
If these are our goals, then putting our focus on the right escalator is key.
Here are examples of going up the escalator:
Show me someone who eats mostly protein, fruits and vegetables, and strength trains (with progressive overload) for 30 minutes a few times a week, and I’ll show you someone who moves UP the right escalator.
Here’s the thing: .humans are not wired to love exercise.. We are not yet designed to thrive in a world where delicious, high-calorie, high-nutrition foods are always available.
Which means that if we are going to spend precious brain power and energy to do it something, We may even choose the right things to trick ourselves into doing.
Yes, there is also a “life vs. behavior” change component to this (which I covered in a previous newsletter about). .Manageable vs. Significant.). But deciding “how quickly I want to implement these meaningful steps” is a better question to ask than “Why am I not making progress despite working so hard?”
Get off the wrong escalator, and get on the right one.
Might as well put that effort to good use!
– Steve
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