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Mary Clarkee wrote: ↑January 31st, 2024, 10:08 am
I have a question for you. How can I incorporate creative elements into my fitness routine to make it more enjoyable and sustainable over the long term? Additionally, how might this approach align with your philosophy on creating wealth and success?
Hi,
Mary Clarkee,
Thank you for your question!
First, I want you to honestly ask yourself a question, set aside some dedicated focused time to think or meditate on the answer while doing nothing else, and then only proceed one way or the other from there. That question is this:
If, hypothetically, there was absolutely no way to stick to your fitness routine and reach your fitness goals without it being extremely boring, painful, uncomfortable, and unfun (i.e. not fun), would you then prefer (1) to do it anyway, or (2) choose the comfort, fun, and excitement over the fitness goals?
I am not saying it actually is so binary such that you actually do have to choose between only those two extremes. Rather, I am asking,
hypothetically, if you could only choose one, which would you choose?
Answering that question will help you understand and be honest with yourself about what your real priorities are. In reality, you can only have a single number one priorities.
My system for maintaining inner peace and achieving huge external success with incredible grace, confidence, and happy ease is built on honestly determining what one's own priorities are, in order, and then making absolutely certain to take care of #1 before taking care of #2 and to do #2 before #3 and so on. I look at the big priorities and top goals like big rocks, and look at the the lower priorities as sand, and look at it is if I am looking to fill a finite sack. I put the big rocks in first, then once I am sure I have got those in there, I pour in as much sand as I can.
If you put the sand in first, then you won't have room for the rocks.
Which is the sand for you? The fitness goals or the creative fun and the comfort of avoiding something that's boring.
In reality, you may be able to have some of both (or not), but to be sure to get your rock you need to know which is the rock and which is the sand. Then you definitely get your rock and you get a little bit of the sand too as some icing on the proverbial cake.
In analogy, someone might ask me, "how can I stick to my weight loss diet and eat lots of tasty food and not feel hungry all the time?" Well those are two (or more) different goals, and one is the big rock and the other is some of the pebbles or sand. The question is sort of incomplete and possibly loaded with rationalizations that potentially betray the fact that the asker may not be fully honest with themselves yet about whether their goals are, or just haven't taken the time to really consider it, which is why my first suggestion above was for you to take some dedicated focused time to monotask on meditating on this question and asking yourself this question, the question being what your biggest priority (i.e. biggest rock) is, versus what's just some sand that you'd be willing to do without.
In another analogy, a recovering alcoholic might ask me,
"I just started going to AA, and have been sober for a few weeks, but I am losing touch with my friends as a result. How can I stay sober and stay good friends with all of my old drinking buddies?"
Even if in reality you won't have to choose between the two in the most extreme black-and-white binary way, such that you can have all of one and still some of the other, it's typically very helpful to start by hypothetically imagining you only had the binary option of all of first and none of the second vs none of the first and all of the second. And that's just so you can understand what you real #1 priority is, meaning what your biggest rock is and thus also which is just some of of the infinite sand and pebbles in comparison. It's just some of the infinite of pile of available extra icing some of which you might throw on top if you have some time left.
For some people, maybe their #1 goal in life is simply to avoid uncomfortable bodily feelings like hunger. There's nothing wrong with that. To each their own.
For some people, drinking and partying and being the life of the part might be their #1 priority. There's nothing wrong with that. To each their own.
The treadmill was invented as a literal torture machine to torture people against their will. I bought one for myself and use it recreationally. To each their own.
Some people are into some very brutal sexual BDSM, with chains, whips, pain, and bruises. For others, that's the stuff of nightmares. To each their own.
Recreation is a funny thing because we all recreate differently, and one person's eagerly met voluntary recreation would be another's torture. One person's trash is another's treasure.
I think I have answered your second question first. I think the above first steps demonstrate how that initial approach (namely taking some time to honestly determine what your true #1 goal is) aligns with my overall philosophy on creating wealth and success.
The first question will actually be easy for you to answer, or not need to be answered so much, once you take care of the recommendations above. The seeming conflicts (e.g. maintaining sobriety while maintaining friendships, losing weight while still eating tasty snacks and not feeling hunger, etc.) tend to evaporate once one takes the time to do the self-exploration and meditation to honestly know oneself. The false appearance of conflict artists from trying to fit an impossible amount of rocks and sand in a bag, and then one in that situation might ask me how they can fit even more rocks and sand in their bag. My answer is you cannot. It is impossible. Instead, I suggest you start emptying your cup. A cup is useful because of it's emptiness. Conceptually take everything out of your finite bag; in your mind, dump out all the rocks and sand. Then, slowly, with extreme self-honesty, one at a time pick your priorities and put them in the empty bag one a time. You'll get your big rocks, then you can throw some sand in, and other people will asking you,
"Wow, how did you fit so much in your bag? It must be the heaviest most filled bag I've ever seen! How do you get so much done? How do you achieve such incredible success in everything you put your mind to?" Do what I've told you in this post, and they will be asking
you that.
You asked me how make you fitness routine more enjoyable and sustainable. I'm tell you that if you expect it to be enjoyable, it won't be sustainable. And that's okay. If one enjoys watching TV and eating cupcakes better than exercising or such, and one prioritizes such enjoyment over sticking to a certain fitness regime, then I would and do honestly and whole-heartedly recommend that person leave the gym, go home and eat cupcakes and watch TV.
To do otherwise would be like recommending a heterosexual person have gay sex. Or vice versa, It doesn't make sense.
It would be like recommending a happy Jewish person go to a Christian Church on Sundays instead of their Jewish Temple on Saturdays. It doesn't make sense.
To make such recommendations (or to just silently judge or resent people for not doing such things) would be an example of what I call
Orwellian Agent-Smithism, meaning an utter and total failure to under respect
spiritual freedom,
self-government, and
the beautiful diversity that freedom, independence, and individuality engender. Or, in short, a failure to understand and respect the principles of (1)
to each their own and (2)
live and let live.
For some, they struggle more with accepting others using those principles. For other people, they struggle with applying those principles of radical acceptance to the human they see in the mirror. For one example of countless, sometimes it's a straight person engaging in Orwellian Agent-Smithism against a gay person, but other times it's a gay person doing the same thing to the human they see in the mirror.
So you can see why it is so crucial to start by truly asking yourself the hypothetical I gave you and thinking about and/or meditating on the answer, to ensure you have to come a place of deep honest self-knowledge, namely in regard to your true priorities.
The most crucial part of sustaining your walk along the path you choose is choosing the path that most accurately corresponds to you. A rougher way of saying that would be this: Sustaining your walk along path to go the furthest distances depends most on choosing the right path in the first place, with the concept of "right path" simply meaning the path that truly and honestly corresponds to your actual priorities. Perhaps the main reason most people give up on going after a goal that could achieve as long as they don't give up is that they chose to start chasing a goal that wasn't really their real top goal or priority in the first place. Confidence in your destination as being truly the place you truly and honestly want to be at the time you will get there is the key to sustaining and completing the walk from where you are to there.
So now I think I have answered not only you second question but also the "sustainability" part of your first question, which leaves only this:
" How can I incorporate creative elements into my fitness routine to make it more enjoyable over the long term?"
I surely could provide much more helpful and applicable suggestions if I knew exactly what your current fitness regime is like (as well as a bit more about your personality, hobbies, and tastes in general). Assuming you've signed up for
my free mentoring program, then we will definitely get to that. For instance, once you complete the first 100 day period, I have you fill out a survey I wrote myself that includes you telling me exactly how you spend every hour of your week. At that stage, I'll have the info to make very specific and tailored suggestions for tweaks to your routine and such that will uniquely apply for you.
Broadly speaking, here are some suggestions each of which or may not apply depending what kind of things you find enjoyable:
1. If you love sports and activities, you can do sign up for things like dance classes, rock climbing, boxing, kickboxing, or martial arts such as jiu jitsu. Those are actually all things I have done, and I didn't do any of them for the exercise, but rather just for the fun and enjoyment. The exercise that came with those enjoyable activities was sometimes an extra plus and sometimes an extra con that I accepted as a price of the enjoyment, in that it could put me at risk of over-training or otherwise interfere with other aspects my overall exercise regime. In other words, I do all those things just for enjoyment, not the huge amount of exercise they entail, and as a result would be at risk of accidentally getting way too much exercise. Other examples of similar activities are swimming, tennis, volleyball, bowling. You can usually find somewhere to sign up for weekly lessons (which can be great if you are a beginning) or otherwise find a team and/or league to join to do actual competitions.
2. If you love math and numbers like I do, then you can stick to some very specific routines (e.g. run the exact some distance once a week on the exact same day and carefully track your progress on a computer spreadsheet, do the same weight lifting exercises week after week and carefully track your progress, count your calories religiously, and weigh yourself everyday, etc. etc.). I run my body and fitness like a business, with me almost more of the accountant (or CFO) than the CEO, making it all about numbers and spreadsheets and bottom lines, and I love it. I love being able to predict exactly how much I am going to weigh or lift in a month, or by some other date, simply by tracking the numbers. I love the way I can track how many calories are coming in and how many are going out and thus essentially tell you how much weight I've gained or lost without even having to weigh myself. Even though I do weigh myself or test out my max life in the gym, in a way I'm just cross-checking what I already know and have calculated. Not everyone would enjoying being an accountant or CEO of a literal business, and so not everyone would enjoy tracking their health and fitness numbers so exactly, but I love it. It's fun for me.
3. You can listen to music, audiobooks, or even watch videos, TV, or movies while exercising. I usually listen to great music that I love while working out, and on the treadmill I'll even watch a playlist of my favorite music videos.
4. Set specific goals that are very ambitious yet achievable, and make sure to write them down. The science is there if you want to research it: But you get incredible beneficial hormonal rushes and pleasure and enjoyment from literally crossing a goal off your list. Or checking it off, or whatever system to use. I actually do daily goal-setting, meaning at any point in my life I have about 5-10 top goals with specific dates, and each morning first thing I re-write those same 5-10 goals down. So I have a notebook with page after page after page of the same 10 goals written down over and over. When I reach one, then I replace it with a different one. It provides a lot more pleasure to achieve something that you have explicitly set as a goal in advance versus achieving the same thing but it not being a goal you had explicitly set. It rightly makes it feel a lot more like something you and that you achieved, in the sense of the real you. It's not really "success" if it finds you and just falls in your lap. So it feels much better when you illustrate to yourself undeniably in writing that it is something you are choosing to achieve over time and then do.
5. Make sure to do your best to achieve progressive overload and deeply challenge yourself. For example, if you life weights, then every time you go to the gym to do the same workout, make sure to add a little bit more weight to what you life or do an extra rep. In another example, if you are doing the treadmill or running outdoors, make sure that each time you go running you run either a little further or run a little faster. If your workout is getting boring and unenjoyable, that's usually a symptom that you aren't challenging yourself enough and are just doing the exact same thing each time. I do typically recommend doing almost the same workout each week, mainly just so you can track your progress in an apples to apples way, but then you create the continuous novelty via the continuous. Each week is new and different because you are doing a little bit more than you did the week before, and challenging yourself more than you ever did before, and achieving goals you have never achieved before. If you do 10 pushups every Monday that will get boring fast. But if you do 10 this Monday, then 11 the next, then 12 the next, the 13 the next, and so on, that will be endlessly enjoyable with endless novelty because each week you are hitting a new PR and doing something you have never done before. Progress is novelty, so use continuous progressive overload to create an endless supply of enjoyable novelty and joyous new achievements.
I hope these tips are helpful! Please do let me know if you have any follow-up questions about this or anything.
With love,
Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
a.k.a. Scott
Be one of the 1%! Write down your goals over and over every day first thing in the morning. goal-setting.png (466.34 KiB) Viewed 2159 times
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In addition to having authored his book, In It Together, Eckhart Aurelius Hughes (a.k.a. Scott) runs a mentoring program, with a free option, that guarantees success. Success is guaranteed for anyone who follows the program.
. I've tried #1 many times, it works sometimes but sometimes it doesn't. I'm going to try #2 and be stern about it.
- By Belinda