2706: Why Having to Start Over AGAIN Is Great by Steve Kamb of Nerd Fitness on Resiliency & Fitness Motivation

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: This is Optimal Health Daily. Why Having to Start Over AGAIN Is Great by Steve Kamb of NerdFitness.com and I'm your host and narrator, Dr. Neal.

[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Hey there happy middle of the week Wednesday and welcome back to Optimal Health Daily!

[00:00:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Where I read some of the best health and fitness blogs to you, and always with a bit of my commentary at the end.

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_00]: And speaking of what I always do, every Wednesday I like to share a little bit of inspiration with you.

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_00]: So since today is Wednesday, here we go.

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Quote. The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. Remember, the greatest failure is to not try.

[00:00:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Debbie Fields Alright and with that, let's get right to it and start optimizing your life.

[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_00]: While having to start over again is great by Steve Kamb of NerdFitness.com.

[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I received an email a few months back from a nerd fitness reader that made me smile.

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Quote. I'm going back to square one. I noticed the only habit that I changed and stuck with was drinking tons of water.

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Have you ever started playing a game and get a few hours in and go, man, I wish I knew these controls or tips from the beginning.

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_00]: So your restart and the game just feels easier from that point on.

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_00]: You start finding items that you missed before. I'm restarting my journey and now that I have a better idea of the controls.

[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_00]: End Quote. This resonated with me because when I first played EverQuest, which is similar to World of Warcraft, the first character I created was terrible.

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_00]: It took me forever to level up. I assigned my stat points poorly. I died frequently and I slowly crawled my way up to the more difficult challenges.

[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_00]: When I started again playing as a new character, I flew through the first 30 levels. I understood the controls how the game worked and what needed to get done. It was much easier the second time through.

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_00]: The same is true for any boss battle you first encounter in any game. You struggle to learn the patterns. You lose most of your health, but then you crack the code.

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_00]: When you face that boss again later, you win easily.

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Getting in shape is no different. Every time we try to get fit and fail, we learn a little bit more about how the controls work.

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe we lost a few pounds with strategy A but failed with strategy B. If we go to the gym for a few weeks and give up, when we come back next time, we are familiar with the inner workings

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_00]: and don't need to get over the fear of exercising in a public place like the first time.

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Each time you start over, you're getting closer to that point of making things stick. It turns out that this strategy might actually be crucial in giving us the motivation to push forward.

[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Capitalize on the momentum.

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Warton Professor Catherine Milkman highlights the behavior in her fresh start study.

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Quote. The study showed that Google searches for the term diet, study one, gym visits, study two, and commitments to pursue goals, study three, all increase following temporal landmarks.

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER_00]: For example, the outset of a new week, month, year or semester, a birthday, or a holiday.

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_00]: We propose that these landmarks demarcate the passage of time, creating many new mental accounting periods each year, which relegate past imperfections to a previous period.

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_00]: In doce people to take a big picture view of their lives and thus motivate aspirational behaviors.

[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Eniquote. Long story short, there are specific points in our life like New Year's, birthdays, or a Monday when we say,

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_00]: OK, today is the day that things are going to change and it helps.

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_00]: When we decide to start a new one a particular day, something powerful can happen.

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_00]: We can look at today as the first day of the rest of our lives, everything else that has happened up to that point is in the past and was indicative of our old selves.

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, today moving forward, this new version of us will behave differently.

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_00]: The new version moves forward, levels up, and makes decisions differently than the old version of us.

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_00]: As the study highlights, though, these fresh starts have a limited effect. It doesn't last forever.

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_00]: That's why what we do when we're filled with this power up is so important.

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_00]: How to start over?

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_00]: When you next come to your today is a new day moment, there are some great steps you can take to guarantee you make a tiny bit of progress towards permanent awesomeness.

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_00]: One, separate yourself from the old you.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Today, you are somebody different. I don't care how poorly you made decisions yesterday. That was the old you.

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Change can happen in an instant and it can be sustainable.

[00:04:57] [SPEAKER_00]: So instead of thinking, I'm going to fail again, you can think that today there's nothing keeping you from achieving the health and fitness goals you're chasing.

[00:05:07] [SPEAKER_00]: So why not today?

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Two, capitalize on the momentum.

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Willpower and momentum in inspiration are running high during that first week of new me, so use that to your advantage.

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_00]: During this week, begin to make any changes that will help you permanently.

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_00]: If you sign up for a gym membership and 50 personal trainer sessions now, then if you weeks from now when you're ready to start slacking, you've already prepaid and set up your appointments, etc.

[00:05:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Which means you're more likely to go.

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Can you use your 20 seconds of courage to sign up at a dojo for martial arts or sign up for a race?

[00:05:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Can you use this week to clear out your cabinets of all your old junk food and buy lots of healthy replacements?

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Can you go out and buy new workout clothes?

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Can you take the time to schedule all of your workouts in your calendar with specific dates and times?

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Can you follow through on one thing for seven to ten days, proving to yourself you can change like completing a morning mile walk?

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Crush yourself limiting beliefs. Try a six week challenge.

[00:06:18] [SPEAKER_00]: During the week when you're excited to exercise and excited about change, do as much as you can to seek out permanent wins.

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_00]: If your excitement starts to wane, then you've at least taken steps towards a permanent change that can carry over to weeks of low motivation.

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And three fail differently.

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Now this next attempt might not be the one that sticks either and that's okay.

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_00]: What's important is that you try to change differently this time. After all, if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_00]: So try something different. Take different types of classes. Try blogging your results.

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Track your calories. Just change one thing. Change something.

[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Aim for perm a healthy.

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Here at Nerd Fitness, we don't want you to reach health perfection for one week and then go back to the way things work.

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I'd rather you find a balance of permanently being pretty healthy and pretty damn happy.

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_00]: As you are declaring today is respawn day where like a badge of honor, you are starting over.

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_00]: You are now somebody different than the person who tried to get fit last time.

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Anything is possible. You are learning the controls. You are studying the boss battle patterns and you're getting back in the fight.

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Your turn. What's one big win change you make today now that you're fired up and ready to capitalize on this momentum.

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_00]: What's a big win that will result in a long lasting slight improvement.

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_00]: You just listened to the post titled, Why Having To Start Over Again is Great by Steve Cam of NerdFitness.com

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Dr. Neil here for my commentary.

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Earlier in today's post, Steve said, Every time we try to get fit and fail,

[00:08:08] [SPEAKER_00]: We learn a little bit more about how the controls work.

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of like this. Let's forget about health and wellness for a second.

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Imagine this with me instead.

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_00]: You've decided on a goal to take a cross country road trip.

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_00]: You've prepared, you've gasped up the car or charged it up.

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Tire pressure looks good, you've packed everything you need for the trip and you've got your GPS set for your destination.

[00:08:32] [SPEAKER_00]: You're motivated and excited to start your road trip.

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Things are going great in the beginning, but after eight hours of driving, you make a small mental mistake and make a wrong turn.

[00:08:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Does this one wrong turn mean you failed this trip?

[00:08:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Does this one setback mean you should forget your goal of driving across the country and now turn around and go home?

[00:08:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I sure hope not.

[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_00]: That's how we need to think about our healthy habits too.

[00:08:59] [SPEAKER_00]: There will be wrong turns along the way. There will be setbacks, but it doesn't mean we just give up on our journey.

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_00]: We keep going.

[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_00]: As if we were on a road trip.

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Alright, that'll do it for today.

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_00]: I hope you have a great rest of your day and I'll see you back here on tomorrow's show where you're optimal life awaits.