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Episode 2775:
Matt McLeod challenges the obsession with fitness minutiae and urges readers to focus on aligning health habits with deeper values, rather than relying on fleeting motivation or discipline. By understanding your “why” and constructing a personal internal compass, he explains how you can turn fitness into a meaningful and sustainable part of your life.
Read along with the original article(s) here: https://mattmcleod.org/unblock/
Quotes to ponder:
"You don’t care about abs. You care about getting respect from yourself and others. You care about feeling confident in your own skin."
"What if instead of brilliantly advising you to simply 'want it more' or 'just do it,' we uncovered what was blocking you from doing these things in the first place?"
"We have to use our daily actions as incremental 'votes' towards this identity we’re aspiring for."
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[00:00:57] This is Optimal Health Daily. Unblocking you now versus where you want to go.
[00:01:03] By Matt McLeod of mattmcleod.org. And I'm Dr. Neil.
[00:01:07] Welcome back to Optimal Health Daily. This is the podcast where I act as your very own personal narrator
[00:01:13] and read to you from some of the most popular health and fitness blogs online.
[00:01:18] And with that, let's keep this intro nice and short and get right to it as we optimize your life.
[00:01:28] Unblocking you now versus where you want to go. By Matt McLeod of mattmcleod.org.
[00:01:35] Three simple high-protein breakfasts. The hidden truth behind gluten.
[00:01:40] Are seed oils going to unalive you? You may notice how I rarely talk about topics like these.
[00:01:47] And it's not necessarily that I don't think that info is helpful.
[00:01:50] I just think, one, other coaches who enjoy or are better equipped covering them should do so.
[00:01:57] Two, they're not as helpful as other skills and perspectives I think you should learn.
[00:02:02] And three, they're incredibly boring.
[00:02:05] I would argue spending too much time on these semantics are more a form of procrastination than anything.
[00:02:12] A well-intentioned search for knowledge, I'm sure.
[00:02:15] But mostly a waste of your time regardless.
[00:02:18] That is, your emotional overeating at nighttime that's serving as a distraction to you
[00:02:23] for not having enough joy or romance in your life should probably be covered first
[00:02:28] before wondering whether you should do fasted cardio or not.
[00:02:31] But hey, you do you.
[00:02:33] In the meantime, I'm going to keep covering how to make this fitness stuff
[00:02:37] align with your values in life in the most effortless way possible.
[00:02:41] Because as I've mentioned many times before,
[00:02:44] you know what you need to be doing on a regular basis.
[00:02:47] At least, roughly.
[00:02:48] But you might feel like there's a block between what you're doing now
[00:02:52] and what you know you should be doing consistently.
[00:02:55] And you know what's the most annoying?
[00:02:57] You're bombarded with solutions all day long on social media,
[00:03:01] especially the narratives of motivation and discipline.
[00:03:04] I'm just curious.
[00:03:05] Have you ever tried wanting it as bad as you want to breathe?
[00:03:10] Or what about forcing yourself to do it even when you're unmotivated,
[00:03:14] no matter what's going on in your life?
[00:03:16] I don't care that your newborn child has kept you up all night.
[00:03:20] Get your butt to the gym.
[00:03:21] Twice, actually, because you're doing 75 hard for some reason
[00:03:24] and that requires two workouts per day or else you fail.
[00:03:28] These solutions are not helpful.
[00:03:31] What if instead of brilliantly advising you to simply want it more or just do it,
[00:03:37] we uncovered what was blocking you from doing these things in the first place?
[00:03:41] I've been enjoying a new book lately called Feel Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal,
[00:03:46] where he writes about a U.S. Army battlefield concept called Commander's Intent.
[00:03:51] War is extremely chaotic and unpredictable,
[00:03:54] so the idea behind Commander's Intent is to lean less on detailed step-by-step tactics
[00:04:00] and more on a philosophy that prioritizes a clear sense of why over a tactical how.
[00:04:08] There were three components to this method.
[00:04:11] One, the purpose behind the operation.
[00:04:14] Two, the end state that the Commander was aiming for.
[00:04:18] And three, the key tasks that the Commander felt should be taken to accomplish the objective.
[00:04:25] By using Commander's intent,
[00:04:27] the awry plans that so often unfold in war didn't ruin the entire mission.
[00:04:32] The soldiers knew the why behind the operation
[00:04:35] so they could adapt the how any way that they needed
[00:04:38] to still reach the desired end state.
[00:04:41] This example is the root of why I refuse to talk about white rice versus brown rice
[00:04:47] or cables versus machines or the importance of your step count.
[00:04:51] That stuff doesn't matter, at least not until you're aligned on why you're doing any of this.
[00:04:57] I'll take it even further.
[00:04:59] You don't care about abs.
[00:05:01] Of course, you have aesthetic motivations, but they're rooted in something deeper.
[00:05:05] You care about getting respect from yourself and others.
[00:05:08] You care about feeling confident in your own skin.
[00:05:12] You care about having autonomy and proficiency around your daily food choices.
[00:05:17] You care about setting a proud example for your loved ones.
[00:05:20] And you care about living a long and healthy life
[00:05:23] where you aren't limited by your fitness levels or crippled by disease.
[00:05:27] So let's ditch the vision board of the genetically gifted Instagram model
[00:05:31] and recognize taking care of yourself is a non-negotiable in this dream life you say you want to live.
[00:05:37] We owe it to ourselves to do this inner work.
[00:05:41] Not only will it make us deeply fulfilled long term,
[00:05:44] but it will be an unwavering driver in the decisions we make today.
[00:05:48] And to be clear, I'm not saying that understanding our why
[00:05:52] means that we'll never make an unaligned decision again, especially in the beginning.
[00:05:57] We have to build momentum.
[00:05:59] We have to use our daily actions as incremental votes towards this identity we're aspiring for.
[00:06:04] And this begins the scaffolding to the foundation of our internal compass.
[00:06:09] We just have to start pushing that snowball downhill.
[00:06:13] Then the goodness in our life compounds with less and less effort.
[00:06:17] And our personal internal compass, we constantly filter our decisions through,
[00:06:22] provides the guardrails to keep us on track most of the time.
[00:06:26] Being this aligned with who you are and where you're going and why you're going there
[00:06:32] can be beneficial after a few days, impactful after a few weeks,
[00:06:37] and absolutely life-changing after a year.
[00:06:44] You just listened to the post titled,
[00:06:46] Unblocking You Now vs. Where You Want to Go by Matt McLeod of mattmcleod.org
[00:06:52] And I'll be right back with my commentary.
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[00:07:59] Dr. Neil here for my commentary.
[00:08:01] My patients would often tell me,
[00:08:03] Dr. Neil, exercising and eating healthy is easier for you.
[00:08:07] You like this stuff.
[00:08:09] That's when I have to remind them that it wasn't always this way for me.
[00:08:13] You've likely heard me talk about this during the first Q&A of the month
[00:08:16] when I go into my background and credentials.
[00:08:18] When I was younger, I could have cared less about exercise and eating nutritious foods.
[00:08:23] I was forced by my parents to play sports as a kid
[00:08:26] because if I had it my way, I would have much preferred to sit at home and watch Saturday morning cartoons all day.
[00:08:33] I actually asked them if I could be an armchair athlete,
[00:08:37] meaning instead of actually playing sports, I could just watch sports on TV instead.
[00:08:41] Obviously, their response was a hard no.
[00:08:45] I had to get diagnosed with a chronic disease before the age of 20
[00:08:48] before I got into eating nutritious foods and exercising.
[00:08:52] And even then, I didn't actually like those things at first.
[00:08:56] I had to force myself to eat more nutritious foods.
[00:08:59] I had to force myself to eat breakfast.
[00:09:01] I had to force myself to get on a treadmill because the alternative was more medication and a shorter lifespan.
[00:09:09] But even beyond that, here's what got me through it.
[00:09:12] And this relates back to today's article.
[00:09:14] And I'm going to quote today's author, Matt, directly.
[00:09:17] Through this process, I discovered who I was and where I was going and why I was going there.
[00:09:25] Once I had an answer for each of these, I found I could get through almost any obstacle.
[00:09:30] And when my motivation runs low, which happens because I'm human,
[00:09:34] by reminding myself of these things, I always get back on track.
[00:09:39] Alright, that'll do it for today.
[00:09:41] I hope you have a great rest of your weekend.
[00:09:43] Thank you so much for listening.
[00:09:45] And I'll be back here again tomorrow with more.
[00:09:47] So I'll see you there where your optimal life awaits.