2776: You Can't Cure Obesity with Bigger Pants by Mr. Money Mustache on Solving Problems Directly

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[00:00:30] Have you ever noticed how a calm mind can really set the stage for a good night's sleep? That's the idea behind our new podcast, Good Sleep. Greg, our host from Optimal Relationships Daily, is here to help ease you into a peaceful night's rest with some positive affirmations. And these affirmations aren't just comforting, they can help ease anxiety and nurture positive thoughts, setting you up for true good sleep. So, press play on Good Sleep tonight because a good tomorrow starts with a good sleep.

[00:01:00] Just search for Good Sleep in your podcast app and be sure to pick the one from Optimal Living Daily.

[00:01:30] Kind of like an ongoing audiobook. And with that, let's get right to today's post as we optimize your life.

[00:01:40] You Can't Cure Obesity with Bigger Pants by Mr. Money Mustache of MrMoneyMustache.com

[00:01:48] I was stumbling through my living room the other day, catching my feet on various building blocks, puzzle pieces, and a tangle of fishing line that had previously been used to suspend our homemade space station from the second floor balcony, when the thought occurred to me.

[00:02:04] Dang, I sure wish this house wasn't such an enormous mess.

[00:02:08] Mrs. Money Mustache must have read my mind because right then she joked,

[00:02:12] it looks like we really need to hire a house cleaner.

[00:02:15] All of us know this was said in jest because come on, Mr. Money Mustache would not be seen outsourcing his floor sweeping,

[00:02:23] even if he had wealth 100 times greater than Warren Buffett's bridge playing group.

[00:02:28] But just for a second, the idea seemed comforting.

[00:02:31] You see, we've been busy lately.

[00:02:34] I did a push to finish the carpentry work on the foreclosure project,

[00:02:37] we went away on vacation, and Mrs. M has been sucked into some honorable but rather draining work,

[00:02:44] helping out her parents with a worker shortage in their family business.

[00:02:47] This means that nobody has been cleaning up the house for the last few weeks,

[00:02:51] and things have gotten crazy.

[00:02:53] But instead of masking the problem with a house cleaner,

[00:02:56] we left it there to stare us in the face,

[00:02:59] to remind ourselves that there is indeed a problem.

[00:03:02] Wake up, mustache family, you've overcommitted yourselves,

[00:03:06] and it's time to scale things back to become more reasonable.

[00:03:10] Every day should include some time for peaceful reflection,

[00:03:14] and reading, exercising, cooking good food, and a good night's sleep.

[00:03:19] If you scoff at this idea because your life is far too busy to allow it,

[00:03:23] let me put it this way.

[00:03:25] Every person who is trying to saw through a 20-foot-thick tree trunk by hand

[00:03:31] needs to take time occasionally to sharpen the saw blade when it gets dull.

[00:03:36] But I'm too busy to sharpen the saw, you say.

[00:03:39] Okay, fine.

[00:03:40] You keep sawing with that dull, toothless saw,

[00:03:43] and I'll take a rest while I sharpen mine,

[00:03:46] and we'll see who gets through first.

[00:03:48] Hint, it will be me.

[00:03:50] So we made some adjustments to our lifestyle,

[00:03:53] and today I had time to do a wonderful cleaning and reorganization

[00:03:57] of the whole main floor of the house.

[00:03:59] It's beautiful again,

[00:04:01] and my whole schedule has opened back up to include more free time.

[00:04:05] Our next example is a 30-something man who is busy advancing his office career.

[00:04:10] His metabolism isn't automatically keeping him slim anymore like it did at age 18,

[00:04:16] and he doesn't have time to exercise.

[00:04:18] He started to gain weight to the point that his favorite office pants

[00:04:21] are now getting tight at the waist.

[00:04:24] What's the solution?

[00:04:25] Does he buy bigger pants?

[00:04:27] This would solve the immediate problem of belly pinching

[00:04:30] and allow him to get on with more pressing matters like

[00:04:33] continuing to perform well at the office, right?

[00:04:37] My solution is the opposite.

[00:04:39] Put those damn tight pants on and keep wearing them.

[00:04:43] When they bite at you,

[00:04:44] it's a reminder to take the stairs instead of the elevator,

[00:04:47] eat a piece of grilled salmon instead of a chocolate bar and bologna sandwich,

[00:04:51] and to start walking and biking more.

[00:04:54] Those tight pants are your biggest ally in addressing the underlying problem.

[00:04:59] If you give them up,

[00:05:00] you'll be allowed to forget what the real problem is.

[00:05:03] Your lifestyle has become unhealthy,

[00:05:04] and you're doing everything with a dull saw.

[00:05:08] And there are so many more examples once you start to view your life this way.

[00:05:12] If you find it takes too long to get to your office by bike,

[00:05:16] you won't solve the problem with a car.

[00:05:18] The problem is not that biking is too slow.

[00:05:20] It's that you live too far from work.

[00:05:23] Keep biking to remind yourself of this,

[00:05:25] and the problem will solve itself,

[00:05:27] either through fitness or switching houses or jobs.

[00:05:30] If the stairs to your 20th floor office leave you out of breath,

[00:05:34] the solution is not an elevator.

[00:05:36] It's a stronger body that can get you up in a timely manner.

[00:05:41] Keep walking the stairs,

[00:05:42] and the problem will be solved properly.

[00:05:44] If you find you don't have enough money to pay the bills

[00:05:48] or to afford something you really want,

[00:05:50] the solution is not borrowing the money.

[00:05:52] You have a problem of your wants not being aligned

[00:05:55] with your current financial reality.

[00:05:57] There are only two ways to fix this.

[00:06:00] Earn more, or in many cases in wealthier countries,

[00:06:03] gain control of your wants,

[00:06:05] and therefore your costs.

[00:06:07] On a bigger scale,

[00:06:08] when a city finds its road network overrun with automobile traffic jams,

[00:06:12] the solution is not to build more lanes for the traffic.

[00:06:15] The problem is that too many people are living somewhere

[00:06:18] that makes it easy to take a car to get to work.

[00:06:21] The solution is to reduce both the need and the incentive to drive.

[00:06:26] If the zoning allows plenty of housing to be built near the jobs and stores,

[00:06:31] increasing supply which drives down prices,

[00:06:33] and the roads are left crowded and unexpanded,

[00:06:36] which makes people dread the thought of buying a faraway house,

[00:06:39] guess what choice they will start making more often.

[00:06:42] In all areas of life,

[00:06:44] embrace your problems.

[00:06:46] Solve the easy ones as quickly as you can.

[00:06:48] And as far as the more difficult ones,

[00:06:51] let them build up around you

[00:06:52] and stare into your face

[00:06:54] so you can do battle with them.

[00:06:56] Make no mistake about it.

[00:06:58] You can either have a good, honest boxing match

[00:07:01] with each of your problems

[00:07:02] and win eventually,

[00:07:04] or you can turn your back on them

[00:07:06] and they will walk over

[00:07:08] and punch you in the back of the head

[00:07:10] when you forget about them

[00:07:11] and start watching TV instead.

[00:07:13] If you keep your problems visible,

[00:07:16] you'll automatically keep your life

[00:07:17] from getting unnecessarily complicated.

[00:07:20] Oh yeah,

[00:07:21] I can't buy myself a horse for mountain trail riding

[00:07:24] because I don't have time to ride it.

[00:07:25] My time is already occupied

[00:07:27] by keeping myself in good shape.

[00:07:29] Hey,

[00:07:30] maybe I'll take up mountain trail walking instead.

[00:07:33] Problems are often incorrectly thought of as our enemies,

[00:07:36] things to be avoided

[00:07:37] and warded away with credit cards.

[00:07:39] But really,

[00:07:40] they are our best teachers.

[00:07:43] Do you like learning?

[00:07:44] There's no better way to learn

[00:07:45] than to be forced to solve your own problems.

[00:07:48] Once you stop masking problems

[00:07:50] and truly realize that they won't go away

[00:07:52] until you solve them properly,

[00:07:54] you will find that you suddenly get serious

[00:07:56] about fixing them.

[00:07:57] And when it really comes down to it,

[00:07:59] all of the most serious problems of modern life

[00:08:02] are caused by not solving their precursors

[00:08:04] when they first come up.

[00:08:06] Because of all this,

[00:08:07] I still have a fence

[00:08:08] that I've been planning to build for three years

[00:08:10] and the vegetable garden went unplanted last year.

[00:08:14] I've not yet attained

[00:08:15] the Vin Diesel level of fitness

[00:08:16] that I promised myself

[00:08:18] back in the

[00:08:18] health equals wealth article

[00:08:20] and I'm not yet the drummer in a funk band

[00:08:22] even though I deeply desire to be one.

[00:08:25] I'm far from perfect,

[00:08:26] but I leave all these shortcomings out there

[00:08:28] staring me in the face

[00:08:30] and challenging me to get more organized.

[00:08:32] Every year,

[00:08:33] I am getting a little bit ahead

[00:08:35] and so are you.

[00:08:40] You just listened to the post titled

[00:08:42] You Can't Cure Obesity With Bigger Pants

[00:08:45] by Mr. Money Mustache

[00:08:46] of MrMoneyMustache.com

[00:08:49] and I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:08:51] While we can't control every aspect of our future health,

[00:08:55] we can be proactive about it.

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[00:09:33] And the best part?

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[00:09:38] with lifestyle changes.

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[00:09:55] Dr. Neil here for my commentary.

[00:09:57] I want to go back to something

[00:09:59] today's author talked about

[00:10:00] that really jumped out at me.

[00:10:02] Mr. Money Mustache said,

[00:10:04] when we are faced with a bunch of problems,

[00:10:06] big and small,

[00:10:07] solve the easy problems

[00:10:09] as quickly as you can.

[00:10:10] This is great advice.

[00:10:13] It's great advice

[00:10:14] because when we solve the easy problems,

[00:10:16] it can help us gain both confidence

[00:10:18] and momentum.

[00:10:20] Sometimes the most difficult

[00:10:22] and most important step

[00:10:24] is to just start.

[00:10:26] Even if that first step

[00:10:28] is a tiny one,

[00:10:29] it can be enough

[00:10:30] to jumpstart our journeys

[00:10:32] to a lifelong goal or habit.

[00:10:34] So, tackle even the smallest problem

[00:10:37] because you never know

[00:10:38] where it might lead.

[00:10:39] All right,

[00:10:40] that'll do it for another episode

[00:10:42] of Optimal Health Daily.

[00:10:43] Thank you so much for being here.

[00:10:45] I hope you have a great rest of your day

[00:10:47] and I'll see you back here tomorrow

[00:10:48] with another post

[00:10:49] and where your optimal life awaits.

[00:10:51] I'll see you next time.

[00:10:52] Thank you.