Wasted Effort

I remember racing up the down escalator in Macy’s at the Cape Cod Mall.

My mom, calmly riding the Up escalator like a regular human, would say I was going to hurt myself (possible) or I was making a scene (correct) or interrupting the people trying to get down the escalation (also correct).

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Sometimes I would be able to get to the top, exhausted and out of breath, while my mom would arrive at the same time laughing at how hard I had to work.

Spend enough time in an airport (or travel with young kids), and within a few minutes you’ll see kids trying to run on 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 put the following in ​his newsletter​ this week:

“All the grit, 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 UP the DOWN escalator?

Earlier this year, I remember having a conversation with Coach Matt from Team NF about ​coaching clients​ who succeed and who struggle.

• Those who find success: they identify the escalator moving in the right direction, and work hard to get on that one. Each step actually magnifies their 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 wondered if all the effort was ACTUALLY worth it, or why progress seemed harder than normal.

Here are a few examples of trying to run up the down escalator:

• Spending lots of money on expensive supplements (not prescribed by a medical professional).
• Switching to organic, gluten free, or low carb keto snacks based solely on the latest trend.
• Trying complicated diets that don’t actually reduce how much food 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 ​far less effective for weight loss​ than we think (unless we ALSO adjust our nutrition strategy too).

My guess is 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 on our focus on the right escalator is key.

Here are examples of walking up the up escalator:

Show me somebody that eats mostly protein, fruits and vegetables, and strength trains (with progressive overload) for 30 minutes a few times per week, and I’ll show you somebody who is moving UP the right escalator.

Here’s the thing: ​humans aren’t wired to love exercise​. We’re also not designed to thrive in a world in which high calorie, nutritionally-empty delicious foods are always available.

Which means if we’re going to spend valuable brain power and energy on doing something, we might as well pick the right things to trick ourselves into doing.

Yep, there’s a whole “life vs behavior” change component to this too (which I covered in a previous newsletter about ​Manageable vs Meaningful​). But deciding “how quickly do I want to implement these meaningful steps” is a better question to be asking 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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