Office party, beach body

"Control what you can control." This is a powerful sentiment, and while I'd love to take credit for inventing it, I found this idea all throughout the classic text on Stoicism Meditations.

To me, it simply means that you place your focus and energy on variables that respond most directly to you attention. To be very obvious, let's imagine a stereotypical morning commute. The traffic is jammed, the light is red, and you're going to be late (my palms actually sweat at the very thought of tardiness).

Now, you can focus on that STUPID light not turning green, or how DUMB the driver in front of you is for not looking up from his phone to make the light, or on crafting an airtight excuse *cough* LIE *cough* for why you're late. But none of those things (including the response to your lie) are within your control.

What is? What time you leave for work (leave earlier, avoid this jam); what you focus on while you're immobilized (instead of crafting a lie, why not rehearse your pitch? Let your mind wander and figure out more ways to add value); or you could even take this opportunity as a blessing in disguise, and train yourself in real time to reframe situations to your advantage.

Instead of a traffic jam, let's imagine another scenario: you've decided to really commit to your health and fitness in 2019. You're hitting the gym hard, and you've stayed consistent. Your nutrition is on point. You've learned all about macros, nutrient timing, and are seeing a new ab appear every day. But what are you going to do about tonight's company party?

They're not going to have perfectly portioned 8 oz chicken breasts. They aren't going to have Dave's Powerseed Bread or a cup of sweet potatoes. And you're not willing to risk looking like a square opting for water over Vodka soda.

So what's to be done? How can you both maintain your momentum you've built, stay on track for the results you're earning, and still be a hit at the party and not feel like you're missing out?

Control what you can control

If you know there is going to be food at the party with ingredients and in portions that you can't account for, focus on the calories where you have control. If there's likely to be carb heavy plates, reduce your carbs during the rest of the day. If you know they're likely to be short on satisfying amounts of protein (only at my company party would I serve macro-friendly options), place an extra focus on hitting those targets during the day.

If you know you're going to have a few drinks, understand this: it's not what you drink or that you drink that sabotages your results, it's what you eat while under the influence that sabotages progress. A week's worth of deficit can be gone in the flash of a single late-night McDonald's run.

Situations like these are perfect places to implement intermittent fasting. To save you the long and short (I wrote a book on it, it's called Cheat Codes), intermittent fasting is essentially a hedge against overeating. When you adhere to it, your chances of staying in a caloric deficit (how you burn fat) drastically increase, no matter what else life throws at you (office party, for example).

It's 2019. There's a way to have your cake and eat it, too (pun fully intended). Utilizing this simple shift in focus is step 1 to having it all.

In iron and gratitude,

Michael

ps if you thought this email was useful, you'll love Cheat Codes. 80 pages of science-backed hacks to help you take control of your diet and lifestyle. Get it FREE right here.