Systems Vs. Willpower

We’ve all heard some form of the following advice when making change in our health habits:

"Ask yourself, 'What would a healthy person do in this situation? Someone who values their fitness and vitality?'"

While I do think this advice is some of the best out there, there’s one aspect of carrying this out that gets overlooked, and that is having a system to draw your decision-making from rather than willpower.

Say you’re out at lunch with some friends or coworkers, and you come to the same Panda Express you do every day... You consider going over to the healthier bowl or salad joint, then wonder what difference it will make if you do that for one day...

You do, however, end up going to the salad place because of the question you asked yourself: “what would a healthy person do right now?”?You've been reading Atomic Habits and decided to embody the identity of someone who is healthy at that moment.

That’s a win.

What comes the next day is the same situation, with a caveat: Last night, you watched Netflix 90 minutes past your bedtime, and woke up feeling like ass today.

Whether you realize it or not, poor sleep quality or quantity drastically affects your ability to make “correct” decisions, or to have the willpower to do so.?

The day after you read atomic habits, it’s easy to embody the?identity?of someone who is healthy at lunchtime. It becomes harder the second and third day when the novel dopamine rush of self-help wears off, and you’ve slept poorly the night before. This is when you come back to General Tso and Orange Chicken with a side of egg rolls.?

You haven’t succeeded with your health identity changes because of the fact that there aren’t SYSTEMS in place to make these changes feasible.?

You have the knowledge that a chicken bowl with healthy grains and spinach is a better option than Panda Express - you have the knowledge that lifting weights twice a week is a good idea - you have the knowledge that habit change takes time, but not having systems makes this near impossible.?

The example above illustrates the effect that not having a system for sleep can have on your decision making (what all of health comes down to: the momentary decision). It’s near impossible to?consistently act from a new identity of health when your body, sleep deprived, secretes increased levels of both hunger and stress hormones (ghrelin and cortisol, respectively). Fighting physiological survival mechanisms constantly is no recipe for success in habit change.

To make sustainable health?identity?changes, there must be non-negotiable habits and systems in place to make this realistic.?

Here are 5 “big rocks” to take care of to give you the best chance of success in doing this:

1.?????7+ hours of sleep/night, 8 hours in bed, minimum.?

2.?????Sunlight – as much as possible in the morning and throughout the day.?

?????A good goal to shoot for is an hour of sun a day. That is not absurd. I’m holed up in a gym for 8-12 hours a day. I have breaks in that time. I get outside in that time. Find your gaps of time to get outside.?

3.?????Start your journey with someone else.?

?????Single biggest difference maker, in my opinion, behind sleep. Share wins and losses, big or small. Express when you lack motivation, as well as when you have a bunch of it. It can be lonely choosing to be healthy in a culture where the behaviors that foster it aren’t seen as "cool" a lot of the time. Find your group of 2 or more that you can have community with.?My DMs are always open if you don't have a partner in your development.

4.?????Non-negotiable movement

?????Wake up 15 minutes earlier and go for a brisk walk. That is non-negotiable and there is no excuse in the world that wouldn’t allow you to do this every day.?????It’s not that the calorie burn from this walk will make the biggest impact on your goals. It’s the momentum it creates. When you make one good decision, you are infinitely more inclined to make the right decision when the time comes.?Non-negotiable daily movement is a necessity.

5.?????Grocery shop every Friday

?????Do it on this day so you have no excuse not to eat delicious, healthy meals all weekend, 80% or more of the time.?

It all comes down to stacking decisions. You're exponentially less likely to make the "wrong" decision after you've made 5 consecutive "right" ones.

Pick an actionable piece of advice and apply! Hope this helps.