How To Prioritize Your Health And Fitness
We all have 24 hours in a day. Ever heard that saying? While technically true, it’s also largely nonsense.
The reality is that some of us have more commitments than others. Some of us run a successful company, have kids or have a parent that is dying. Time available for training? Maybe. A priority? Not so.
In this article, my aim is to give you a different perspective on priority setting.
1. Understanding the priority delusion
I met a guy a while ago, who claimed publicly that his main priority in life was his family. Yet privately, he spent most of his time working, drinking and cheating on his wife.
Is family an actual priority in this case? Nope.
What we say is our #1 priority is often not our true priority based on our actions – which truly count.
See, I’m a strong proponent of behaviourism:
Meaning, I strongly believe that the behaviour is the only true gauge of a person’s intent. The reason I believe that is true, is that behaviour has a bigger energy cost and more real-world consequences than words.
That’s why kids have evolved to mimic the actual behaviour of a parent – not their words (to most parents dismay).
Why does it matter? In most people, the actual verbalized priorities and acted on priorities are different. I call this the priority delusion.
While most of us have a priority delusion in lesser degree than this guy that I met a while ago, we all still have one.
This is important for the #2 point:
2. Introducing the priority network
Given the fact that most of us have a priority delusion, we shouldn’t think about priorities by ranking (#1 health, #2 family..), as we can’t accurately rank our priorities as we’re not fully aware of them.
Instead, it’s beneficial to think about our priorities as a network.
The reality is that most of our actions are connected with each other. Almost like a mini-biosphere. Or a garden, right?
Similar to a garden, our human body has optimal conditions which are most conducive to energy, work output and health.
Take away sunlight from a garden, and all plants will wither away. Suck out nitrogen or water from the soil, and all plants will wither away.
On the other side, if you provide additional nitrogen through fertilizer – or provide UV light in a specific pattern, most plants will grow faster.
There are certain actions which strengthen the entire network or ‘garden biosphere’. There are certain actions which will hinder it.
I like to think about exercise, nutrition and sleep as the fundamental pillars in my garden that provide the optimal conditions for productive work. These are the nitrogen in the soil and the sunlight.
That’s why in even the most busiest of days, I take time for a quick workout, healthy nutrition and a good amount of sleep with great sleep quality. Why? Because the conditions these will provide will be more conducive to productive work overall, than short-term depleting them.