The SnowHow

Category: Weightloss

  • Don’t Be 10x Better Be 1% Better!

    If you are anything like me you are always looking for ways to improve yourself and make yourself that little bit better.

    It sounds like a good idea in theory and we would all like to do it but the thing is to make any meaningful progress we pretty much know that we would need to radically change ourselves. After all there is no point in doing things by halves!

    Even if we were 50% better than at the moment that really wouldn’t make a significant amount of difference in our lives. Hey it would help but it really wouldn’t make that much difference.

    I mean lets say I can run 4 miles would 6 really make that much of a difference.

    We earn $50,000 (£30,000) would $75,000 (£45,000) make that much difference? Hey I’m not saying it wouldn’t be nice!

    What about a double up maybe that would make all the difference!

    Nah what we really need it a really big increase something significant we need 5X or 10X.

    Yeh, lets go with 10X now we are cooking with gas.

    The thing is how the hell do you go about making a ten times leap? How you improve by 10 times, seems like a really big ask. Especially as none of us has a genie in a lamp or magic wand! The reality of ten times just doesn’t sound real.

    So what are the other alternatives? Well there is small incremental gains, but they hardly seem worth while. No we need the big radical stuff. Small and simple that’s just no good.

    Or is it?

    Let’s take a look and examine the reality of it.

    Can small gains make big improvements?

    It is at this point I want to tell you a story I heard when I was watching the Olympics in 2012. The British Cycle Team had just pulled in a record haul of medals. The mastermind of this triumph was a man by the name of David Brailsford.

    Elsewhere Brailsford was in charge of team Sky and had helped Bradley Wiggins become the first Britain to win the Tour De France the worlds most prestigious cycle race.

    So what was his secret to getting such amazing results. Well the people around him tell of his philosophy and it was this, Brailsford believed in a concept that he referred to as the “aggregation of marginal gains.” He explained it as “the 1 percent margin for improvement in everything you do.”

    Let me point out the important part again it was “The aggregation of marginal gains.” It wasn’t a 10X strategy. It was small incremental improvements. That 1% when added together with other 1% made all the difference and brought in a flurry of golds and other medals.

    Before we go any further I want to make you two offers

    Offer a) within 1 year you get to be 10 X better than you are today!
    Offer b) each day for a year you get to improve 1% from the day before!

    Which one would you choose?

    Without examination offer A looks infinitely more appealing doesn’t it?

    The thing is if you took that option you would be massively robbing yourself. Really?

    Well yes it does! It all comes down to a wonderful thing called compounding! Allegedly Albert Einstein called compounding “the 8th wonder of the world.”

    The funny thing is that 1% compounded everyday gives you a 38 X improvement over a year. Don’t believe me go check it out on your calculator. (just do this put in the number 1 then press the X twice followed by 1.01 to represent 1% now press = 365 times for days of the year you will get just over 38)

    Ok great so now we know about the power of compounding and we know that we really can make a radical difference to the quality of our lives if we just keep making small improvements.

    So the next question is in what areas of your life should you start making these improvements. Well I will be writing articles on the ten main areas of life improvement in future articles. For now I think there are two areas you should concentrate on.

    To start your physical body. (I will be talking much more about this as I have mentioned but for now, think about exercise, nutrition and sleep.)

    Ask questions like what one thing can I do today to improve my physical performance?

    Maybe you will say well I could think of my food as fuel rather than just something I use to satisfy a need. Maybe instead of sitting down in front of a TV for half an hour you could go for a walk or do one pushup. Maybe you make your bedroom that little bit darker to help aid sleep.
    Mental Health. Avoid negative people and look for ways to reduce/eliminate stress from your life.

    Ask Questions like who or what causes me the most stress in my life?

    Maybe you have a specific person or persons who always come to you with their problems and dump them on you. Maybe you begin to reduce the time you expose yourself to these persons. Maybe there is a thought that always causes you to worry about things, so maybe you reach for a better thought, at least for a couple of moments.

    If you just do that then you will start to get marginal improvements in your life and as we have seen that it is the sum total of all these little improvements that in the long run make all the difference.

    The secret to both success and failure is small things repeated over and over for extended periods. So make sure the things that you do serve you, not steal from you.

    Each day strive for your 1%.

    Until next time I hope you become at least 1% better.

    Snowy

  • How To Avoid The Lie Of Perfection!

    We have all been taught a lie. What is this lie i hear you ask. Well it is the lie of perfection.
    We are told in every endeavor that we must seek perfection in whatever we do. Be the best we can be. Well as much as there is some truth in this the reality is that blocks many of us from getting going.

    You see perfection is damn hard if not impossible to reach. We start an endeavor looking to make it the best possible thing/outcome.

    Let’s take two examples. Starting a business and losing weight.

    So lets look at starting a business… You come up with an idea. You believe it is a good idea. Lets say it is creating websites for builders (Hey maybe they need one, and after all they are not normally the most tech savvy folk, so there may be a gap). Ok so now we have an idea and a target market.

    So what’s next well let’s see.

    I’m going to need a website of my own to sell my services. (Hey they are going to need to see what i can do.)

    Oh and I’m going to need some business cards.. That will make me look professional.

    Oh and a logo. Can’t forget my logo after all branding is important.

    Maybe I should get a brochure done.

    Hmm well i will need to get some copy for both the website and the brochure.

    Got to set up my social media so i need to create an account on Facebook, twitter, instagram, Linkedin and youtube.

    Hmm what else well i should register my company (should have thought of that first.)

    Oh and a good name for myself why didn’t i think of that in the first place.

    Must brain storm the cleverest name that is both professional and quirky. (after all i need to be up to date with all things modern and cool.)

    Actually going back to social media i should start getting followers and likes etc after all I don’t know want my customers to think that i have not been around for a while.

    This is after all what we need to do to start a business after all right?

    Well we will get back to that in a bit.

    Now let’s look at weight loss.

    Ok so so i need to lose some weight.

    well what should i do?

    Well I know I should change my diet and maybe do some exercise but which type should i do.

    hmm i know i will search the web for weight loss see whats working at the moment.

    Oooh lots of diets to chose must do some research into which is the best one.

    So much to choose from Paleo looks popular and so does the slow carb diet. but hey i know things like the Atkins diet used to work but has sort of fallen out of favour. What about the low fat diets and the alkalizing diets? What about the Mediterranean diets and GI diets. Hmm all of these are going to need some looking into. After all I don’t want to do the wrong one.

    Maybe i should look on amazon to see which books people are reading. Hey I could also what diets the celebrities are using after all they always look good. Ok pick my five favorite celebrities and find out what diet they are doing to stay in shape.

    Speaking of staying in shape well yeh i need to do some exercise.

    Hmm should what should i do well i could go jog. Well if I’m going to go jogging I should really do it properly so I’m going to need some new running shoes. oh and the right outfit after all i don’t want to look like a slob. Oh and i need to find out how far I’ve run so i will have to get a nike fuleband or some other gadget that tracks that. Oh and the appropriate app for my phone that way I can always know just how well I’m doing. Maybe I should also get an app to keep me accountable I know i procrastinate from time to time.

    Then again is jogging the right thing for me after all there are other options.

    I could join a gym but which type a normal one or a specific one (i hear a lot of people talking about cross fit.)

    Or maybe i should buy some of them dvds from the infomercials but which one p90x looks good but then again so does Insanity and now there is that 25 minute one. ok I will watch the infomercials again.

    Then again Yoga looks like it’s relaxing, good for you and fun. Should i do know there are different varieties maybe i should look into Bikram as hot yoga is meant to be great. Then again i heard about that DDP wrestler guy who has got some great videos on youtube.

    Hmm will have to think about that to make sure that i do the right exercise for me.
    You get the idea always seeking perfection always avoiding trying to make a mistake. After all you have to remember the 5 P’s (Perfect Preparation Prevents Poor Performance).

    This is all horseshit!

    The reality is that it is far more important to get it going that get it perfect.

    This is how this should really look.

    Starting a website for builders business.

    Pick up the phone book call 20 builders ask them why they have not got a website, ask them can they see the value of a website (if they can’t explain the value) ask if they want one if you can do it at a reasonable price.

    If any say yes you have a business, If they don’t you have saved yourself countless hours, days, weeks and a ton of money.

    Losing weight.

    Diet.

    every time you feel hungry and are going to eat ask yourself what is the tastiest healthy thing I can eat right now? Eat that. Do that for one meal a day and build up from there until you reach 80% good choices for your meals.

    Exercise.

    Drop to the floor and do 1 press up. If you want to do more so be it. Add additional exercises as and when you feel like it. Do this at least 3 times a week maybe before you eat first thing.

    Perfection is a barrier to action. Without action there is no progress.

    So remove Perfection from the start of an endeavor and if you like aim for it at the end.

    Don’t seek perfection in the beginning it will cripple you before you start.

    Just start and see what happens.

    Snowy