The Change Coefficient
I had to google what coefficient means so please don’t assume I’m some kind of genius scientist.
Have you ever tried to change a habit or turn your life around or tried to learn a new skill, maybe set a new years resolution half way through the year and then only a few weeks or months later you fall off the bandwagon and end up back at square one?
I feel like that’s almost all of us right?
Well, there’s something I figured out recently that maybe you have too.
The quicker and more intensely I try to change my life the less sustainable that change is.
The fastest way to change your life is one day at a time.
The quicker you try to create changes in your life the more energy it will take and that by definition is less sustainable. The key is to find the balance between sustainability and rate of change.
Would you rather change quickly, or permanently?
So how do you find the balance? The quickest way to change your life is one day at a time. Unless you have a space ship capable of going at near light speed we only have the ability to live life one day at a time. So, there’s no point in trying to change any quicker than that.
Even if you’re following Elon Musk’s advice and trying to achieve your 10 year goals in 6 months, you still have to live those six months, one - day - at - a - time.
It’s taken over 15 years for me to realise this and it’s only just been sinking in the last few months as I’ve managed to start taking control of my money and escape my overdraft.
Now I’m experimenting with my diet to try and get my diabetes under control. I’ve tried before to get my diet under control. Once I went 100 days with no junk food, least helthy food I had was jam on toast.
Probably something David Goggins fan boys would slap me accross the face for but considering I used to order a fillet burger meal and an extra fillet burger and then on the way home with my food get 2 six inch subs from subway and then go home and have to take a break from eating my lunch I think I did pretty well.
I managed to complete the 100 days but it was miserable. Definitely not sustainable for the long term because I’m not trying to win Mr Olympia. I just don’t want man boobs and a flat ass and I’ve tried time and again to diet but…. minstrels…. those damn minstrels!!!
See that’s the thing about junk food…
It’s designed to be addictive.
Not just food. Media, drugs, video games, other kinds of videos. All of it is designed to make you and addict because a customer who’s addicted to your product or service will always come back for more. What makes it even worse is the fact that healthy stuff actually feels better! Healthy activities, healthy food. It actually feels better.
Thing is, no one is actually holding a gun to my head and forcing me to go and indulge is 27 fillet burgers and a youtube binge. I’m the one who makes or doesn’t make that choice and at any time, I can choose something else. a healthier alternative. Just today I discovered that my protien shake can act as a replacement for ice cream as desert after dinner.
Fuck that! you might be thinking but as a recently diagnosed diabetic who is trying to get control of my sugar I don’t have the luxury of apathy any more. If I don’t look after my diet, no one else will and then my sugar will stay high as the empire state building and cause a whole heap of other health conditions that could have been completely avoided had I only controled my eating all those years ago.
Well, all those years ago is right now, and it’s up to me. Sometimes the only way to get somewhere is to go there your own damn self!
So, I need to change but how do i figure out the rate of change that will be sustainable for the long term? Well, as I just said, sometimes the only way to get somewhere is to go there yourself. It’s going to take experimenting to find what works for you. What’s been working for me so far? Tracking. Tracking my spednding in a budget google sheet. Tracking my eating on notion and using gemini to tell me how many calories i’ve taken in each day and how that compares to calories out. I use apple fitness to tell me my calories out figure.
Practice equals progress. Slow, consistent, lasting.
At the time of writing this I’ve pretty much been in an avarage surplus of 1500 calories a day. No wonder I’ve good man boobs! And today is the first day that I managed to get my sugar below 10 without starting a cascade of emotions leading to a food binge. That right there is progress and progress is what you get when you measure the things that you want to improve. Even if you don’t try to change them at first and simply observe.
This is another difference. The difference of perspective and intention. The attitude with which you approach a problem can make all the difference. Before I used to think that lowering my sugar meant giving up all food including healthy ones and just basically starving myself to death each day. I thought that even if I had healthy food that my sugar would immidiately sky rocket. Then i discovered that there were foods that actually don’t affect your blod sugar and that day my sugar actually went down from before breakfast to afterwards.
Then, yesterday I wrote a vision board inspired check list for today and the first item on the list was: “Today I will get my sugar below 10.00.” and because I had conciously made the choice to make this a reality my actions aligned with my goal and by 11:43am I had achieved it!
This is how powerful this stuff is. Vision board style thinking doesn’t have to be wishy washy hokey pokey dibble dabble, it can be setting a goal, believing you can actually get there even if you doubt yourself a little and then taking the steps to making it happen.
And the only one who can, is you.
So what can you take away from this?
Find your balance.
If you’re trying to change and it feels like it’s too hard and you’re putting to much preassure on yourself, that’s because you are! Listen to your instincts. That said, you will need to go at least slightly outside of your comfort zone otherwise you wont be able to expand it.
The rate at which you try to effect change should be as small as possible whilst still making visible progress. Visible to you that is. It doesn’t matter if you’re not moving forward but other peoples yard sticks. An ultramarathon runner who is self centered and worships their ego might look down upon the obese person just trying to jog round the block for the first time, but to the obese person completing that lap around the block is worth as much as an ultramarathon gold medal! Because it represents a very real progression. Moving forward in a positive and non obsessive direction.
You don’t have to be David Goggins. In fact, most people shouldn’t be. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with trying to be the best version of you.
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