In the Grand Scheme Of Fitness With Justin and Ethan
Welcome to "Coach's Corner with Justin and Ethan," where your health and fitness journey gets a simplified makeover! Join Justin and Ethan, two seasoned coaches with a combined 30 years of experience, as they navigate the labyrinth of health and fitness, unraveling myths from facts to guide you towards success.
In each episode, we dive headfirst into the vast world of well-being, shedding light on weight loss, dissecting diet fads, exploring diverse workout styles, and fine-tuning the often overlooked aspect of mindset. Our mission is to demystify the complexities surrounding health, making your journey not only effective but enjoyable.
Get ready for a lively and informative conversation that feels like a chat with your favorite fitness buddies. Justin and Ethan draw upon their extensive experience, sharing real-life stories from working with thousands of clients. No stone is left unturned as they break down what really works and what's just another fitness fad.
Whether you're a fitness enthusiast or a beginner taking the first steps toward a healthier lifestyle, "Coache's Corner" is your go-to source for practical insights, debunking myths, and embracing the joy of the journey. Tune in for a fun and engaging exploration of the truth behind health and fitness, and let Justin and Ethan be your trusted guides to a healthier, happier you!
In the Grand Scheme Of Fitness With Justin and Ethan
The Hidden Power of Restraint: Why Disciplined Living Creates a More Vibrant Life
Delayed gratification and self-discipline are the keys to creating a life of contrast and deeper appreciation for both everyday moments and special occasions.
• Constant indulgence leads to hedonistic adaptation where we need more and more to feel satisfied
• The "fitness bank account" concept: make deposits through discipline so you can make occasional withdrawals
• Breaking patterns doesn't mean white-knuckling through cravings but replacing them with positive alternatives
• Everyday routines like cooking at home or doing chores shouldn't be viewed as punishments but as part of a well-lived life
• The "mundane" activities of life represent 80% of our experience and can be satisfying when properly framed
• Breaking cycles of negative behavior requires building something new, not just fighting the old
• Ask yourself: "What would the future version of me who has achieved my goals do in this situation?"
• Self-discipline is the bridge to your goals, regardless of what those goals might be
• The year is going to pass anyway – you can either make positive changes or stay in the same cycles
Why do you want to lose 50 pounds? Why do you want to lose 80 pounds? What is your life going to be like? 150 pounds versus 250 pounds? Delayed gratification doesn't need necessarily to be that you just sit at home. It just means like interrupt the fucking pattern so you're not just walking into the same trap over and over again and expecting a different result. Welcome to episode 57 of in the grand scheme of fitness with justin scollard and ethan wolf.
Speaker 1:And today, folks, we're talking about something a little bit more conceptual. We're breaking down sort of delayed gratification, practicing restraint and like real world, why that's important, what effects that have on your life. This might be not the like the you know, most searched sort of hot button topic, but it's so, so important, because the lack of ability to practice restraint in the form of abstaining from alcohol during the week or not going in for another chocolate bar after you just had one, you know whatever restraint means on a spectrum. The lack of ability to be able to do that really, I think, dulls the edge of your life and it reduces the contrast of your experiences, because it all just kind of gets thrown into the same slosh bucket of indulgence. And if all we ever do is indulge, and there's just like this, this hedonic adaptation that takes place where it's just never enough. We just want more, like the sensation is just never good enough anymore, because we're just so acclimated to more, more more indulging comes the baseline.
Speaker 2:It becomes the baseline to get. Get something more has to be spiking above Right.
Speaker 1:And so. But antidote to that, the way we cure that is through delayed gratification, practicing a little restraint, you know, creating that self-discipline. So that way we're putting deposits into that like metaphorical fitness bank account. Metaphorical fitness bank account, so that way, when the boys trip, or when the weekend, when the holiday or the dinner comes along, it's just a little bit more of like a punctuation, it's a little bit more of like a moment that you actually remember, because it's not just another one of thousands that you've done and it doesn't really have the same hit anymore, right? And so that's what we're talking about today, guys, and just sort of like, what does that mean? Practically street level? You know how you can apply that into your life, right?
Speaker 2:absolutely, and it's interesting because I agree it's probably not the most searched topic. It's not necessarily a hot button, but it's probably one of the most important things to consider if you're looking to make changes in your life, particularly with health, fitness, body weight composition totally in your fitness, you know. But it's not exciting in the typical sense, and so that's probably why it's not something that's a hot button right. We want that fresh magic pill, we want the hot new thing.
Speaker 2:We want anything besides that the mundane that long road of mundane, which you know, unfortunately, like I think talking about what you're talking about is kind of doing that is, staring the quote mundane or the normalcy of life in the face and accepting it and adopting it and living in that place for a majority, so that those novel moments are indeed novel moments and spikes.
Speaker 1:And you feel like you actually earned it. And it's not just this, you know, normalized thing that you do. You said something earlier and just catching up pre-enlightenment chop wood, carry water. Post-enlightenment chop wood, carry water, and it's kind of like that. It's like we can look at something as mundane. It's just we're gonna it's tuesday night, wednesday night, we're just gonna make a healthy dinner at home, hang out, keep it clean, go to bed on time, wake up tomorrow feeling wonderful. I'm gonna go for my afternoon walk you're chopping wood, you're carrying water.
Speaker 2:It's boring, it's just life you do your dishes, you take a shower, you take out the trash you know, and, like mundane, has such a negative connotation.
Speaker 1:But that's life and that's 80 of life.
Speaker 1:It's just that stuff and if we can't, if we're constantly trying to avoid that through experience and novel experience, then the problem is that we do have this like deficit and dopamine now when, like this should just be another night, not necessarily like a punishment because you didn't have anything else to do, it's just a night and it's like just to kind of reframe it and realize that, like we're not saying never have a gratification, we're just saying delay the gratification and the gratification on a higher end of the spectrum, but challenge yourself to appreciate the simplicity of just like how nice is it to just be at home and like light a candle and maybe watch an episode of your favorite show and make a healthy dinner and hang out the dogs on the couch and then go to bed on time.
Speaker 1:Like that doesn't need to be a punishment, that that that's life. Yeah, and it just so happens that when we embrace that kind of life, then we are a healthier person. We tend to wake up feeling better in the morning, we were more motivated to then treat ourselves well through exercise and nutrition, and so we get the benefit of all that. And then also it punctuates the experiences that are more novel and it feels like wow, I can really like appreciate this now. Like you just had a huge camping trip with the bike you do every year. You know, if you did one of those every month it wouldn't be the same.
Speaker 2:No, it would not be the same Right, but because it's a rare.
Speaker 1:It's like a thing that you like anticipate and build up. It's like a thing that you like anticipate and build up. It's like wow, so impactful and memorable.
Speaker 2:100 yeah, and it's interesting because I do think it's. I love the perspective that everyday life doesn't have to be a punishment, and I think it's. It's an interesting perspective because everything is like a relative relationship, like how we perceive a moment. How we perceive anything is going to be relative to other experiences like it. So if you fight all the time with your mom, that might not be a novel thing, right? You might be used to it or whatever it might be.
Speaker 2:And so I think the idea that regular life, quote mundane life that is inevitable for all of us, whether you're partying all the time or doing the quote novel things all the time, we still can't escape the fact that we have to take out the trash or do the dishes, or, you know, we're going to feel like shit if we don't get a good night's sleep. And so I think it's. It is this interesting thing, because if, if we're constantly dancing with the novelty, then it does feel like everyday life is a punishment. It feels like, oh, I don't want to do those things because there's all these other awesome things I could do, or just the effort of responsibility becomes very contrasting. Even if you end up doing it, you kind of end up suffering while you do it. Like you said, it's a punishment, like ugh bummer.
Speaker 1:Oh, I have to take out the trash. I'm just going to be at home the night Lame.
Speaker 2:It's like I got to do the dishes, oh, I got to. Like I can't drink, like oh. But then if you do move through, spikes of novelty become novel and exciting and fun and hold higher value. But then I do think you get to a place where you understand that going to bed on time actually makes you feel better and it's a good thing. Or eating a home cooked meal might be less expensive and also make you feel better, or that there's joy in just not drinking and hanging out and maybe having some tea, right, you know. Or or just not drinking and hanging out and maybe having some tea, Right, you know? Or whatever the thing that discipline brings.
Speaker 2:Like you might find that you start to enjoy the hot water on your hands when you're doing the dishes, or you like the feeling of not having a sink full of dishes.
Speaker 2:Like you look at it and you might be like ugh, sink full of dishes and it gives you that icky feeling, and so you avoid it because you don't want to confront the icky feeling. And so you avoid it because you don't want to confront the icky feeling, and so then you got a bigger pile of dishes and then it becomes this whole thing and now it's like a crazier battle and it's you know, whereas if you can just start to see the dishes, it's like, yeah, you might not want to do it, but eventually it just might not become as much resistance. And then life is easier, Life flows better and instead of it becoming a punishment to go to bed on time or doing these negative things, you might actually start to reap positive experience from quote the mundane. And so now your everyday life is actually rewarding. You feel better, and then those novel moments are even better, you know to me it kind of is like working out, Like when you first start working out it fucking sucks.
Speaker 2:Like the simplest of workout will make you so sore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you feel awkward. You don't know what you're doing. It's confusing. The next day.
Speaker 2:you're just so sore and stiff and you're just like how is this what I need to be doing?
Speaker 1:How is this good? Someone explain to me how this is good for us. Yeah.
Speaker 2:But then if you continue to do it like anybody who's continued to exercise knows how good it makes you feel. You don't get as super sore, you don't get as super stiff and it just unquestionably feels like a better life when you have exercise momentum.
Speaker 2:And I feel like the mundane is a similar thing, that at first the the the mental, emotional contrast and battle of just facing the thing is hard and you're just like, ah, like now I don't have those 20 minutes to like fuck around on my phone because I had to do my dishes or take out the trash. But then, if you continue with it over time, you start to develop a relationship with it. That proves rewarding. You know, and I think that so often, like you said, we're in this cycle where the contrast of a good feeling thing are only the spikes right, and therefore we we keep searching for those spikes in order to have some type of reward or feel good about our life. And then you say, like you said, it's like you raise the bar and you raise the bar of that spike, and so now to get, to get a peak over that new, that new baseline, you have to do a little more, drink a little more yeah, it's always more greasier meal.
Speaker 1:You gotta keep going.
Speaker 2:Adaptation man, yeah the line keeps raising. Until now, things are just kind of like only spikes, and the spikes are only a little bit above your baseline, you barely feel them. And so, yeah, it is an interesting thing because I'll I'll be first to admit that, facing those disciplinary moments, especially if you're out of practice, like even right now, coming back from the trip, you know, I had five, six days of just not having to worry about.
Speaker 1:You know, obviously I like eat and do the things I have to do to like, you're right but, like, fundamentally, I just got to like stare at the sky, yeah, listen to the campfire, and not like have any responsibilities for those five days outside of just like being out there, and it was so much of a peak, it was so beautiful and so rewarding, but it's hard to come back and like grocery shopping traffic and like what oh man, like I gotta stop doing this and doing that, and I think it's also just like part of life to feel those contrasts and I think so often we just don't want to feel anything quote negative or bad yeah, we avoid it, we tip it, we tend to just avoid the hard stuff, whether it's really hard stuff, like oh, this is a crisis we have to deal with, or it's just mundane stuff that we've labeled, as you know, not fun or peak experience. So therefore we just tend to avoid it. But, like you know, like I was talking to one of my private clients this morning and they're Jewish and it's Passover week right now and it's obviously a lot of food and family and indulging, but so, anyways, on this morning he's like, oh you know, I just don't feel good, like I just ate too much. And you know, for context, this guy's always eating too much. He's not like, he's just he's. That's the big struggle.
Speaker 1:And so I kind of said, jokingly, I was like, well, it's a good thing, you've been really good up until this point, so that way you can, you know, coast this weekend. And I think that's the point is that if we look at a calendar, anybody whether you're super religious or you're just a normal person like how many family birthdays do you have? Or friends' birthdays do you have over the year? How many holidays do you have, how many dinners out from just catching up with buddies, plus a vacation or two, there's probably dozens of things, anniversaries, anniversaries.
Speaker 1:There's dozens of things on your calendar. Everybody has every year that you're going to probably indulge to some degree on or splurge to some degree on. So my argument is always because we know that, because the next thing is just around the corner. If nothing else, it's the weekend, but there's always something coming. Just practice a little self-restraint, practice a little self-discipline, a little delayed gratification throughout the week. If nothing's happening, don't feel like you have to just spontaneously go out and eat or whatever, so that when the next thing does come, you've been making some deposits in that fitness bank account so you can make a little withdrawal and keep everything steady, figuratively speaking. But like that's the big argument you know, that's my take on this stuff is like it's fucking hard. Everybody's stressed, Everyone has reward behavior syndrome where they have a hard day and they just want to like have a fucking day and just like eat and drink or whatever, or whatever they want. But the problem is then that becomes a new normal. There comes the pattern, hedonistic adaptation that we've adapted.
Speaker 1:Now it's the baseline and so every day is that way, but now, anytime anything challenging which is life comes up, I deserve it so like having like a glass of wine after a hard day becomes a bottle, becomes a bottle and then take out becomes a bottle, then take out and then a dessert, and then it's just like that's becoming your baseline, because you just keep up on the ante and it's just this like relativity scale where you don't realize how far off you've descended because it all kind of looks the same to you. It's like the spiral staircase kind of analogy. Yeah, it's familiar.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's even self-sabotage, like, oh, like, I'm just going to stay up late and binge watch this Netflix show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now I'm tired and shot the next day and I feel like shit.
Speaker 2:And then you're just like, I feel like shit today.
Speaker 1:Right, and I feel like shit. And then you're just like. I feel like shit today, right, exactly.
Speaker 2:It's like this vicious cycle, I deserve takeout, and then the takeout and you order Uber Eats and it takes a little longer. So you start watching the show and then you're back in the binge and then by the time it gets there it's later than normal. And then you feast on all this like greasy food. I feel terrible, work sucks.
Speaker 1:Life is hard. I had a hard day at work. Again, I had a hard day at work.
Speaker 2:I'm tired again today, I need a drink, and it is really this perpetual cycle and I think it's kind of like a mentality change. Because I've been there, I know exactly what that feels like. People all slipped into that vicious cycle and I, I think it's like the having to understand that it's not necessarily ever going to be easy. How easy you can make it, I think, is a goal, but it's always going to kind of be a challenge, in my opinion, like life is just that way.
Speaker 1:Life is work, life is work, life is work, it's that chopping wood.
Speaker 2:It's the carrying water it is you know, and I think it's the idea that, like friction sharpens the blade Right you, you can't get away from the grind, you can't get away from the stone scraping on the proverbial blade of your knife, of your person. That is going to be the very thing that shapes you and hopefully will make you sharper and make you better, and we just can't get away from that. And so I think it's like having to kind of turn around and face the music to some degree to understand that there is no way out of the challenge, there are no answers to life's conundrums.
Speaker 2:There are no solutions to the problems fundamentally.
Speaker 1:And we want it to either be one way or another.
Speaker 2:And I think it's like if we can start to like, shift our mental attitude to the understanding that there is no solution to life's problems, that the grind will always happen, we can at least turn and face the music. And then it is a gradient because, while that will never change, if you can get accustomed to being disciplined, if you can get accustomed to delayed gratification, if you can get accustomed to facing the music, it does become less contrasting, it becomes a little less loud, it becomes a little less grinding, you know you kind of?
Speaker 2:got like a more fine-tuned stone on your blade. You're not sitting there with the coarsest stone scraping out the deepest chunks of metal, and over time you can refine it where you're getting this nice smooth stroke of the blade. And then all of a sudden, while that general idea of struggle doesn't go away, the dance with it isn't as drastic, and so it is actually a little easier, even if it's still hard. It's just easier.
Speaker 1:Because it's like we are escaping these things in the effort to try to make life easier. But really what that does is it actually makes it so much harder in the long run, because either we create a huge wall of resistance around the thing that just piles up until we hit critical mass and it blows up in our face right, and then we have a real dilemma to deal with, either with our weight or our relationships or our finances, because we've been like avoiding the hard stuff in the moment that were just these little itty bitty hard things we had to take care of and we ignored it long enough until all those itty bitty hard things piled up into a mountain of hard things. That was too much, unavoidable, unavoidable crisis now. And so, you know, it's just like we're all doing this in an effort to try to like be happy, I guess.
Speaker 1:But what the happiest people I've ever met are the ones who have routines. They, they have their fitness routine. They, you know, they do have a degree of self-discipline that's probably greater than the average and like the happiness isn't necessarily derived from their routine, but it's derived from, sort of like the appreciation for novel experiences outside of the routine, because they truly are novel. You know, when you see someone who like works really hard and is disciplined and, you know, exercises and eats well, and then they get a chance to like go out and kind of let it all out, it's like they're really really grateful and appreciative of that opportunity. Versus somebody who's doing it five nights a week, it's just kind of like, well, whatever, yeah, just another weekend, just in the restaurant, whatever even if it's shiny, they can't see the shine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know if you have 20 rolexes, what's one more?
Speaker 1:you know, but if you've been saving for your whole life and like finally get to buy one. You're like holy shit, right, you know. I just think that, like, the joy is the work. Here's what we know life is work. The joy comes from the work. The payoff that we're all looking for is a product of our efforts and of our, of our consistency and of of the trade-offs that we're making for our time, and so it's like we know this exists.
Speaker 1:Yet in the moment, we all have to contend with some degree of that reward behavior syndrome, and it's just like the awareness to find yourself in the throes of it and be like, okay, I see what's happening here, instead of just impulsively, conditionally, we're just ordering takeout or whatever, the vice is just pausing and understanding, like, hey, listen, this is just a, this is just a moment.
Speaker 1:And if anyone's ever dealt with addiction, I think that you you know that like there is, whether it's food or substances or whatever, there's like a moment of intensity and that's usually when people break right.
Speaker 1:So it's like, oh, just now is the time when I have that 6 pm drink or whatever. Then if you just have some kind of a pattern, interrupt where it's like this like get yourself out of there. So now you're going to to a martial arts class at 6 pm or now you're going to like a salsa dancing class that's an evening, just to break out of that pattern, so you're not just sitting at home having to face your demons. Yeah, like that. And then you realize like, oh okay, like there is power over these things. There is power over these compulsions and condition responses. It's just that if I don't change my environment, if I don't change my frame and I just keep getting sucked right back into this hole over and over and over again, and so it's like delayed gratification doesn't need necessarily to be that you just sit at home and like white knuckle your urges to indulge.
Speaker 1:It just means like interrupt the fucking pattern so you're not just walking into the same trap over and over again and expecting a different result, you know. And just like giving yourself permission to suck at something like a salsa class or like a martialraint or self-discipline, because you're just re-channeling your focus into more positive activity, and so and then, and then, and then. It's like that, I think, truly, and I guess we kind of went off a little bit of a tangent.
Speaker 1:Now we're kind of talking about happiness, but like I think it all it is. I think the reason we indulge is in an effort to make ourselves happier, but really it's just like instant happiness, instant gratification, when true happiness and deep seated confidence and happiness is the delay of gratification, is the delay of indulgence. And so, you know, doing things that will break you out of the routine, that have gotten you into this impulsive kind of pattern probably is a really great start for most of us.
Speaker 2:Well, I think, and I don't, you know, it's interesting because I do think, like so, much of what we're talking about is change. So, whether you're looking to change your body composition, lose weight, get more fit, be happier, whatever it is, I think that there is some component of looking to travel a path that you're not currently traveling on right now, and you know, I think, whether Socrates actually said this, but it's quoted as Socrates. But you know, it's like change is created not from fighting the old but from building the new, which is kind of the thing we were just talking about you know it's the same with like addiction potential.
Speaker 2:It's like if you have this behavior or something in your life you want to change and you just stop it. There's kind of like a void. You're right, there's this empty space, there's a chasm, that if you enter into that chasm and it's still empty, the likelihood of you filling it back up with the thing that you are attempting to reject or remove from it is really high.
Speaker 2:So, whether it's drinking or ordering Uber Eats or not, avoiding the gym, drinking or ordering uber eats or not avoiding the gym and so the only way to not return to the most likely outcome of filling the chasm with what once was that you're used to is by putting something else in its place. And so there has to be some type of exchange of that time and experience, because the you know otherwise, like you said, it's like oh, it's 6 pm and I'm um, I normally have a drink, but I'm not gonna have a drink today you just sit there and just sit there looking at your liquor box, staring at the wall, and you're just like yeah, you know what?
Speaker 2:fuck it, I'm just gonna have a drink yeah, you know versus if you had some tea or you went on a walk or you did anything yeah, that brought you out of that.
Speaker 1:build something new, yeah, so Just build something new. Yeah, picked up a hobby that you do at night.
Speaker 2:You can't just, like you know, stare the old in the face and say no.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And expect everything to change Right.
Speaker 2:It's like it's really good and that's kind of I think it's almost like the same, like kind of an idea of a fundamental flip, because it's the true gratification comes from delayed gratification, complication. You know where we think about it as oh, if I could just have this thing right now. It's gratifying, it's going to make me happy, and so it's kind of like this whole flip and it's I think it's the same with change behavior. It's like you're not going to go on a diet by just like not eating fast food or ordering Uber Eats and not having a plan Right, and then dinner rolls around and you're hungry and just eat everything in your cupboard yeah, okay, yeah, it's like oh I'm so hungry.
Speaker 2:You know what fuck? I'm gonna get mcdonald's again, or whatever. If you don't have a plan, you don't replace with some home-cooked food, you don't do something new so then you're not hungry anymore, and then you're like you know, actually I ate that thing, it's fine yep yeah. So you know, I think, because it is, it's it's a general conversation about happiness, but it is kind of also rooted in like the truth of behavior change.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think exactly like more content with our time here, and you know that happiness is tough to quantify, but I think that fulfillment and just like sense of purpose and learning a new skill, brings me a lot of joy. You know, like when I'm making progress in something that I was really bad at not so long ago, that's really cool. And I just think, like you know so many of so many of our issues around health and you know all the things in our life that we're trying to like improve just come from wanting it to happen now, sort of the expectancy of what we want, what we should expect. So like if we are constantly going out to eat, then like we can't even enjoy going out to eat anymore because we are expecting such a certain level of service or food or whatever preparation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so like and so like. Getting out of that pattern kind of like almost like resensitizes us, just kind of like you think about like weight lifting, right. So after like eight weeks of the same exercises we've kind of gotten used to that and there's acclimation adaptation that's taking place and our body does, but it doesn't respond. I think your brains are like that with experiences 100, you know the same thing.
Speaker 1:It's like we don't. It's like exposure therapy, to a sense, where, like we don't, it doesn't hit us anymore. And so you go through a delude, deload week. You then change all your exercises up and now, all of a sudden, instead of doing 10 sets of the previous checks chest exercise, you do three sets, and you're sore as shit because it's new. And so I think there's just a resensitization that needs to happen, where you, you know, uh, give yourself permission to like do something different, build something new, you know, like fill that gap with a positive experience. Just get like break out of these patterns that you've been in that are not producing any sort of result anymore for you, but yet we're just stuck in them, right. And then we just want, we expect, you keep expecting more and more and more to come out of these negative cycles or vicious cycles that we've been stuck in. But it just ain't gonna happen, you know. And so I think that's like the seed of unhappiness, right, right, a hundred percent and think about you know it's interesting because I think about you.
Speaker 2:Know losing weight is something that so many people want to do. It's a battle, it's an intent, it's a goal and you know, if you think about what the emotional moment would be if you lost like 50 pounds, right, like when you finally hit 50 pounds of body fat loss on a scale or something or 20 pounds or anything, but you've yeah, you finally reached that goal like what the elation must be, what that really must feel like what is life going to be like?
Speaker 1:yeah, what do you?
Speaker 2:like to know you set out this goal, you've accomplished it. You probably feel better, all of that like true spike, versus if you're somebody that doesn't choose the discipline to reach that goal and goes out to eat or doesn't go on their walks or doesn't exercise. And I think that that's like a really easy contrast because I think a lot of people want to lose weight and change their composition for the better and I think that that you know, if they just want that, but they don't necessarily start to dream the separate realities, they don't go into their imagination and think about what would it feel like if I actually took the three months or two months or six months to lose that weight? And how? How would I really feel if I did that? Like, how good would I really feel?
Speaker 1:what would my life?
Speaker 2:be like? What would my life? Everything versus the small little quote. Good feeling decisions of ignoring the walk, ignoring cooking, cooking the meal yourself giving into the moment.
Speaker 1:Giving into the moment, which is you know instant gratification.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that really like kind of paints, that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm tired, I'm gonna skip the gym, or and that's what we're talking about here is like I think that's a really good point, and you know when you do. When you do, we do consultation calls with people who are interested in, you know, signing up for our service. That's one of the questions we ask them, like why is this important to you? Why do you want to lose 50 pounds? Why do you want to lose 80 pounds? What is your life going to be like at 150 pounds versus 250 pounds? What's relationship with your spouse, with your kids, with your job? You know how are like how is travel going to be for you? What is what's vacation going to look like for you at 150 versus 250? You know, and the idea is like, whether it's to lose 100 pounds or, to you know, triple your income, or whatever the goal is.
Speaker 1:It's like now, what decisions does that version of you make? Do they workouts, do they order food for lunch every day? Do they drink a bottle of wine every night? Or do they do this, this and this and this? And so it's like aligning your behavior with the decision making that your future self, your goal self, would make Right.
Speaker 1:So what would you know millionaire Justin do what would 10% body fat shredded? You know millionaire justin do? What would 10 body fat shredded? You know 150 pound jake do? Right, like yeah. And then because then when you're, when you're sitting there with your, with your patterns and your conditioned responses that you've always done, that feel comfortable whether they're good or not for you, you go hmm, is this actually in alignment with the version of myself I'm trying to create or is this just continuing to perpetuate this cycle that I've been in, that I'm actually I do want to get out of. I'm not happy where I'm at right now, so I got to make decisions that are aligned with the version that I'm trying to be. I think that's a really good mental framework to use as a litmus test for all of your decision making.
Speaker 2:For sure, but that does require a level of awareness, as I say that's, that's the thing, and I think it's just like we've talked about. When we're talking about, like tracking your food, like all of it, requires some level of personal responsibility, that has to happen. Like it's like you're not going to hit your 10 000 steps or eat your protein without paying attention.
Speaker 1:You're not going to be, it's not just going to happen. It's not going to just happen. Hard things don't just happen you have to.
Speaker 2:You have to adopt the responsibility which does feel like it is a level of responsibility, but then the outcome of that is the reward of all your choices that's the delayed gratification.
Speaker 1:You know when time goes by fast, we're like a year. Oh, I don't want to wait, I'm like dude the year's going by anyways in a fucking blink of an eye yeah, it'll be next year, before you know it'll be next before you know it.
Speaker 1:It's like what are you gonna do? You're gonna just gonna dig around for the next year, or you're gonna like, put in the work, go dark for six months, become the version of yourself you keep saying you want to be and you know, and then you get the rest of your life to enjoy it, you know and there you go. It's kind of a no brainer when you think about it that way.
Speaker 2:Right it is. It is interesting, you're just like. Well, in that case.
Speaker 1:Oh, in that case, why don't I just do it right now? All right, I think that's I think that's good for today, episode 57, a little bit of a, you know, theoretical, conceptual episode about our own thoughts around achievement, happiness, delayed gratification, life in general Probably one of the most important things to think about If you can really get this. I think that's really the bridge to. I think self-discipline is the bridge to your goals.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because no matter what the goal is, it doesn't matter. This relationship requires some sort of trade-off. Life is what's going to have to happen.
Speaker 1:yeah, Okay, team, we'll see you all next week for episode 58.