I remember racing down the escalators at Macy’s at the Cape Cod Mall.
My mom, calmly riding the Up escalator like a normal person, would say I was going to hurt myself (possible) or that I was making a scene (true) or interrupting people trying to go down the stairs (also true).
Sometimes exhausted and out of breath, I would manage to reach the top, and my mom would arrive at the same time, laughing at how hard I had to work.
Spend enough time in an airport (or travel with small children) and within minutes you’ll see kids trying to run on the People Mover moving in the other direction. Exhaustion for them, fun for us.
See where I’m going with this?
My friend Mark Manson put the following his newsletter this week:
“All the persistence, tenacity and motivation in the world won’t help you if you’re working on the wrong thing. In fact, it will do the opposite.”
Which brings me to today’s question…
Where are you running UP the escalator DOWN?
Earlier this year, I remember talking to Coach Matt from the NF team about coaching clients who succeed and who struggle.
- Those who succeeded: they recognize escalators moving in the right direction and work hard to climb them. Each step actually increases their effort.
- Those who struggle: they continue to waste their energy, willpower and effort on changes that do not move the needle.
I bet you’ve had moments where you’ve wondered if all the effort was ACTUALLY worth it or why progress seemed harder than usual.
Here are some examples of trying to run down an escalator:
- Spend a lot of money on expensive accessories (not prescribed by a medical professional).
- Switching to organic gluten-free or low-carb keto snacks exclusively on the latest trend.
- Trying complicated diets that don’t actually reduce the amount of food you eat.
- Exercise you hate exclusively for weight loss reasons.
Running (and anything else considered cardio) is super for heart and lung health. But running and cardio are far less effective for weight loss than we think (unless we ALSO adjust our eating strategy).
I assume you want to look more “toned” which means you don’t just want to “lose weight” but rather keep the muscle you have and lose fat on top of that.
If these are our goals, then focusing on the right escalator is key.
Here is an example of walking on an escalator:
Show me someone who eats mostly protein, fruits and vegetables and strength trains (with progressive overload) for 30 minutes a few times a week, and I’ll show you someone who moves UP the right escalator.
Here’s the thing: humans are not made to like exercise. We are also not built to thrive in a world where high calorie, nutritionally empty delicious food is always available.
Which means if we are going to spend precious brain power and energy on work something, we might as well choose the right things to deceive ourselves.
Yes, there’s also the whole “life vs. behavior” component of change (which I talked about in a previous newsletter about Manageable vs. Meaningful). But deciding “how quickly do I want to implement these significant steps” is a better question to ask than “Why am I not making progress despite do you work so hard?”
Get off the wrong escalator and go up the right one.
You could put that effort to good use!
-Steve
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