The message I’m about to share contradicts itself at first.
If you say with me here, it’ll come full circle and make sense in the end. I’ve sat down with hundreds of individuals during 1-on-1 fitness consultations. Every one of them is interested in joining my gym, and has intentions of exercising regularly to improve their health and or fitness. Whether they actually join and take action on their own desires is never certain. However, there’s one thing that I hear from a lot of folks that always puts a look of confusion on my face.
Here’s the thing they’ll say:
“I’m the type of person that’s all or nothing. I’ll do something 100% or I won’t do it at all….. If it’s diet, I’m all in 100%. Same with exercise, I’ll do it every day or I won’t do it at all”.
The funny thing is, everything else in the conversation typically contradicts them having ever been all-in on anything. This leads me to mentally call bullshit on this “all or nothing” behavior. How could it be someone could have worked out every day and eaten perfectly for an extended period of time, only to completely fallen off the wagon and lost every ounce of progress they made. Is it truly that they went from “All” to actually doing “Nothing” and lost all of the results they gained. I doubt it.
I feel like when people say they’re the “all or nothing type” it’s just an excuse for not wanting to commit to the thing in front of them, for fear of actually having to uphold the obligation of doing said thing they’ve committed to. It gives the person an easy out.
“If I’m gonna workout, I have to do it 5 days per week,…but I have work and kids and I coach soccer on Tuesdays so I can’t do 5 days per week. Guess I’m out.”
“If I’m going to commit to a diet, I’ll have to prepare every one of my meals at home, but my family is going on vacation next month and that’s not feasible. Guess I’m out. “
The all-or-nothing mentality is just an excuse. It’s a behavior that justifies not trying at all and makes it ok to back out.
Guess what would happen if instead, that person just tried, and had, say 80% success, or even worse, only 50% success… or less. They’d still be better off than the “nothing” approach where the success rate is 0%.
Instead of having these self limiting beliefs that you can’t do something because you have to do it with 100% absolute perfection, instead, just start. Do the thing. Do it a little, or do it a lot, but just do it and you’ll be further ahead than not doing it.
What if you did go ALL IN though?
The previous half of this blog is a lead up to the part I really wanted to write. This part.
I’ve had this idea for a long time, and I’ve actually seen a few people do it over the years so I wanted to publicly express it.
(Spoiler, the people that I’ve seen follow through with this in the gym have seen serious results!)
I know I just spent a whole page on why going All-In is B.S., but it still begs the question, what if you actually did? It’s common behavior for humans to want to do the least amount possible to get the most return. We’re driven to find the sale, use the hack, delegate the work, anything to get more for less. I see this in fitness often. People want to find out what amount is just-enough to see results, and not doing anything more.
A classic and terrible example is the person who claims to workout so they can eat whatever they want. Don’t get me started here, as this could be a blog post on it’s own. This person thinks they can get away without doing the work of improving their diet if they just workout hard enough in the gym (guess what, you can’t). The theme here is, we want to do just enough of something to get the results without having to do anything extra. If working out 3 days per week gets me results, why do 5. If avoiding fast food and beer on the weekdays improves my health, why restrict myself on the weekends. If staying off social media before bed reduces my stress, why do it any other time of day.
My hypothetical question here is:
What if we actually did go 100% ALL IN,.. even just for a bit. What type of progress could we see.
Instead of just signing up for a 3-day per week gym membership, sign up to go every day.
Instead of just trying to eat a little better, hire a nutrition coach and spend a month cooking and tracking your food.
Instead of replacing your lunch time sweet tea with water, replace all of your beverages with water, for a month.
Imagine the potential progress you could make if instead of trying to do the LEAST, you chose to do the MOST!
Granted, this may not be feasible for extended periods of time,…but you won’t know if you don’t try. Personally, I workout 6 days per week almost every single week of the year. I’ve done so for about 20 years, and it’s just normal to me. For the person doing 3 days, the thought of 6 sounds ridiculous. Though that person doesn’t actually know if it’s doable for them or not, until they try. The good thing is, if they try and fail, they can always resort back to the 3 day option.
Choosing to not start something for fear of going “All In” is a fools game. So just start. But still question yourself once you get started: What COULD happen if I actually did go All In? Worse case, if All-In doesn’t work, just back off and still say in just to a lesser degree.
All-In is bullshit, but it’s also magical at the same time.