Part 1: DO
When we want to change our destiny, we start by changing our behavior. Hence DO.
I've literally wasted years of my life planning, pondering, weighing my options, thinking, considering, evaluating, and anticipating instead of doing.
There's nothing wrong with thinking, of course. Nothing wrong with planning, with anticipating mishaps and preparing for them. Nothing wrong with caution. Fools rush in and all that.
But too often, all this mental plate spinning serves only to delay action. To block the DO.
As my friend and teacher Peter Bregman points out, sometimes the best way to make a decision is to just try something and see what happens. Often a coaching client will have a decision to make, options to weigh, and gets paralyzed by the unknown. In that case, more thinking is almost never the answer. Instead, Peter suggests, flip a coin. If it comes up Heads and your heart sinks, then you know that you really prefer the Tails option.
Most of the time, being stuck in indecision is a convenient, comfortable place. Because it removes the need for us to DO.
As my friend and teacher Josh LaJaunie frequently insists, the heart of change resides in DO mode.
Josh lost 200+ pounds and became an ultra endurance athlete without a coach or a plan. He just DID stuff and saw what happened. Sometimes he made mistakes, and sometimes he nailed it. But every mistake turned into a revelation, which led to a tweak, which contributed to his positive journey of discovery and change.
Hundreds of people reach out to Josh for advice and inspiration on Facebook and Instagram.
Many of them are desperate to escape the same prison of obesity and misery that had caged Josh for many years. Yet when he responds to their pleas for help with concrete advice, they often balk and resist.
Offering reasons why not. Why they can’t do what he did. Why now isn’t a great time. Why that solution is too extreme, and they won’t be able to maintain it long-term, so why bother?
In truth, they don’t need Josh’s advice. They already know enough to clean up their diets and start moving.
Even if they’re confused about green smoothies or coconut oil or red wine or pastured-raised beef, they can still cut out the soda and donuts and cheeseburgers. Ain’t nobody out there saying those are health foods.
Even if they’re uncertain about which GPS watch or running shoe or training plan, they can still lace up their everyday footwear and start walking.
As Plant Yourself Podcast guest Tim Kaufman puts it, “Just do a little more today than you did yesterday.”
Even if you don’t know what to do, DO something. Anything. If you want things to change, then you have to change. Something. Anything. So DO.
Part 2: BE
After two weeks of guidance and inspiration and support, many participants in the Big Change Program had made significant changes in their eating and moving habits. In the forum and via private emails, they expressed their gratitude, excitement, and – fear.
Fear that once the initial motivation wore off, they’d slide back to where they started.
Not an unreasonable fear.
Most of us have experienced that rush of motivation that fuels heroic action that doesn’t last. And that leaves us more dispirited and hopeless than before we started. It’s a shitty feeling.
The habit experts tell us how to conserve and deploy our motivation intelligently and strategically.
We learn how to sanitize our environments to minimize temptation. How to talk with family and friends to get them to stop trying to sabotage us. How to conquer our inner gluttonous nature through a strengthened neocortex.
All these strategies are useful, and in fact quite necessary during the first stages of our change journey.
However, they all have one flaw in common: they assume that we will always have to fight this inner war between what we want in the moment and what we want long-term. So our lives become a dance of impulse management, in which we can’t slip up even for a second.
No wonder we fear the moment that motivation wanes and we have to go back to our ordinary lives with our ordinary, pitiful desires.
There’s another way to approach this journey. And that is to allow the DO to change how we BE.
We can decide to BE different than how we were.
It’s much more than getting better at resisting temptation. It’s changing so deeply that we simply don’t attend to the temptation any more.
For example, when I was little, I used to bug my mother to get me sugary cereals when I accompanied her to the supermarket. (My favorite was Peanut Cap’n Crunch, a preference that lasted, I’m ashamed to admit, well into my 20s.)
I no longer feel the pull of Peanut Cap’n Crunch when I amble through the cereal aisle. It’s not that my iron will keeps me from lunging for the shelf and ripping the box open with my teeth. I’ve simply changed so profoundly, the junk cereal has no appeal.
This might sound like bad news. Because how can we will ourselves to bring about such a giant change? When we’re on the Before side of a shift, the After side feels like a technicolor Oz, unattainable by any earthly means at our disposal.
The good news is, we don’t need to change anything, really. As Josh shared in the most recent Big Change Kickoff Call, we’re not looking to BE something different, something alien from our true nature.
To the contrary, what we’re trying to BE is who we really are. Before all the cultural programming. Before all the hyper palatable foods and self-serving marketing. Before the desk jobs and TVs and couches and fossil fuels turned us into caricatures of our authentic, noble, athletic, lean, healthy selves.
Part 3: DO
So how do we get to BE our authentic selves again?
By DOing what our authentic selves are designed to do. Meant to do. Programmed to do.
Eat plants.
Move like the bipedal animals we are.
Sweat and strain.
Look for ways to challenge ourselves.
And DO a little more today than we did yesterday.
Looking for Transformational Change?
You know how when you discovered plant-based eating, you basically went, “Holy shit, how come the entire healthcare system isn't totally embracing this as one of the most powerful keys to disease prevention and reversal!”?
That's how I feel now about a psychological approach to transformational change called “Memory Reconsolidation.” Few psychologists have heard about it, and when they do hear the radical transformations it can bring about in a very short time, they're often skeptical to the point of disbelief.
But I've added Memory Reconsolidation work to my own coaching, and can attest to its amazing efficacy. So much so, that I'm devoting the next year to mastering it, studying with the best clinicians and teachers in the world, and then introducing it into health coaching through my trainings.
Right now, I want to triple my coaching practice to get more and more opportunities to do this work. And I'm lowering my fees – a lot – to make it easier for people to work with me.
If you're interested in working with me (and willing to commit to a minimum of 2 months), click the link below to open the form in a new browser tab and I'll get back to you within 3 business days.
Yes, I'm interested in Memory Reconsolidation Coaching.
You CAN Change Other People!
Well, that's what Peter Bregman and I claim in our provocative book of that title.
What we really mean is, you can help the people around you make behavioral changes in their own best interests. If you think you're powerless to help people change, it's because you've been going about it the wrong way.
Discover our straightforward, replicable process here: You Can Change Other People.
Audiobook: Use the Weight to Lose the Weight
Listen to Josh LaJaunie and me narrate our latest audiobook, about how to start moving when you're obese.
It's $10, and Josh and I split it evenly 🙂
Tip Jar
This podcast is not underwritten by advertising, so I can experience complete editorial autonomy without worrying about pissing off the person paying the bills. Instead, I pay the bills, with your help. It's free for those who can't afford to pay, and supported by those who can. You can contribute to the growth and improvement of the podcast by clicking the “Support on Patreon” or “Donate” buttons on the right to help out.
Music
The Plant Yourself Podcast theme music, “Dance of Peace (Sabali Don),” is generously provided by Will Ridenour, a kora player from North Carolina who has trained with top Senegalese musicians.
It can be found on his first CD, titled Will Ridenour.
You can learn about Will, listen to more tracks, and buy music on his website, WillRidenour.com.
Gratitudes
Thanks to Plant Yourself podcast patrons – Kim Harrison – Lynn McLellan – Brittany Porter – Dominic Marro – Barbara Whitney – Tammy Black – Amy Good – Amanda Hatherly – Mary Jane Wheeler – Ellen Kennelly – Melissa Cobb – Rachel Behrens – Tina Scharf – Tina Ahern – Jen Vilkinofsky – David Byczek – Michele X – Elspeth Feldman – Leah Stolar – Allan Kristensen – Colleen Peck – Michele Landry – Jozina – Sara Durkacs – Kelly Cameron – Janet Selby – Claire Adams – Tom Fronczak – Jeannette Benham – Gila Lacerte – David Donohue – Blair Seibert – Doron Avizov – Gio and Carolyn Argentati – Jodi Friesner – Mischa Rosen – Michael Worobiec – AvIvA Lael – Alicia Lemus – Val Linnemann – Nick Harper – Bandana Chawla – Molly Levine – The Inscrutable Harry R – Susan Laverty the Panda Vegan – Craig Covic – Adam Scharf – Karen Bury – Heather Morgan – Nigel Davies – Marian Blum – Teresa Kopel – Julian Watkins – Brid O'Connell – Shannon Herschman – Linda Ayotte – Holm Hedegaard – Isa Tousignant – Connie Haneline – Erin Greer – Alicia Davis – Heather O'Connor – Carollynne Jensen – Sheri Orlekoski of Plant Powered for Health – Karen Smith – Scott Mirani – Karen and Joe Crabtree – Kirby Burton – Theresa Carrell – Kevin Macaulay – Elizabeth Rothschild – Ann Jesse – Sheryl Dwyer – Jenny Hazelton – Peter W Evans – Dennis Bird – Darby Kelly – Lori Fanney – Linnea Lundquist – Emily Iaconelli – Levi Wallach – Rosamonde McAtee – Dan Pokorney – Stephen Leinin – Patty DeMartino – Mike and Donna Kartz – Deanne Bishop – Bilberry Elf – Marjorie Lewis – Tricia Adams – Nancy Sheldon – Lindsey Bashore – Gunn Marit Hagen – Tracey Gulledge – Lara Hedin – Meg from Mamasezz – Stacey Stokes – Ben Savage – Michael K – David Hughes -Coni Rodgers – Claire England – Sally Robertson – Parham Ganchi – Amy Dailey – Brian Tourville – Mark Jeffrey Johnson – Josie Dempsey – Caryn Schmitt – Pamela Hayden – Emily Perryman – Allison Corbett – Richard Stone – Lauren Vaught of Edible Musings – Erin Hastey – Sean Owens – Sagar Naik – Erika Piedra – Danielle Roberts – Michael Leuchten – Sarah Johnson – Katharine Floyd – Meryl Fury – for your generous support of the podcast.
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