#1693 You Lose Twice

I’m typing this on a morning after I decided to go a little off-menu and eat a little later than the bright lines of my protocol. I’m feeling a little less-than-awesome and I’m excited to make what I think is a really powerful distinction.

Now…

Of course, there are times when deliberately choosing to cross the eating/moving/sleeping bright lines and pay the price for those choices in the form of diminished energy the next day is the wise choice.

See, for example, the recent +1 on our family trip to watch the Bulls game. The game started when we usually go to bed and ended three hours later—leading to a later night and less sleep, etc.

But…

That was a deliberate, wise choice that created some lifetime memories with the family including a few hours with my new friend Billy Donovan (the Bulls head coach), the following morning.

AND…

There are times when we know what’s best for us and we either consciously (or more often MINDLESSLY) allow ourselves to go off the rails a bit.

This morning is an example of the consequences of making poorer-than-normal choices after one of THOSE days. Thankfully, my version of indulging is pretty benign but I ate some food I know doesn’t really work well for me and I ate it later than I know is best for me.

And…

Although I feel “fine,” I don’t feel GREAT.

I’m slightly sluggish mentally and as close to “hung over” as I’m going to get.

And…

I REALLY (!!!) like feeling GREAT so…

Here we are.

Hah.

Now…

Here’s the thing about the times when we allow ourselves to fall short of our standards and then suffer the consequences the next day.

First…

To be clear…

I REPEAT IN ALL CAPS BOLD TO MAKE SURE WE GET THE MEMO…

As Abraham Maslow wisely advised us 50+ years ago…

THERE ARE NO PERFECT HUMAN BEINGS.

And…

YOU AND I WON’T BE THE FIRST PERFECT HUMANS.

We’ll all fall short of our standards.

Often.

So…

When that INEVITABLY happens, let’s bring the flashlight of some Heroic curiosity grounded in self-compassion AND let’s bring the hammer of Heroic encouragement as we use the data to get better after the inevitable oopses of life.

And…

I think we’d be wise to know this…

When we DO fall short of our standards and allow ourselves to indulge in less-than-optimal choices, we run the risk of LOSING (at least!) TWICE.

First, the poor choices (whether that’s eating poorly, staying up late binge-watching something or drinking too much or fill-in-the-blank-with-your-poor-choice behavior!) diminish our PHYSIOLOGICAL state.

We feel more tired and blah.

AND…

At the same time…

We run the risk of losing PSYCHOLOGICALLY because we know we made a poor choice and, unless we can execute a quick “Needs work!” with the data we got from missing the target, we run the risk of eroding our trust in ourselves because of those poor choices.

And…

Unless we’re really mindful and quickly recommit to getting back on track and creating an awesome rebound day on which we’re EVEN MORE committed to executing our protocol, the diminished physiological and psychological state MIGHT lead to a vicious spiral down where the little oops becomes a series of oopses that becomes a week- or month- or year-long spiral of oopses.

So…

Today’s +1.

Let’s honor the fact that we’re human and, tragically, we won’t be the first perfect human beings. (Darn it!)

And…

Let’s remember the fact that, when we choose to do things we know aren’t great for us physiologically, we LOSE TWICE.

And, most importantly…

Let’s use that Wisdom to Forge Antifragile Confidence with every action we take…

TODAY.

Day 1. All in.

LET’S GO, HERO!