Stronger Set Point

Stronger Set Point

In the UK we are on the run-up to the Summer Holidays. Working parents scramble to finish and hit their deadlines while getting ready to juggle the dread of ensuing chaos with the delightful absence of the school drop-off.

You’ve got this 💪

A Week in Review

I spent a large chunk of the week developing a new product for busy parents who are tired of feeling tired. In the next few weeks, I’ll be looking to test it out in beta before release. Stay tuned.

SQL is a way of interacting and managing a database to gain insights into your data. Think of it like Excel with extra capabilities and fewer errors. It is used to build backend APIs by developers, to collect and test hypotheses by digital marketers, and to make data-driven decisions by business intelligent analysts. I’m familiar with interacting with data but this is my first time diving deep into relational databases. Consider me hooked!

Anyway, on to the main show.

The key to being the fit parent.

People struggle to make consistent progress in the gym, I’m talking:

• Lose 10 lbs for 6 months or longer
• Add 5 lbs of muscle
• Run a 5k in 00:20min

… not because of an inability to do the necessary actions, but from being unable to prevent the unnecessary actions from recurring.

The name of the game is to remove as many barriers as possible and focus on simple tasks done well.

When I coached GB Water Polo this was the head coach’s mantra. Drill the simple actions, and minimise the mistakes. The players needed to stay fueled and make practice. Stay fueled; make practice.

Silver bullets are overrated

It’s natural for us to be swayed by silver bullets because we’re not entirely rational. The brain likes magical thinking. But significant changes are the result of regular actions.

Lose the belly? Go from zero to one in 4 key actions:

- Workout with progressive overload

- Eat 3 balanced meals per day

- Sleep 8-10 hours

- Walk > 7’000 steps

The hard part isn’t the doing but creating the space and impulse control to habituate the actions into your life.

Conditions are rarely favourable:

Kids get sick, the housework takes three times as long, and the fresh food goes stale.

But did you really think the day would come when you wouldn’t get any more emails? Of course not. It never ends.

Getting what we want is about resourcefulness not resources.

From a business or management perspective, it’s called prioritization, resource allocation, time management, or negotiation. We have to get creative in our ability to complete simple tasks on an unpredictable playing field.

To do almost anything in fitness comes with a short list of actions to make progress, but a long list of obstacles where one could regress.

Testing the results section out. It should have an outline or something that separates it from the experiment details. Before and after? Metrics?