nikki (00:00)
What if something you're calling not trying hard enough is actually an adjustment that's helping you? Maybe your routine looks a lot less impressive than it used to, and maybe you're repeating some of the same few breakfasts, you've stopped filling out your tracker, your workout schedule has fewer days on it, and maybe you've let go of some of the things that you thought that you were supposed to do. And now you're wondering, am I just making progress or have I lowered the bar? And honestly, that's a fair question.
Because simplifying can help, but I am not going to tell you that everything that you stopped doing was automatically the right thing to stop. So let's look at what's actually happening. Is the simpler approach helping you do the things that matter to you? And if it is, can you let them count?
In the last episode, we talked about how to start when your to-do list is too long.
So today I want to talk about what happens when you've already made a plan, and that plan has become a whole lot to keep up with. Because you want to eat better, so you start looking for more recipes. Then you think you should prep everything ahead of time. And then there's the grocery list and the food tracker and the things that you've told that yourself that you need to add to your breakfast. You want to get stronger, so you find a workout plan. And then you start wondering whether you need a different workout plan and more walking and a morning routine that somehow makes all of this happen.
Before anybody else needs you. and so now taking care of yourself comes with homework. Okay? And I know you already have a life because you're like me, right? You have work, you have family, you have appointments, you have laundry, you have sports, you have people that are asking you a million questions while you're trying to remember what you walked into the room for.
So maybe you change up the plan. You choose a couple of breakfasts that you like.
You stop collecting the workouts and you use the one that you understand. You decide which parts of the routine are worth keeping, and these things start to feel a little bit more manageable.
But instead of noticing the things that you're doing, you start looking at everything that you took away and you start thinking, shouldn't I be doing more? And okay, but well, more of what?
And what would adding it actually do to help you? Okay. And those are questions that deserve an answer before you put anything else on your list. So I want you to start looking at what your routine is producing. All right, let's take working out as an example. Imagine that you've made a plan to exercise five days a week. You like the idea of that plan and you could picture yourself doing it.
But then your week shows up, right? And you kept missing the sessions. And then you'd get frustrated and spend time looking for a fresh plan to start next week. And so now imagine you've changed it to two plan sessions and you're showing up for those more regularly. Okay, I'm not sitting here to prescribe a workout schedule here. Okay, I'm asking you to compare what you planned with what you actually did. The five-day plan had more on the calendar, but was it actually more activity?
If a smaller schedule is going to help you show up more, then that's useful information because then you have something that you can work with. You can evaluate whether it supports your goals and adjust it from there. But I don't want you to dismiss it because the old plan looked more ambitious. Or let's take healthy eating, okay? Maybe you used to think that you needed a different breakfast every single day, but now you just have a few options that you enjoy.
And you keep the ingredients around and you spend less time deciding on what you're going to make. So repeating breakfast isn't automatically better or worse. What matters is whether those options meet your needs and making it making eating, you know, in a way that helps you follow through on what you actually want. So you're allowed to have a routine that's a little boring. Okay. I have a very boring routine and
It makes things so much easier for me. I eat the same few things on repeat and I don't have to think about it. And so I don't want to have to be searching for different breakfasts every single day of the week, knowing that I want to make healthier choices. And this honestly applies outside of food and exercise too, because maybe you stopped using an elaborate system to organize, you know, your clothes or your closet.
Or you just put together a few outfits you actually like wearing and then maybe getting dressed is a lot easier. Okay? Because and I and I bring this one up because it matters, right? Feeling comfortable in your clothes and getting out the door without trying on six things can make a very big difference in your day, right? You can still love your life and still want these little things a little bit better too. And that's one of the biggest pieces that I talk about in 1%, better in midlife because
At the end of the day, we have so much going on in as we get older, right? I used to talk to my friends and I'd be like, it's gonna be so much easier when when we get older, right? And yeah, in some respects it is. It's easier to do things because your kids are a little bit more independent, but the mental load is so much different. And I often don't think that we think about a lot of those things, and we don't know until we're really in it that
the decisions on top of decisions on top of decisions really weigh on us on all the little things, whether it's making your breakfast, whether it's working out, and whether it's getting dressed in the morning, okay? So there are three different places that I want you to start looking for progress. Because if you've simplified something, I want you to start to think about, you know, what you'd look at before deciding that you're not doing enough. Okay.
Because a lot of times we start to think, well, I need a different plan because I'm I'm not seeing any progress. But the first thing I want you to think about is are you following through more often? Right? Look at what happened. Did you make the meals that you planned? Did you do the activity that you intended to do? Did you use the system that you set up? Okay. Because you don't you don't necessarily need new routines or another complicated
thing to do to answer that. All right. I want you to think, did you use the system that you set up? Did you do the meals? Did you work out? Okay? Then I want you to think about a few recent days. What did you actually do? Okay. Maybe you if you didn't do it because you had not simplified it enough, why? All right? So the second thing I want you to think about is is it taking less effort to organize and decide? Okay?
There's the action itself. And then there's everything that you do before you do the thing. All right. So take meal planning, for example, because this is a big one for me. I can sit down and meal plan, but it's all of the things that happened before of the before the meal plan. I have to figure out what everybody has for the week. I have to figure out what days I'm driving, what carpool we have, you know, what nights might need to be a fast dinner, what nights don't.
And so I'm choosing, I'm searching, I'm comparing, and then I start getting ready, getting all the things ready, and then I get distracted, and then I change my mind, and then I start trying to figure out a better way. So some preparation is definitely useful, okay? And I want you to remember that, but if you keep spending your available time deciding on how to do something, it's worth asking whether you can make that decision once and use it again, okay? So going back to that meal planning example.
Maybe you have a familiar grocery list or a workout plan or somebody that you've liked to follow that you work out, or maybe it's something that you're like, I'm going to listen to a book while I walk. And you've already made that choice, right? So those are the decisions that you make before. And these changes might not be big or exciting and you might not big get some big motivational moment from it from knowing where your shoes are. But if you put your shoes in the same place.
You're gonna know where they are and you're not gonna have to go find them and then get distracted and decide not to go work out. All right. So these little things all add up. All right. And the third thing I want you to think about is the does this approach still support what you want? Okay. And this is the part that keeps simpler from becoming like a blanket excuse. All right. So you said that you wanted something when you made that plan.
Maybe it was more strength. Maybe it was easier dinners. Maybe it was less rushing. Maybe it was time for something that you actually enjoy. Okay. Maybe it was you wanted to feel better in your clothes. Okay. Is the change that you're trying to make helping with that? And is it at least helping you take the actions that could get you there? Okay. Some outcomes take time to assess. All right. One easier a week doesn't prove that a routine is gonna work forever.
But it's if it gives you something specific to notice instead of judging the whole thing by how much effort it looks like you're making, okay? So let's kind of talk about that, right? So is it simplifying or is it avoiding? All right. And you might be asking yourself that question because a lot of times we're like, okay, but maybe I'm just avoiding that, or maybe I'm just simplifying it and and not just making excuses. And and that's what I want you to think about, right? So I would start with the things that you actually kept, right? So
If you stopped tracking every single meal but you're still eating in a way that supports your goals, maybe the tracking wasn't something that you needed right now. If you shortened the time that you spend, you know, planning your meals, but you still know where you're making, and maybe you found a more useful way to plan, maybe the sitting down to do the plan every single week was the problem, right? And that was making you frustrated in the first place.
There's no need to judge yourself around it, I just want you to be honest about the result. But
And and sometimes, you know, the o the honest answer is that your capacity has just changed. Okay. Maybe you have a sick parent. Maybe you've had a difficult season with your kids. Okay. Maybe you've had a really just bad week in general. And in that situation, maintaining less for a while can be a reasonable choice. But here's the thing I want you to remember.
Patterns are patterns. And when you start to say, I'm gonna work out, and then you skip a day, okay, maybe one day is fine, but if you skip two days in a row, that becomes a pattern. And same with healthy eating. If you're like, okay, I'm just gonna have a piece of cake today, but then you have one tomorrow, and you're like, I just had it two days in a row, three days is fine, well, that also becomes a pattern. Okay, so sometimes the capacity has changed, but sometimes you also need to make sure that you are in a position where
you're not starting to make excuses for yourself. Okay. So what what can you reasonably support right now? And that is the plan to that you need to set. And then what is going to tell you that it's time to adjust your plan again? Okay. And these are the better questions that are gonna help you decide that being tired means that you don't care. Okay. But there's also gonna be times when something matters to you and you're just avoiding the uncomfortable part of doing it. All right. So and that's been me, right? I've
I've gone through phases of working out where I've really wanted to work out and other times I'm like, I really don't want to do it, and so I avoid it. And there's things I'm like, okay, well, what am I trying to get out of? Is there a practical obstacle that we can change? Or is this the point where you need to do something that you don't perfect particularly feel like doing? Okay, like working out. All right. Making a plan simpler doesn't mean removing
every bit of effort. Okay. It means thinking carefully about where all of the effort goes.
I like thinking about it this way. I like thinking about the person that you want to become, all right? But let's not make this about a person who never needs to change a plan, okay? You can be a woman who follows through and be a woman who says, This is the way, this way of doing it is just, you know, it's just not working for me. Okay. You can care about your health without enjoying every tool that's supposed to help you manage it, because let's be honest.
The health and wellness industry right now has made getting healthy incredibly overwhelming. And it's all about going back to the basics. And you can be proud of something before you can add the next challenge, okay? So I want you to think about the things that you are proud of, right? Give yourself a minute to answer that. And maybe it makes it easier.
For you to keep the plan or adjust it. Okay? There may be a time to do more. There may be a a reason to change your goals or increase the challenge, but that decision should not come from
a place of uncertainty or a place of frustration. That decision should come from what you want and what you keep noticing. Okay. You don't have to add things just to prove that you're serious. So this week, here's what I want you to do. I want you to choose one routine that you're already doing. Okay. Maybe that is working out. Maybe that is healthier eating. Maybe that is, you know, doing something around the house, right? Maybe it's cleaning or whatever it is.
I want you to ask yourself what part helps me and what what it what part of this routine or this thing is, you know, making it harder than it needs to. I want you to keep that useful part because simplifying that one piece of the process and then I want you to notice what happens, okay? Did you follow through? Did it make your day easier? Did you lose something that you actually needed? Okay. And you're allowed to adjust based on the answer.
And if you've already made a change that's helping, I want you to acknowledge it. Okay, you don't need to invent this new project to have something to feel good about this week. I want you to think about the things that you're already doing. if you do want some ideas for some small actions, the free 1% better in midlife bingo card is in the show notes.
Choose a square that support what supports what matters to you and work through it But listen, being better doesn't always mean more. Sometimes it means that you've made progress because you figured out what's worth repeating and what you can let go of. So pick one thing and let's make it 1% better.
