Executives are used to pursuing this feeling in the boardroom, but they approach exercise like it is all investment and no payoff. This is the wrong attitude. The tremendous feelings of pride and accomplishment that come with a solved business problem are identical to those that come with a new physical accomplishment.
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Health by definition is a state of being free from illness or injury.
So, who decides what healthy is? Who determines how free from illness or injury you need to be?
I personally don’t use the word health. I have taken it out of my vocabulary like other words that have no meaning — holistic, functional, work-life balance.
In my world, I like definitions to be black and white. Each of these words has a definition that is linked to a personal interpretation. Yet, people call themselves experts on the topic.
How can you be an expert on something when each person has a different definition of what that something is?
Exercise had the same problem. Each coach taught a different method and was vying to be the expert on exercise. Now, exercise coaches promote a speciality.
Four-week transformations, powerlifters, sports models, CrossFit, strongman, endurance running groups, post-natal, circuit training or spin — are all variations on the word ‘exercise’ yet each makes it very clear to the consumer what they are getting.
Nutrition has to do the same. To clear up the confusion it needs to get specific. It can’t be just about health. Health is not a goal or a poor one at best.
I hope the vast numbers of people being trained in nutrition are graduating with a speciality in mind. A clear focus on what problem (that can be measured) they are going to solve by changing their client’s food.
Health is a word I hear when people are actually talking about weight loss. When an executive is in denial that they have a problem (their weight) they will talk about their health.
When you combine the two it creates confusion about what to eat — “can I eat this food…it’s healthy?”
Health and weight loss are not the same thing. One is the absence of illness and the other is removing excess weight. Confusion sets in when foods, that are labelled healthy, need to be restricted in order to lose weight. Likely examples are juices, smoothies, bircher muesli, oats and whole grain carbohydrates.
None of these foods is bad. All I can stress is that health and weight loss are not the same thing.
If you want to clear up the confusion of what to eat, journalist Michael Pollan said it best “eat food, not too much, mostly plants”.
If you are looking for more detail, it requires greater focus. The quality of the advice that you get will be determined by the quality of the questions you ask.
What do you want? Don’t make the mistake of saying you want greater health…define the problem you are trying to solve (weight, lack of energy, physical pain, bloating, anxiety), get specific and then ask for help.
The challenge when working with executives is significant. They solve complex problems for a living but the demands of their role restrict their ability to focus on the problem that is their weight. When I was designing my 90-day program I created the following design brief: maximum result, minimum time, little to no disruption.
To create a massive amount of change — lose 20kg in 90 days — it is going to take total immersion. Similar to how you learn a language. Rapid results require total immersion. Surrounding yourself with the language and culture often requires you to travel to a different country.
My executives don’t have that luxury. They don’t have the time to immerse themselves in the operations of a professional sporting team. So I am bring it to them. Giving them the most time effective strategies to get the maximum result.
These four life hacks each relate to the four elements of health that make up The Compass. There is no doubt that everyone needs each element of health. The question is how much and to what degree.
If you want to transform your health, even if you don’t have 20kg to lose, these are the four hacks that create the maximal result in the last amount of time possible:
HACK 1: WEARABLE TECH
Walking 10,000 steps each day isn’t going to shift the needle. The real benefit in wearable technology is sleep. The majority of devices now come with automatic sleep detection and an app to display the critical stats of — total sleep duration, sleep onset and number of times you woke up. Developing a strong sleep routine is a game changer.
HACK 2: DEVELOP A TRIGGER
The All-Blacks have been managing their arousal for years. Top performers like Richie McCaw and Kieran Reed have a pre-set routine to decrease their arousal when they find themselves ‘running around and doing a lot but not really doing much.’
The times when you have not put your best self forward, when you have made a mistake, your arousal was likely too high. What is your pre-set routine to bring your arousal down and allow you to make better decisions?
HACK 3: MOBILITY FIRST
There is no time hack to exercise. Transforming from a deconditioned executive into an athlete it takes a minimum of a 3-hour/week commitment. The only way to fast track your results is to become more efficient with your movement. Have your movement assessed by a physio, get a mobility program with a sports scientist and focus on improving your mobility. Play the long game. Progress is slow at the start; but improving your movement quality will dramatically improve your performance.
HACK 4: OUTSOURCED NUTRITION
I have left the most effective life hack to last. Outsourcing your nutrition is the future. Companies are fighting not only to prepare your food but to also have it delivered to your door. Thrive and Pete Evans are the big players with the highest quality product. There are also hundreds of smaller operators doing an exceptional job as well.
This hack guarantees the food you are eating is the appropriate portion and contains the correct food. The brilliance in this hack is that the correct option is also the easiest.
Like with any idea the critical factor is the execution. These are the four main hacks that I use to transform people’s health. The question then becomes — are you ready to commit to executing them for 90 days?
The 80/20 rule is a proven formula for success. Direct your focus to the important few. Worry less about the trivial many that contribute very little to your success.
This rule, the Pareto Principle, commonly drives business success.
But, in weight loss, the 80/20 rule doesn’t work. No one meal is more important than the other. They each carry equal weight to positively or negatively change the result.
I can tell you now that applying the 80/20 rule to your nutrition is the most frustrating place to be. The rule that has created success in so many other aspects of your life just isn’t enough.
When you apply simple logic, if you execute your nutrition plan 80% of the time you should get 80% of the result. But the truth is, you don’t get 80% you often get none.
That’s right 0%.
Executives who are living the 80/20 rule are often disappointed with their weight loss results. They are putting in all the effort but their results are going nowhere and they tell me that “but I eat healthily”.
I believe them. They are telling the truth. But when it comes to weight loss, ‘eating healthy’ is often not enough.
WEIGHT LOSS STARTS AT 85%
Generally, I prescribe three meals and two snacks per day. Those five meals per day give you 35 meals per week. The magical mark where weight loss begins is 30 correct meals per week. 30 meals out of 35 is 85%. There is no science to back this up. This is just based on experience from training hundreds of executives through this system.
WEIGH EVERY DAY
I believe winning at weight loss requires taking a look at the data and basing your decisions on what that data is telling you. That is why I require all of my clients to do the unpopular work of weighing every day.
When you are eating at 80% what you are actually doing is losing the same kilogram over and over again.
Weigh every day and you will see weight loss Mon — Thur and then weight gain Fri — Sun. The net result over the week is zero change in the scales. But that doesn’t show the progress that you made earlier in the week that was undone on the weekend.
WRITE IT DOWN
People who record what they eat to lose weight. This is just science. This is the data game that you need to play to be able to make the right decision. Often people ask me ‘can I eat carbs?’ Or ‘do I have to give up alcohol?’
I answer ‘I don’t know — do you?’
I’ve had clients who have drunk 5 alcoholic drinks (and sometimes more) each week and lose 20kg in 90 days. I’ve had other clients drink no alcohol and then have to fight for every kilogram. The data will tell you what you need to do. I can’t help you until you write it down.
To put it simply, the tweak that you need to transform your results is to lift your execution. You cant eat whatever you want for 20% of the time and expect to achieve 100% of the result.
How much leeway you’re allowed I can’t tell you. Working that out takes one-on-one problem solving and your own personal data.
What I can tell you is that if you want to mitigate the damage the one rule that you should always follow when eating off plan is — portion size.
You can get away with small amounts of food that are off the plan, but when you combine poor food choices with large portions…well, that’s probably what got you in trouble the first time around.
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