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Three Questions to Create a Plan That Works.



We’re really great at following directions when it leads to an outcome we want, aren’t we?

  • Want a shed built to put your toys in?  Follow it to a T. 

  • Erecting a new house?  Follow the blueprint. 

  • Throwing together your kids Christmas present at 11:59 on December 24th?  Dip into Santa’s cookies and brace yourself for the long haul…

This is great when there is an ending outcome, but if the outcome isn’t ending and needs another step?


Take nutrition and fitness for example.  We’re great at following a plan when there is one, but what happens at the end of 12 weeks?  16 weeks?  Do we quit?  Do we change?  What do we change to?  


These are all transition points and a place many people struggle with in asking “what’s next?”


Today I want to share a framework with you that I came across via Jon Tyson's newsletter (retro-fitted for nutrition…). 


When you find yourself here, ask yourself three questions:


  • Who am I?

  • Where am I?

  • What do I have to work with?




Who am I?

Specificity is the king of nutrition and exercise.  Most of us have a goal in mind when it comes to what we want out of fitness- “I want my fitness to be useful and allow me to be more capable around the house.”  Others may be one of the big summits we’re trying to climb like Kilimanjaro or Everest.  


When setting up goals, it’s important to give thought to who or what you want to be.  Do you want to be fast on the mountain?  Or, maybe you could care less about a mountain and are aiming to just have more energy. 



As you look to navigate the transition, think about what’s important to you in the next stage.  Not what your friend is or what you think you should be.  Think about who you are and what you want out of the the time you in invest in your nutrition and fitness.  


That’s usually a great place to start framing what you want to do. 


Where am I?  

I’ve always said that time is the greatest limiting factor we have.  Your goals/ability to execute those goals will always be determined by how much time you have to give.  Your plan (and goals) should reflect that.  It’s great to be ambitious, but there will be a mental tax that comes with being unable to execute a plan you’ve set up- even if it was doomed to fail from the start.  It will present itself like something is wrong with you, whereas it’s really the plan.  


Be honest with where you’re at and the time you have to give and begin thinking about us building the plan around that.  We often get so spun up on the perfect plan that we forget about the practical portion of it.  


My answer to the oft-asked question of “what's the best plan to follow?” is fairly uncommon: “the one you can actually do.”  


The quote I live by and pass on to you is this: “I’d rather be consistently good more than I would be occasionally great.”  The best plan is the one you can actually do. 


What do I have to work with?  

The second greatest barrier to reaching a goal after time is access.  Building the perfect nutrition or exercise plan will never leave the paper it's written on if a person doesn’t actually have access to what a program lays out for them.  What you have to work with could be something intangible like time or it could be something physical like equipment/gym access.


What time of time do you have to work with?  Does your program have you training 3 hours a day and you can barely carve out 30-minutes?  If so, the plan sucks.  I don’t care how great it looks on paper.  


No access to a treadmill with incline?  The plan is worthless without the knowledge on how to adjust that.  




These three questions; who am I, where am I, and what do I have to work with will always help us frame our situation and build a realistic plan.  And, like we’ve said from the beginning: complexity kills compliance and consistency- NOT PERFECTION- is THE king of progress. 


Find something basic that you can routinely execute over and over and over again and you’ll find progress.  


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