Battle of the Bulge: No End-Game versus No-End Game
Your choice: being played
versus being in play
— in your life, not just your health
This piece is the sixth of a number of stand-alone DESTINY postings on how to rise above and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic by shaping up to be healthy, fit, tough and wise. It is based on the author’s multi-decade insights as a cardiologist and the founder in a non-profit lifestyle coaching program completed by thousands of patients and coworkers. All the advice comes from participants’ real-life experiences, state-of-the-art science and diverse time-honored wisdom.
September 23, 2020. 6 min read.
One FAQ from the 2,000 patients and coworkers enrolled in my lifestyle coaching program in the past 25 years was: “How do we define success? Pounds, steps, blood tests? And…who’s going to keep score?”
My answer: “Your ultimate success will be measured in the beginning and the middle. Not at the end. And only by you.”
What’s at stake is more vital than any lab reports. Here are the lessons we all learned together for life.
Before they came to us, almost everybody in our program had lost dozens, even hundreds of pounds over the years, only to gain them all back, and then some, with one diet after another. (Sometimes two or three diets at the same time because they got really hungry with just one.)
Why did they fail so many times, even in the best commercial programs? Because their life was not just another diet.
They had played the wrong game—in the wrong order and using the wrong values.
Most of them had not only failed but also suffered much undue blame and shame in the game.
And the no-end game began again.
I, too, used to play it wrong in much the same ways they did—not in the weight-loss game but in the weighty game of life. Thankfully, there’s a better way for us all.
“I don’t care, just get me the results*#!” That’s what the world demands of us, and how it judges us, right? We get that so much we come to accept it as how life is, all the time, with everything.
Not so.
‘ ‘ ‘
Everything you do, big or small, starts with your intention, then moves on to your actions, and ends at the outcome. Let’s look at this three-part process.
Your intention, if it’s truly all your own, is the only place where you have complete control.
The actions you take after that are largely up to you, except very soon many other factors inevitably come into play. Unforeseeable circumstances, like accidents, the weather… And, yes, other people! You know how that goes.
So the final outcome, in all fairness, is never 100% guaranteed, no matter how hard you’ve tried.
. . .
A
nd yet, you tend to judge yourself almost entirely by the final outcome, where you have the LEAST control. Instead of your own intention, where you have TOTAL control.
What kind of a judge are you? Good thing you ain’t God.
If you were a just God, “You” would judge you most heavily by your intention. And to a fair degree by your efforts. The outcome, eh, not so much.
In the personal private game of your own life and wellness, wouldn’t you grant yourself at least this basic justice?
So, stop judging your success at the wrong end—the end. As you’ll see below, the game of health allows you to collect your rewards upfront and along the whole way.
“If at first you don't succeed
change your definition of success.”
Richard Stockton
Let’s take this new game rule out for a road test.
. . .
FOCUS
Sages over the ages have been telling us this, and countless successful people have actually experienced it in real life:
If your intention is good, pure, and in line with what Nature also intends, then the entire universe will mobilize to help you get there. As if it had no choice.
Your intention to be healthy, fit, tough, wise, happy, fulfilled, and helpful in life cannot possibly be against Nature. So, already you’re all good from the start.
Sure, you take full credit as well as responsibility for it. The reward is: even if things turn out badly later, you will always have your original, untainted, good intention for consolation.
“The minute you settle for
less than you deserve,
you get even
less than you settled for.”
Maureen Dowd
The more devotion and effort you put in to carry out your intention, the more you’ll enjoy and benefit from your actions while doing it. Including the surprise detours.
“The secret to life
is some good side effects.”
Snoopy (Peanuts Comic Strip)
You’ll get all stressed out if you’re hung up on and dragged down by some narrowly defined outcome. You may still end up getting that, but only that.
Curated with subscription from iStock
Why get fixated on
the light through
only one skinny strand,
or bust?
Why not take the whole bouquet!
“Just do it”, and freely wonder how it might turn out. Your open mind will frequently be rewarded beyond expectations.
HEALTH MATTERS
Your weight is merely a reflection of your intention and efforts. The number on the scale should be the least of your rewards.
BTW, you win if you lose, and lose if you gain. Weight is such a funny game, rigged in so many ways. Might as well play by your own new rules.
Even though your body already knows, weighing yourself every morning actually does promote weight loss, and evading it derails you, as research has shown.
NUTRITION
Every unwanted calorie you cut out, every healthy food item you switch in for the bad ones, every ounce of water you dilute your sugary drink with, your body gets the health benefit right there and then, as well as thereafter.
Every opposite action you take to the above, your well-being pays the price, albeit quietly, immediately and in the long run.
Your body does not pass judgment.
It just serves your life sentence.Metacardio
ACTIVITY
You’ll get nowhere if you don’t even take the first step. So do it now.
Destination, or even success, is not the 10,000th step you take every day. The last step does give you the motivation, so don’t lose that. Yet, practically all the rewards are already in the 9,999 steps you’ve taken to get to the end.
The best reward for
the “end game” is actually
in the beginning and middle,
not the end.
Unless you quit,
there can be no end-game.Metacardio
TAKEAWAYS
W
hile you’re revising your battle plans before next week’s posting, listen to a free preview of this info video. Enjoy, all at once or, better yet, one day at a time (2-3 min).
Registered Dietitian Video
(Mediterranean Meals for the Masses)
(1) What diet? Mediterranean feast!
(3) Spices of Life and the Bread Basket
(4) Eating Fat not Getting Fat. Meet Proteins, Meats.
(6) Wine and Snacks – Are you nuts? Yes!
Doc Tak
9/23/2020
WRITTEN BY
Tak C. Poon, MD, PharmD, ABHIM, FACC
Board-certified American Preventive Cardiologist, now developer of a wellness blog and a lifestyle habit-forming app.
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