Momentum Issue 44: 80/20 and Biology Working in Averages
This week’s issue is going to be a little bit different than usual in that I want to address something related to habits that I think is crucial, instead of having a weekly habit. However, this idea can be applied to all of your habits.
I have been going through all the answers left on the questionnaire linked in the newsletter for the past two weeks, and the consensus was overwhelmingly that pursuing health is really hard work.
From getting enough sleep, to losing weight, having enough energy, having enough time, staying motivated, having self-discipline, working around pain as well as responsibilities and commitments, families, the impact of COVID, achieving good health can be really challenging.
So I want to use this week to address something that I believe is really important: You don’t have to be perfect in order to be healthy.
Importance
“What some call health, if purchased by perpetual anxiety about diet, isn’t much better than tedious disease.” — George D. Prentice
I think this quote sums up the issue - stressing about your health is no better than being unhealthy. I think most of us know by now that the impact of stress is huge. And so stressing about being unhealthy or not being able to maintain good habits is just adding to the problem.
What we need to understand is that our habits don’t need to look a certain way to be beneficial. And they definitely don’t need to be perfect.
I really like this explanation by a New Zealand functional training company, The Evolve Training Collective, which was co-founded by Harriett Hlavac whom I have actually had coach me in Olympic lifting. She is incredibly talented, and has also grappled with the challenges of pursuing health.
“When you lead a busy life —
Consistency is king when it comes to progress with training. How we approach consistency when life gets in the way is important.
It’s easy to get into an “all or nothing” mind state when we are too rigid with what our training “should” look like — and then write training off as a result. This could be because:
you can’t spend your normal 60 or even 90 mins in the gym like you normally do
you don’t have the energy to complete training at your “normal” intensity (or expected intensity)
you have an injury or niggle
you are away for work or a holiday
The more we break our commitment to ourselves with training, the less we trust our word to ourselves, and the less confident or able we feel in achieving our goal. We then lose motivation.
It’s the showing up for ourselves that really matters - keeping and honouring the commitment we make.
We need to allow our training to be flexible and adaptable - and to meet us where we are. It doesn’t need to look a certain way every session to be beneficial.”
Implementation
Be okay with not being perfect with your habits.
Something is always better than nothing, even if it’s just 5 minutes of exercise or one serving of vegetables.
Consistency is more important than doing things perfectly.
Remember that biology works in averages - it’s what you do most of the time that matters most. I write about this more in-depth here:
A Simple Concept That Will Make Your Healthy Habits Easier (free Medium link)
But to summarize:
Nutrition
We don’t need to eat well 100% of the time.
Unless you have allergies or intolerances, or have to eat a certain way due to a medical condition, you’ve got more flexibility than you probably think.
As long as we’re eating well 80% of the time, we’re going to be okay.
This might look like 4 healthy meals and snacks each day and one less healthy meal or snack (assuming 3 meals and 2 snacks per day). Or, it could be eating well 6 days of the week and having a free day one day per week. Maybe 80% of the food on your plate is healthy and 20% isn’t as healthy.
Whatever will work best for you, having about 80% of the food you eat be “healthy” (whatever that means for you) will allow you to achieve good health.
Sleep
We can use a similar idea with sleep - as long as we have enough sleep about 5-6 nights per week, we’re okay. A night or two of bad sleep isn’t going to hurt you.
Getting stressed about not sleeping is going to be counterproductive. Relax and know that a few bad sleeps now and then is okay.
Exercise
We don’t need to spend hours in the gym each day to be healthy. In fact, a 2015 study has shown that as little as 2 minutes of walking per hour has the effect of reducing one’s risk of dying by one-third. 2 minutes x 16 waking hours = 32 minutes a day to reduce your risk of death by a third.
If you want to go further, you can include exercises such as high-intensity interval training (HIIT) which allows you to achieve a lot in a very short amount of time. Similarly, compound lifts such as the big 5: squat, deadlift, bench press, barbell row, and overhead press allow you to work multiple muscle groups at once, therefore reducing the amount of time needed to work out.
Key Takeaway
Most of us don’t need to reach 100% peak health. While this may be ideal, 80% is still incredibly healthy.
So remember, biology works with averages — it’s what you do most of the time that matters most. Don’t stress if you eat a piece of cake, or have a bad night of sleep, or can’t go for a 2 hour run. You don’t need to.
You’re going to be okay.
Resources
Here are some free links to the articles I published on Medium this week.
Before You Go
The paperback version of my book, Habits for Better Sleep, has now been published on Amazon. You can find it here: