bridging the gap

During the first calendar quarter of 2010, I set my mind to shedding sixteen pounds. I was above my ideal athletic weight of 170 and had gotten to the upward limit of my comfort zone. For me this involved establishing two new habits: exercizing every work day and cutting the bulk of flour, sugar and starch out of my diet. After 13 weeks, I was down exactly 6.5 pounds, meaning that I had managed to create a 1750 calorie per week deficit from a combination of less intake and more output. This is a good sustainable pace, borne of real lifestyle changes, preventing a future yoyo in my weight.

Physical changes such as weight loss, cashflow improvement, debt repayment, employee morale are the results of technical processes. Weight loss is primarily a technical matter of working out more and eating less. As a species we've known that for a long time and yet most people remain overweight and some, disturbingly obese.

Last week I was driving and saw a very obese man walking awkwardly next to the road. He looked as though he was very laboured in his breathing and his gate was as painful to watch as I'm sure it was on his joints. At 350 plus pounds, this man was maybe 160 pounds over his ideal athletic weight and at least 100 pounds past a safe and reasonably comfortable weight. The aphorism "eat less and work out more" though technically an accurate solution would probably just start an acute depression, if it had not already.

The gap between my ideal weight and this other man's is an order of magnitude difference: 16 versus 160 pounds. At the rate I've been going, at a half pound per week, it would take this dude 320 weeks to lose his excess. While I need to keep my attention on my goal for just over 8 months, he would need to focus on his goal for over 6 years. I personally don't think I have that much resolve or attention span and it would easy to resign and just accept that nothing was ever going to change.

The eventual solution to our problems maybe technical, but the ultimate source of the solution is emotional and spiritual. Firstly, I'm not likely to change my technical approach until I feel different about myself. Whether it's weight reduction or debt reduction, it's tempting to think that I'll feel better about myself after I get rid of my extra bulk and debt, but I'm not likely to do do the technical work, in a sustained way until I feel better about myself.

My debt load and body mass reflect decisions I make. The size of the change determines the number of decisions that I need to make that are different than the ones I made to get me where I am. Six years to lose weight or pay-off debt can seem like a lifetime and in a way that's a clue. The ultimate solution is to make a permanent change in the way I live, rather than going on a physical or fiscal diet and then giving myself tacit permission to go back to my old ways once I've hit my target.

Real, lasting change does not happen without a strong spiritual connection to a compelling vision. It's not until I'm solidly in the process of changing my lifestyle that the physical results begin to show up. If I learn to enjoy the processes of physical and fiscal health for what they are, then it does not really matter how long it takes for the goal weight or the goal networth to occur.

The greater the gap between what I have now and what I say I want in the future, the greater the vision. The greater the vision, the greater the number of daily acts of faith to get there. Until I see myself differently and develop the strong belief in that vision, I'm likely to resign to the way things are.