Over the course of the past few years, my life has changed a bit. Some changes have had external causes and some were internal. In other words, some things changed because I changed them and some things have been beyond my control. I suspect this isn’t much of a revelation to most readers.
The changes I have made myself have been an intentional part of my midlife journey. I’m going to focus on one specific area of internal changes for this article. No, I don’t call it a midlife crisis. I refuse to label a series of positive, life-altering changes as a crisis.
As I was about to turn forty, I found myself engaging in some soul-searching. What am I doing? Am I happy? Am I fulfilled? Pretty typical fortieth year stuff, I think. I hear a lot of folks do this in some way or another. I was questioning myself, my career, all of it. I decided, vaguely, to make some changes. I wanted things to be different. I was out of shape, a little overweight, etc. You get the idea. What follows is one piece of my overall journey and how I did it.
As I looked at the list of things that I was dissatisfied with, it a rather long and a bit overwhelming. There were too many! I couldn’t imagine all the changes I’d have to make to gain any headway on the list. It’s not a new concept, but I decided to take a modified One Thing At A Time approach. Yes, there was a daunting list, but if I could just focus on one item at a time, maybe I could make progress. We’ve all heard the proverb that “a journey of a thousand miles begins with single step.” I wanted to put that into action. However, I needed more than just doing one thing at a time, I wanted to make lasting changes. To become someone or something new, I needed to make new habits and replace old ones. I set about doing this by making small, incremental changes that could be managed and nurtured into habits. Over time, the collection of these new habits would define a new lifestyle. I called it Incremental Sustainable Change, or ISC (yes, I’m a TLA nerd.)
I had no idea how disappointed I was with myself for being out of shape until I started exercising. My first goal was a little vague, improve my lung function, asthma, and breathing. Some more focused thought distilled it down to this: I didn’t want to run out of breath going up the stairs anymore. That was my goal. I started on a Wii Fit program. Yep, I started with our Nintendo Wii. It was like having a coach. It helped set goals and track progress. I started a short Wii routine and committed to doing it regularly. After a few months of Wii-ing, when I’d proved to myself that I was serious about this fitness stuff, I thought about the next step. I’d been doing some running in place with the Wii and that was getting tiresome. Considering my goal of getting up the stairs without huffing and puffing, I knew I needed more cardio exercise. I bought an elliptical trainer and started another new habit. One habit at a time - that’s how ISC works. I added cardio on the elliptical and kept strength training with the Wii (such as it is). Soon enough, my elliptical training became habitual. I was doing it regularly and seeing some benefits in my breathing and stamina. Once again, I felt ready for the next step in my evolution. I decided to try running. At first, I could barely make it around the block. Our “block” is about one mile around and it turns out that running outside is vastly different from the elliptical trainer. I kept working at it - increasing my pace and adding distance just a little at a time. Before I knew it, I was running miles. It’s been a few years since I started all this and looking back, it’s hard to believe how far I’ve come. I run for distance on Saturdays now, going for 10, 13, even 18 miles. I’m even considering marathon training. Just a couple short years ago, I couldn’t walk up the stairs without running out of breath! Now, I’ve gotten my asthma medication reduced and the stairs don’t bother me anymore. ISC has been bearing fruit.
As my running odyssey was evolving, I added some dietary ISC too. One small change at a time. I switched from a sugar cereal to Cheerios. Once that was established, I added a salad to dinner. And so on. I’ve tried several dietary changes, but what has worked the best for me is a low carb, high protein diet with plenty of hydration and vegetables. It's sustainable - that's the key. It's not a crash diet to lose weight NOW. It's a new lifestyle that got me to an appropriate weight and keeps me there. Oh, cutting out the mass quantities of candy and sweets helped too. Sometimes that’s still a tough one for me. One increment at a time.
I only ever made a change to my lifestyle or habits that I could sustain - and only one small change at a time. No huge chunks. I would only change something small enough that I could keep doing it over and over until it become a habit. I didn’t start out running 10 miles. I started with a short Wii routine and built up new habits over time. I devoted myself to the process. ISC became a habit itself. I’d find myself asking, “what’s next?” and even look forward to the next change.
Over the past few years, I’ve set and achieved many fitness and health goals. I’ve run races, I’ve lost about thirty pounds, I eat healthier, and I move some weights around too (no more Wii - I've graduated). All of these things come through ISC. Make one Incremental Sustainable Change at a time, and you can meet your goals and keep them.
I now find myself considering the next step of my career journey. That’s my next change. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a little daunting. I’m going to handle it with the same type of process that’s worked for me so far - make one Incremental Sustainable Change at a time.
Thanks for reading,
Eric
Afterward:
I’ve been on the software development and management side of the financial services and trading industry for the past 13 years. To learn more about me and how I’ve applied ISC to software development, or to discuss career opportunities, look me up on LinkedIn. http://www.linkedin.com/in/ejohns
As I looked at the list of things that I was dissatisfied with, it a rather long and a bit overwhelming. There were too many! I couldn’t imagine all the changes I’d have to make to gain any headway on the list. It’s not a new concept, but I decided to take a modified One Thing At A Time approach. Yes, there was a daunting list, but if I could just focus on one item at a time, maybe I could make progress. We’ve all heard the proverb that “a journey of a thousand miles begins with single step.” I wanted to put that into action. However, I needed more than just doing one thing at a time, I wanted to make lasting changes. To become someone or something new, I needed to make new habits and replace old ones. I set about doing this by making small, incremental changes that could be managed and nurtured into habits. Over time, the collection of these new habits would define a new lifestyle. I called it Incremental Sustainable Change, or ISC (yes, I’m a TLA nerd.)
I had no idea how disappointed I was with myself for being out of shape until I started exercising. My first goal was a little vague, improve my lung function, asthma, and breathing. Some more focused thought distilled it down to this: I didn’t want to run out of breath going up the stairs anymore. That was my goal. I started on a Wii Fit program. Yep, I started with our Nintendo Wii. It was like having a coach. It helped set goals and track progress. I started a short Wii routine and committed to doing it regularly. After a few months of Wii-ing, when I’d proved to myself that I was serious about this fitness stuff, I thought about the next step. I’d been doing some running in place with the Wii and that was getting tiresome. Considering my goal of getting up the stairs without huffing and puffing, I knew I needed more cardio exercise. I bought an elliptical trainer and started another new habit. One habit at a time - that’s how ISC works. I added cardio on the elliptical and kept strength training with the Wii (such as it is). Soon enough, my elliptical training became habitual. I was doing it regularly and seeing some benefits in my breathing and stamina. Once again, I felt ready for the next step in my evolution. I decided to try running. At first, I could barely make it around the block. Our “block” is about one mile around and it turns out that running outside is vastly different from the elliptical trainer. I kept working at it - increasing my pace and adding distance just a little at a time. Before I knew it, I was running miles. It’s been a few years since I started all this and looking back, it’s hard to believe how far I’ve come. I run for distance on Saturdays now, going for 10, 13, even 18 miles. I’m even considering marathon training. Just a couple short years ago, I couldn’t walk up the stairs without running out of breath! Now, I’ve gotten my asthma medication reduced and the stairs don’t bother me anymore. ISC has been bearing fruit.
As my running odyssey was evolving, I added some dietary ISC too. One small change at a time. I switched from a sugar cereal to Cheerios. Once that was established, I added a salad to dinner. And so on. I’ve tried several dietary changes, but what has worked the best for me is a low carb, high protein diet with plenty of hydration and vegetables. It's sustainable - that's the key. It's not a crash diet to lose weight NOW. It's a new lifestyle that got me to an appropriate weight and keeps me there. Oh, cutting out the mass quantities of candy and sweets helped too. Sometimes that’s still a tough one for me. One increment at a time.
I only ever made a change to my lifestyle or habits that I could sustain - and only one small change at a time. No huge chunks. I would only change something small enough that I could keep doing it over and over until it become a habit. I didn’t start out running 10 miles. I started with a short Wii routine and built up new habits over time. I devoted myself to the process. ISC became a habit itself. I’d find myself asking, “what’s next?” and even look forward to the next change.
Over the past few years, I’ve set and achieved many fitness and health goals. I’ve run races, I’ve lost about thirty pounds, I eat healthier, and I move some weights around too (no more Wii - I've graduated). All of these things come through ISC. Make one Incremental Sustainable Change at a time, and you can meet your goals and keep them.
I now find myself considering the next step of my career journey. That’s my next change. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a little daunting. I’m going to handle it with the same type of process that’s worked for me so far - make one Incremental Sustainable Change at a time.
Thanks for reading,
Eric
Afterward:
I’ve been on the software development and management side of the financial services and trading industry for the past 13 years. To learn more about me and how I’ve applied ISC to software development, or to discuss career opportunities, look me up on LinkedIn. http://www.linkedin.com/in/ejohns
That's awesome Eric. Question -- Have you stopped smoking yet???
ReplyDeleteThanks Dan. That's probably a good topic for another post. :-) Short answer, yes. The longer answer is that quitting cigarettes was one of the several other life changes I've made. I limited my topic for this post to keep it manageable and focused on the piece where the method might be easiest applied. I've changed a bunch of other stuff too and tried to apply the same mind-set - one sustainable change at a time.
DeleteGreat post, Eric! I totally agree that incremental change is the way to go. There's a new book out about Habits - The Power of Habit - Why We Do What We Do in Life - and the author, Charles Duhigg calls what you wrote about (running) a "keystone" habit - ie., one makes a change and a cascade of good changes follow. Well done - and what a great way to sail into the second part of your life - much better than the mythic red sports car, etc. Well done!
ReplyDeleteThank you Diane. Much agreed. However, about that red sports car... :-)
DeleteCongrats Eric, fantastic progress!
ReplyDeleteI'm back at the gym 2 weeks now because of reading this.
ReplyDeleteAWESOME! Just... Awesome.
Delete