Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay
I’m a self-improvement junkie. I admit it. There’s something magical about surfing amazon.com (or even my library app) for captivating reads. One title that popped up recently (I know I’m a victim of amazon’s algorithms when this happens) was about nutrition and weight loss, Rethinking Keto, by Gary Taubbs.
The nutrition information it offered was fascinating, but that was only part of the picture. His research shows that calories in/calories out has little to do with weight loss and disease prevention. There’s a lot more to why we gain (or lose) weight and why some of us develop chronic diseases.
Such ideas are diametrically opposed to what we’ve been taught in science classes or been told by our doctors. But the evidence was there, from multiple sources. And learning that created a second effect: a personal paradigm shift about food and health. It’s dramatically changed the way I look at people (and myself) when it comes to body size, eating, and exercise. There must have been something wrong with the old way we looked at weight loss and health. We weren’t getting the results we wanted. Overweight people weren’t lazy or ignorant. They were getting bad information. We all were. Go figure.
So after realizing that what I’d been “told” (or read or been taught in school) was wrong about weight, nutrition, and exercise, it made me think. What else am I taking for granted as true that really isn’t? There must be at least a few more scripts I was holding onto that were outdated otherwise I’d be rich, living happily in an oceanside cottage with all the dogs I wanted, and watching my novel work its way up the New York Times bestseller list. Paradigm shifts have happened before in my life, but almost always by accident. Is it possible to discover them on purpose? Should I work harder at finding what’s not working so I can figure out what would?
Personal paradigms are like the directions we follow as we make our way through life. It makes sense to re-evaluate them, like when you tell GPS to restart the trip after it led you into an alley full of dumpsters. We don’t have any trouble understanding that technology sometimes glitches and literally takes us into the abyss; shouldn’t we be as forgiving of our own wrong turns? It’s not fatal to review the end goal and determine if we’re heading in the right direction. In fact, it’s downright necessary.
So I’ve done a little research. Here are a few ideas that, almost right away, could shift a few of my own personal paradigms.
1. Spend more to spend less
This one comes from a quick read from Darius Foroux. He quotes an old saying in the Netherlands: “Buying cheap is expensive.” Of course this is true; I’ve fallen for it numerous times in my life. I’ve gotten better about it as I’ve grown older, but I still occasionally fall for a cheap fix. As I read about this concept, however, it occurred to me that it’s not just about money.
I tell my students something similar to this all the time. If you rush through your work you’ll spend more time having to go back over it and fix your mistakes. In other words, spend more time up front so you can spend less time overall.
Here’s another take on it that I actually have already implemented that’s made a huge difference: sleep. I used to be lucky to get five to six and a half hours per work night. I hated the morning alarm; I slogged through my mornings. Then I read an article in which the author said that the best way to get more sleep was to go to bed earlier rather than sleep later.
Okay, duh, maybe. But damn! I had assumed exhaustion during the work week was inevitable because I couldn’t renegotiate the start of my shift. But I did have control over my evening hours. It took a few weeks to get into the habit of going to bed an hour or so earlier than usual, but it worked. I sleep like a log now and feel noticeably better every hour of the day.
2. Have a “done” list instead of a “to do” one.
Don’t misunderstand, a to-do list has it’s place. Listing the necessary actions to get things under control is a good strategy. But most days I don’t need one. In fact, most days I know exactly what I should be doing but I don’t get around to it. Or spend enough time on it. So I’ve changed my approach. I list my accomplishments at the end of the day instead of writing down what I hope to do at the beginning.
There’s still planning involved, but I do most of it in my head as I’m brushing my teeth or waiting for the coffee to brew. And, in the spirit of the first paradigm shift above, I plan way fewer actions so I can accomplish way more. I choose the most important action first; the one that allows everything else to snowball.
For instance, instead of “write next week’s lessons, update the calendar, create and format the next exam, and enter grades,” I’ll decide that I’ll just plan the lessons that day. The following day I can then easily update the calendar, etc. Starting with the right thing and doing it well means the other tasks fall into place. Then, at the end of the day, I can journal for a few minutes and record what I actually did instead of pushing off a bunch of undone tasks to the next day. I go to sleep feeling great instead of vaguely guilty. It’s fabulous.
3. Stop on a schedule.
This one’s a hard one, especially if your work is creative or artistic. What I’ve found is that sometimes I start solving a problem or working on a project and it’s going well. That creative flow carries me along and I look up and realize I’ve worked three hours longer than I planned.
That’s great, isn’t it? You got more done than you thought possible, right? Well, maybe. But if I end up cutting my sleep time too much or shorting some other priority, I’m actually worse off.
Flow is beautiful; inspiration is life-giving. But instead of letting my creative fires burn down to ash, I’m better off stopping before they die. That was Hemingway’s recipe and it makes total sense. I always have a ready starting place when I stop my writing on schedule instead of when I’m used up. Spinning my wheels until they’re burnt down to screeching, flaming rims just doesn’t work. It’s exhausting and makes me hate coming back to a project. But, like deciding not to eat those beautiful doughnuts because they’re actually the devil gets easier each time I snub them, so does sticking to a schedule. In fact, I’ve walked away from this post several times since I started it because the timer rang, and I’ve restarted with fresh energy each time I’ve come back.
4. Sugar, procrastination, laziness, et. al., have no power over me.
This one’s a little different, but no less important. That doughnut thing from above is real: I love sweets. A la mode desserts. Pancakes with real maple syrup. Gooey cookies warm from the oven. I’ve always assumed that was my lot in life: to forever wage war against their beckoning calls and ultimately lose. Same thing with my frequent aversion to starting projects or simply doing anything at all some days.
The sugar monster started losing power when I learned about insulin resistance (starting here.) I’ve never been horrifically overweight. Even when I was pregnant, I only gained twenty-four pounds. I never thought my occasionally gorging on pecan pralines or a half loaf of French toast was a problem. Especially since I’ve run since I was in eighth grade and I’m still going strong.
The truth, however, is that regular high doses of sugar (or any simple carbs) stress the body badly. They cause chronic, invisible damage in the form of inflammation, hormone imbalances, and eventual metabolic upheaval. I always figured I could just eliminate a dessert or two here and there to make up for my binges. Learning the real damage sugar can cause, however, changed everything. I now walk past the treat table in the teachers’ lounge like a spiritual ascetic on her way to a thirty day silent retreat and fast.
Same thing with procrastination and laziness: they’re not in charge anymore (although they still show up from time to time.) That shift came when I was assigned to co-teach with a colleague who was extraordinarily organized and busy. He never cajoled or judged me on anything, he simply shared his work with me and the veil over my eyes dropped. I learned that a free moment here and there during the work day could be spent prepping for future work days. Painlessly. The better I got at it, the further into the future my plans went. Effortlessly. And if I saved my work appropriately, it would be there for subsequent years if I taught the course again. That practice of using random free time to prep for the future has stuck. In fact, the earlier I do something now, the less it feels like work. No matter what it is.
The idea that I actually can pass up sweets or deny the urge to put off work never occurred to me until I learned how or why. Just the knowledge that sugar causes real problems in the body (not merely the cosmetic concerns of a few extra pounds) was monumental. Same thing with procrastination. When I saw someone model the type of behaviors I needed to incorporate, I realized I could do it, too. In a way that was realistic and sustainable.
A recent article I read shed some light on the reasons people struggle with various self-destructive behaviors. It stated that people eat poorly, fail classes, or put off important projects because they run into barriers. Not because they’re “self-sabotagers.” They very often hate their inability to accomplish the goals that elude them. Change is coveted, but they just don’t know what the first step is or where to get help. Sure, there can be other reasons for poor results. But for those who really want to succeed and can’t, curiosity may be a better way to meet the challenge. Look for the barriers that others may not see; the ones unique to your life. Then you can take effective action when you’ve worked through them.
5. All successfully solved problems are the result of paradigm shifts.
This is just a personal theory, but that’s how all big change starts: with an inkling. A “wait a minute…” A pause long enough to notice something is different. It may just be a hypothesis at this point, but I’m going to go with it. I’m going to approach the next wall I run into as a “how am I seeing this wrong” moment instead of a “what am I doing wrong” one. Instead of waiting for paradigm shifts to happen, I’m going seek them out. Everywhere.
I’ll let you know how it works.