Stacking the Deck

For a long period of time I took on a super spartan regime of training. I would have 3 hard boiled eggs and a glass of milk for breakfast every day. I would also train using some open air gym equipment at my local park. During this workout I would always wear shorts and a t shirt even if it was -5 degrees. Sometimes I would even avoid listening to music to make it more austere.

What was I thinking?

Like a lot of men I equated being in good shape with sacrifice. You couldn’t do it without suffering. This philosophy came vaguely through movies I liked and people on social media. It also chimes with the whole protestant work ethic which seems to applaud joyless struggle. At the time, I didn’t exercise the kind of critical thinking skills that allow you to see the real from the propaganda and misinformation.

If I had thought critically, I would have realised that these fitness binges came and always seemed to be followed by actual food binges and laziness. It wasn’t sustainable. What I should have been considering was this:

How can I make this as easy and enjoyable as possible?

Despite recent posts about my weight and my fascination with training montages I have actually maintained good health for a long time because I have eaten food that I like and trained in a way that I liked.

I always have a good playlist that I like if I am doing strength training and I always have an interesting podcast if I am doing some jogging or skipping. Further to this I make sure that I eat food that I enjoy and make sure that I eat the maximum amount of food that I can get away with and still be healthy. There is rarely any serious internal struggle to get myself working out or eating right because they are all things that I want to do.

This had led me to think about blogging. What things make blogging easier and more enjoyable and stack the deck in terms of me actually doing it and doing it well. Here are a few ideas:

• Make some notes to help you. You will not feel that dread of what do I write next.
• Write these notes long before the post time. This way you will naturally find that you develop your ideas and mentally edit as you go.
• Have a nice beverage next to you that you can drink.
• If you are working with distracting noises put in some headphones.
• Have something you are excited to write about.
• Have your computer ready the night before maybe even with your post page loaded.

The kind of things that you do to stack the deck fall into two categories:

1. The types of things that make you feel good about what you are doing – like a nice drink, nice music.
2. The kinds of things that stop you getting distracted and allow you to do the next thing quickly. In cookery there is the concept of mise-en-place. Putting everything you need nearby so you can do things. I find that if I don’t have everything in place that I increase the odds of myself getting distracted or avoiding the work because it all seems like too much. Workmen often carry tool belts where they can quickly grab the right tool and not waste time fetching different objects.

Which makes me think more broadly – how can I apply this to other areas of my life like teaching or learning to code? How can I make this process as easy and enjoyable as possible and improve the odds of things working out.