If you’re reading this, chances are you want to improve some aspect of your health and fitness. Chances are that you don’t need a reminder on WHY consistent exercise or quality food choices or any number of “healthy habits” are good for you. Chances are you are looking for how to make living a healthier lifestyle a little bit…easier.
We get it. Easy sounds manageable. A lot of us have wished for “easy” at some point — or at least not requiring so much effort: earning money, having meaningful relationships, being successful at work, being our healthiest selves… the list stretches into nearly every area of life. “Easy” by definition is “something that can be achieved without effort.” Easy is comfortable. Easy is alluring.
So why, then, are we so determined to remind you how important, how necessary it is to adopt the principle of “keeping it SIMPLE, but NOT EASY” — especially when it comes to your fitness, nutrition, and any healthy lifestyle plan or habits?
It’s because “easy” isn’t how our brains are actually wired — whether for growth OR happiness in our lives. “Easy” doesn’t truly deliver the results we are looking for.
Instead of wishing for (or expecting) results that come easily, what if you aimed for SIMPLE?
But aren’t “easy” and “simple” the same thing? Not even close.
Simple can be described as “uncomplicated or easily understood.” This does NOT mean easily achieved or achieved without effort.
With fitness and nutrition, the difference between simple and easy gets confused often. Like the mistaken belief that in order to get “real” results — and sustain them — the plan you implement or the program you follow will only work if it’s complex (complicated), time-consuming, and/or expensive.
We have heard this confusion even around the Street Parking program: “Because anyone can do Street Parking, it MUST be too easy for me.” Or “This nutrition approach is too simple — it will never work.” Or “No way that workouts can be effective with just dumbbells. Not challenging enough.”
Believing that complicated equals more effective is not just a myth, it’s a trap. A trap that perpetuates the “all or nothing” mentality. A trap that can keep you from the very progress or results or lifestyle that you desire.
So you want changes. You want results. You want to give this “simple, but not easy” approach a try.
HOW?
- Chase CONSISTENCY. Above all else. Always.
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Find opportunities to grow and CHALLENGE yourself wherever you can.
These two principles are the foundation of the “Simple, Not Easy” mindset and habits that build the great — and lasting — results in our fitness, nutrition, and lifestyle that so many of us are seeking.
Let’s unpack what we mean, why it’s essential, and how this can look in your life.
#1: CHASE CONSISTENCY through ALL seasons of life.
Consistency is the secret that no one wants to hear. Yet, you probably know that years worth of consistency is not necessarily easy.
Have you ever considered that maybe the reason it’s been hard to build or maintain consistency is because you’re NOT keeping it SIMPLE?
Simplicity is a must for consistency. When it comes to fitness, nutrition, or overall lifestyle choices, keeping things simple means you will be able to follow through with your habits or goals under almost any circumstance.
> If you are attached to the belief that your workout MUST happen at a specific location, with specific equipment, take a certain amount of time, or be a multiple part session with percentage work — this is no longer simple.
> If you are attached to a nutrition plan that is complex, timing-based, where you must “weigh and measure” everything, with minimal food options but maximum restrictions — this is not simple.
Let’s be clear: it doesn’t mean seasons where you might have the time or the means to choose complex or time-consuming are wrong. It’s about considering your belief about what’s NEEDED for the results you desire and what’s sustainable.
Because at some point in your life, it might be a stage or an entire season, your ability to execute an elaborate daily routine WILL be challenged. This means your ability to be extremely consistent will ALSO be challenged.
Are you willing to change your mind — to simplify your belief — that fitness doesn’t have to look a certain way?
— If you have enough room to do burpees or if you have a set of stairs, congratulations! You have a “gym.”
— If you have a backpack, you have a ruck.
— If you have 10 minutes, you have time to move.
Sure, these all might look easy, but does that mean the ability for a habit to be performed under any circumstances makes it easy?
Of course not.
"10 minutes to move? Psh."
Take a moment: Think about a time when you’ve traveled and the flight's been canceled for the third time, or when your kid has been up half the night with a sickness, or when YOU've been up half the night sleepless, or when a family emergency or a crisis or one of THOSE days at work happened ... A 10-minute ruck or a few rounds of air squats and push ups on that kind of day is simple, but not necessarily easy.
Focusing on SIMPLE habits that you can do CONSISTENTLY will not only get “easier” — it will bring a lifetime of value. (Not to mention the very real value of the mental boost that helps you through one of “those” days we just talked about.)
So really is it just about keeping it SIMPLE?
Not quite. The second principle is the difference maker, the separator. The “NOT EASY” part means you have a mindset, a willingness, to find the opportunity to CHALLENGE YOURSELF.
Before you say “ugh, no thanks. Things are hard enough,” read Part 2 to unpack why this is key and what challenging yourself can look like. It might not be what you think.
