shiny objects distract us from our goal
You've been training with kettlebells and suddenly you hear from your friend about how barbells are just so much better. And you want to shift to barbell training.
You've been eating your traditional foods and tweaking your plate to include more vegetables and less grain. But then someone tells you about how the paleo diet is the answer to everything you've always dreamed of. And you obviously want to shift to a paleo diet.
shiny objects have their place though
Shiny objects can derail us.
Shiny objects can confuse us, even when we are on the right path.
Shiny objects can make us spin our wheels more.
But they have their place though. Instead of getting too anal or puritanical about things, we can look at them as a means to an end.
The textbook solution to long-term health and fitness might be sensible strength training, eating like an adult and proper sleep. But that's too far beyond most of us when we are starting off. It certainly was beyond me. I assumed that things had to be a lot more complicated than they actually were.
something fun. And more importantly, I needed to find something fun to do. I needed something that would make me jump out of bed. Something I would look forward to everyday. That's how I found CrossFit. Not a long-term solution for me but for close to 2 years, it was an integral part of my life. And continues to be one of my best experiences.
or a slap in the face. That's how I found going gluten-free and sugar-free more than a decade ago. It was an abrupt change in how I was going about things. I needed to drastically change how I was eating. This worked so much better than a sustainable change for me - it made me realise I had the willpower to do this. It also made me re-think my diet i.e. it actually made me think about what I was eating.
as a means to an end
Shiny objects are a means to an end.
Today, shiny objects will not derail and distract me. But that's because over 10+ years, I've figured out what is a path for me in health, fitness and nutrition.
When you are on the long-term solution, everything flips. The rules change.
But for the short-term, to find our switch, to find our jolt - shiny objects can be useful.
Slowly, I've stopped thinking of most things as good vs bad.
Not only is that liberating but it has been powerful in finding the right tool for the right job when I coach.