Make It Easy

Yesterday we talked about one of the methods James Clear teaches in Atomic Habits for building better habits: Make It Obvious

• Put the fruit where you can see it

• Put the healthy food front and center in the fridge

• Put your walking shoes by the door

• Leave your yoga mat out where you’ll see it

In other words — give yourself little visual reminders of the person you’re trying to become.

But there’s another part of building habits that I think is JUST as important.

Make It Easy!

Because let’s face it... we humans are pretty good at taking the path of least resistance. We’re lazy!

And I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing! So instead of fighting it...

Why not use it to our advantage?

Using Dr. Ornish’s 4 pillars again, let’s start with food.

Big Batches

I mentioned this yesterday, but this is probably one of the biggest things you can do to make healthy eating EASY.

• Cook a big pot of potatoes

• Make a big batch of rice

• Cook some beans

• Make a pot of chili or soup

Now when you’re hungry, you don’t have to start cooking from scratch. Half the work is already done. And THAT is important because when I’m hungry — I want to eat NOW - not 45 minutes from now.

And when you’re hangry…. well…. we know what happens and it’s usually not good.

Prep Ahead

• Wash and chop your vegetables when you bring them home

• Slice up some carrots and celery

• Chop an onion

• Wash your lettuce

• Make a batch of hummus

• Make a sauce or dressing

Again, you’re removing steps between “I’m hungry” and “I’m eating something healthy.”

Keep Some Ridiculously Easy Meals Around

As I have been showing you, not every meal has to be a recipe.

• A baked potato with some leftover chili

• Rice, beans, salsa, and avocado

• Toast and hummus

• A frozen veggie burger and some frozen vegetables

Whatever works for you.

There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with having 3 or 4 super-simple meals that you make over and over again. In fact, I think that makes eating this way a whole lot easier.

Use Convenience Foods!

• Frozen vegetables are already washed and chopped

• Canned beans are already cooked

• Microwaveable rice is already... well... microwaveable

Is cooking everything yourself from scratch cheaper? Probably. But if spending an extra dollar or two means you’re going to actually EAT the broccoli instead of ordering a pizza... I’d call that money well spent.

The goal isn’t to make eating healthy HARD - it’s to make it EASY.

The exact same thing applies to exercise. You already know I’ve tried just about everything.

• Walking

• Walking pad

• Rebounder

• Elliptical

• VR

• And now DDP Yoga

Here’s something I’ve learned about myself. The more steps there are between me and exercising... the less likely I am to do it.

If I have to drive somewhere? That’s a step. Change clothes? Another step. Find my shoes? Another step. Set something up? Another step.

And every one of those steps gives my brain another chance to say... “Forget it. Maybe tomorrow.”

So remove as many steps as possible.

Start Small

This is a BIG one.

• You don’t have to exercise for an hour

• You don’t even have to exercise for 30 minutes!

• Walk for 5

• Bounce on the rebounder for 2

• Do 10 minutes of yoga

The goal in the beginning isn’t to become an athlete - it’s to become the kind of person who exercises.

You can always add more later.

Exercise at Home

If getting to a gym is keeping you from exercising, don’t go to a gym.

• Walk around the block

• Use a walking pad

• Put on a YouTube video

• Do some yoga in the living room

• Garden

• Dance

Whatever gets you moving.

Pick Something You Actually LIKE.

This one seems obvious, but how many times do we force ourselves to do an exercise we absolutely HATE because somebody told us it was the “best” exercise?

The best exercise is the one you’ll actually DO.

Bottom Line

We have this strange tendency to think that if something is good for us... it should be hard.

• Healthy eating HAS to involve hours of meal prep

• Exercise HAS to leave us all sweaty and exhausted

• Changing our life HAS to use enormous amounts of willpower and discipline

But what if it doesn’t?

What if instead of asking... “How can I make myself do this?” ...we started asking... “How can I make this easier?”

Buy the frozen vegetables. Use the canned beans. Eat the leftovers. Walk for five minutes. Exercise in your pajamas if you want to. Do ONE DDP Yoga workout instead of worrying about the entire program.

Every obstacle you remove makes it just a little more likely that you’ll actually DO the thing. And doing the thing... again... and again... and again...

That’s how we become consistent.

Yesterday we made it OBVIOUS.

Today... LET’S MAKE IT EASY.