You're probably reading this article because you have an interest in your personal health. Fair assumption? Because those that don't have the same interest are probably nursing a hangover.
When I talk with clients about the Domino Effect it relates more so to their health & fitness 'life'. For those who don't know what the Domino Effect is, it refers to changing one simple task or habit in your life to then encourage a flow on effect of another positive event, which encourages another one and so on. This can be as simple as waking up as soon as your alarm goes off, not snoozing. Do this for a week and watch how much your life starts to change. Do you often sleep through your alarm or hit snooze, only to find you miss a gym session, late for work, skip breakfast, are rushed and you forget something? All of this can be changed by changing one thing. Not hitting snooze.
Now, with that said, if you're waking up tired, you may need to hop back a few dominoes to see what else you can change in the hours or days prior to make sure you're not waking up tired. Things like;
- getting to bed earlier
- meditating
- having breakfast prepared
- no sugar late at night
- taking magnesium if you're deficient
- and the most simple one, don't hit snooze
So, now, for the next week, you're not hitting snooze, and therefore you're making it to an extra 2-3 gym sessions this week and moving forward, what positive impact will that have on your health & fitness? What else will start to change now that you're getting to the gym an extra 2-3 times each week? You'll burn an extra 600-1200 calories per week, give or take? So over the next year, by adding 2-3 gym sessions per week to your routine, because you've chosen not to hit snooze, you're now burning an extra 31,200-62,400 calories per year!!!
NOW: If 7,700 calories (rough) burned = 1 kg of body weight lost, then 77,000 calories burned means you'll lose those 10 kilos you would like to lose.
Pretty simple isn't it? So now because you're not hitting the snooze button, you've now lost your 10 kilos, or depending on your personal goals, haven't put any body weight on, which is the place I'd rather be at. Training hard means more calories in for no weight gain. Building lean muscle mass means more calories burned by your efficient machine! Nice place to be ;)
So, your first domino may be the snooze button, or you may be fine with that and you get up on your alarm every single day, so you need to now look for your next domino to knock over. Where's your block coming from now?
Do you have a perfect start to your day up until 2pm, then it all starts to fall apart? So what domino can we push over somewhere prior to this point so that at 2pm, what was once a roadblock has now been removed and you continue on effortlessly and your day becomes even better than before!
If your 2pm downfall is chocolate or biscuits or lollies, then maybe in the morning before you leave for work you can make up your own trail mix of nuts, seeds and maybe some dried fruits to satisfy your urge to snack at that time. Or even better, take an extra small meal to eat then. You're not actually hungry, you're bored and you've developed a habit which you now need to break.
Focus your time and energy on changing this kink in the chain and watch the other positive flow on effects that occur as a result. That 2pm chocolate binge also prevents that 9/10pm chocolate binge and that's the flow on effect we're looking for!
So, as you can see, one positive change in your life can have a drastic improvement on the rest of your life and can lead into a wide number of other positive changes.
Find the domino you need to push first to ensure the rest fall down in order and your life flips back up the right way.
Stay healthy,
Liam