Being human is a funny business.  Sometimes I think that there’s a bizarre joke being played on us because every day we’re faced with choices – the hard choice versus the easy choice.  And…the more I learn about life the more I’ve come to believe that the hard choices are the best ones.  The hard choices are what’s good for us.  The hard choices make our lives better…in the end.  The easy choices…well…those are often quite harmful to the health of our planet, our community & to us.

Our modern lifestyle makes this choice between hard & easy quite difficult.  Because modern life is all about making things easier, more convenient & less work, we are encouraged, manipulated & sometimes even forced into taking the easy choice.

Here are some examples of easy versus hard choices:

• Dependence on convenient calories (dining out, packaged products) versus Cooking using basic ingredients, meal prep, meal planning
• Lots of screen time (TV, Facebook, YouTube) versus Limiting screentime (setting alarms, turning off notifications, shutting down devices before bedtime)
• Jumping into the car versus Walking, commuting by bike, combining multiple errands into a single car trip
• Too much alcohol versus Limiting to 1-2 drinks, drinking alcohol only on weekends, drinking more water
• Minimal to no structure versus Prioritizing what needs to be done (not what you want to do), time blocking (for more info on this, watch my Live), staying on task
• Skipping weights, flexibility, mobility versus Creating a long-term, well-rounded approach addressing all aspects of health & wellness
• Multitasking versus Maintaining focus on a single thing in a distraction-free environment
• Looking for A Diet, A Product, A Pill to achieve your goal versus Making small daily habit changes that, over time, bring you ever closer to your goal

Here’s one for you athletes out there.

• Buying a new workout gadget versus Using that new gadget’s info to make adjustments & changes to your exercise plan

I’ll admit to definitely struggling with this last one.  As you may know, a little over 1 yr ago I purchased an Oura Ring.  It’s shiny, it’s sleek, it’s full of biometric tracking technology…in short, it’s REALLY cool!  Buying it was the easy choice.  The hard choices come on an almost weekly basis.  About 1x per week my Readiness Score will be quite low.  (A side note:  After a year+ of seeing how my lifestyle habits affect my Readiness Score, I can now identify the 3 variables that negatively affect me – alcohol, sugar…which then lead to poor sleep.)  And, that low Readiness Score presents me with a choice.  Do I heed its recommendation & take a Rest Day?  Or do I ignore the data & work out anyway?  Such a tough choice!!

When I first started wearing the ring, I tended to ignore it.  I took the easy choice…I worked out regardless.  But, then I started to see how working out in a fatigued state began to spiral downward.  Each day I continued to work out I would end up with a worse Readiness Score.  Not to mention that I also saw my sleep metrics negatively affected by my increasing fatigue!

It was after a particularly bad stretch of this decreasing Readiness that I finally asked myself why I had purchased the ring in the first place.  If I wasn’t going to pay attention to its data, why did I buy it…and even more so, why was I wearing it?  From that point on I decided to make the hard choices.  I decided that, if my Readiness Score was below a certain threshold, I would take a Rest Day…no matter what.  It was a really good choice.  My workouts, my recovery, my body has thanked me for making that difficult choice.

Does it ever get easier (pun totally intended!) to make the hard choices?  Although I have found that setting a threshold has helped me stay true to my intentions, I wouldn’t say that it’s substantially easier to skip my workout.  I still look at the data & hesitate.  The thought of “It won’t hurt…just this once…to ignore the data” often crosses my mind.  But, in the end, I know that I’ll be better off if I take the Rest Day.  I know that my NEXT workout will be awesome because I chose to rest.  That’s what keeps me on track!

To help you make those hard choices, here’s a quote to ponder:

When determining the size or complexity of a new habit ask yourself, ‘What can I stick to—even on my worst day?’

Start there.  Master the art of showing up.  Then advance. James Clear

Good luck, everyone!  I wish you all the hard choices you can handle!