Simplicity Is Beautiful

My thoughts this week are short and simple, it’s fitting because I am talking about simplicity. I think simplicity in life is very important and many times we get extremely overwhelmed by all that we have going on. We have a tendency to make small things very complicated which makes our lives more difficult and less productive. There are times to make things complex and put a ton of time and energy into them, but most of the time taking the simple route is likely the best.

Nutrition

In the case of diet and exercise simplicity is something we need to get back to. Throughout a given week I typically hear of about 10 new thoughts on nutrition. Sometimes they are about certain vitamins that we need to be getting more of or a certain food that we need to stop eating. Other times I hear about new diets that are out and how amazing they are. People place so much attention on the little nuances of their diet that they lose sight of what they are truly trying to accomplish.

My advice is to take a more simple approach and live by these two proverbs. The first is to eat foods that come from the ground. Obviously this is fruits and vegetables, while also including animals. If the majority of the food you eat came from the ground, all will be well. Sure its great to start drinking kombucha tea and eating cultured vegetables, but this in the end will likely make things very complex and confusing for you. Just eat food that originated from the ground and dodge the foods that were made in a factory.

The second is to eat like a king for breakfast, a queen for lunch and a peasant for dinner. The majority of people eat in the reverse order and this is where we start to run into weight issues. Forget about all of these crazy diets and just flip your eating patterns to having a heavy breakfast, a medium lunch and a light dinner. Obviously I recommend some snacks in there as well.

Exercise

The exercise field has gotten incredibly complicated in recent years. The “functional” and “core” training talk started up and we started to see stability balls, BOSU balls, kettle bells, balance boards and every other type of exercise product you can think of. While these tools are mostly good and effective, people use them incorrectly. When  I say incorrectly I am talking about how they look at the equipment. Instead of utilizing these tools to supplement their workouts, many people design the workout around the equipment. An example would be someone trying to design an entire workout around the stability ball as opposed to the stability ball just making its way into a few exercises. Things get complicated when you look at a piece of a equipment and think “What all can I do with this” instead of thinking “What exercise is next” and then deciding if adding something such as a stability ball to the exercise would make it better.

My point is that you need to get back to a basic level and design your workouts around you as opposed to how many different gadgets you can use in each workout. The fact that you can stand one legged on a BOSU ball and do bicep curls may be cool in your mind but is it really benefitting you? Realize what you need to accomplish each workout and then figure out where those extra tools can help. You should utilize your time towards the most effective exercises.

Your Purpose?

I think we make life in general far too complicated and need to start getting back to basics. People get so worked up about the tiniest of things and act like they are life changing when in fact you will forget about them in a week. Remember what your main purpose of your life is (everyones is different) and execute everyday towards that purpose. By doing that you will start to cut out a lot of the nonsense that we get caught up in.