The Golden Girls is on USA network for the 1,350,318 time this week and you are jonesing to watch some (I’m not sure if the USA network even exists anymore as we do not have cable nor a TV in our house). You stay up and watch several hours worth, getting you in bed just in time to get 7 hours of sleep—that is, of course, if you sprint from the time you wake up until your work day starts. A stress-inducing drive awaits you as well as you scramble to get there on time. Unfortunately, you already lost. You, my friend, are a loser.
The good news is that you only lost for that day and, likely, the next. You now do not have time to make an adequate breakfast, so you will streamline some premade disaster either at work or on the way, it will taste good, but you will feel terrible afterwards when your body realizes you fed it junk to start the day, and your brain will be confused as to why you fed it nutrient-spare Soylent Green, signaling to it that today will be a loser. You will be hungry all morning, likely dive into the junk food your coworkers pick at all day while telling you they just can’t lose weight. You will then wash that down with some premade salad that has been sitting in the refrigerator bin at the coffee shop for four days with dried out and leathery lettuce drenched in soybean oil sludge masquerading as olive oil. This will also leave you hungry and snacking all afternoon. Forget the gym as you already pounded down a solid day’s worth of garbage and feel like it. That session of Golden Girls seems to be the gift that keeps on giving.
The good news is that there are lots of chances to win and lose. In fact, all day long we can set ourselves up to be either winners and losers. There are the finite games—those short term games that are generally worthless in the grand scheme of things and can lead to greed, envy, and lots of wasted time. Then there are infinite games—those games with no end, but of vital importance, like learning, striving for optimal health, embracing discomfort, living an Intentional Lifestyle, being good to others when nobody is looking, etc. When we live an examined life, where we contemplate our actions, see the result of the things we do, question what we are told by others, society, the media, and our political “leaders”, we realize that playing the infinite game is the key to a fulfilling and successful life, and generally ignoring the finite games helps in this pursuit. You also realize that the finite games often lead us to spend more money, so those same sources that incorrectly tell us how to live our lives will nearly always push the finite games to trap us in the consumption cycle.
In reality, our work schedules surrounded by the multitude of distractions can make simple things difficult enough. Thus, if we are not setting ourselves up for success (or avoidance of the disasters) we are setting ourselves up for disaster. For instance, if your job requires you to be at a desk all day, answer emails, create PowerPoints about nothing, sit in meetings to discuss future meetings where people use words like “granular” and “circle back” and just generally work in a cage-like existence, effort is needed from the start to rewire this setup to make your existence more human. You need a standing desk, possible a blue light if you have no window, a kettle bell to get some swings in during the day, and certainly a prepared lunch in some non-plastic containers to avoid the mouse feed hanging around the office.
Each day is almost like a Pavlovian response, starting from the second you wake up. Setting yourself up to win for the day with a real, nutrient dense breakfast that you actually created signals to your brain that is is time to get going and today, we are going for the win. Much like Michael Jordan clapping and spreading his hands through the air with baby powder before each game, your brain receives the signal loud and clear—it is go time. An instant nutrient sparse Soylent Green breakfast does the exact opposite, signaling instantly available food, ultimate convenience, and not to worry—minimal nutrients are needed to sit around and run on a half tank all day.
In other words, you lost right out of the gates. And you lost because you set your set up for defeat. You told your body to lose, and it followed your direction.
Life is a series of wins and losses, of finite and infinite games. Are you setting yourself up for victory of the latter, or letting the former derail you? The good news is that you decide the games you play, and better yet, you are in control of the outcomes.
Set yourself up to be a winner.
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