Episode 663: Simplicity Is a Health Practice

0:00We often assume that health, improving our health, requires more, more knowledge, more tracking, more optimization, more discipline. But the women I've watched thrive over many years of coaching are not always the ones with the most sophisticated approach or the approach of adding more. They're often the ones who have simplified enough to actually follow through. Welcome to your daily hit of Grace and grit, your quick dose of inspiration to kickstart your day. I'm Courtney Townley and here is today's hit. Modern life comes with a staggering amount of cognitive load. Right, the decisions, the information, the management of a complicated existence, all draw from the same finite pool of mental and emotional bandwidth. And by the time many women get to the moment of choosing whether to exercise, cook a real meal or go to bed at a reasonable hour, that pool is nearly empty.

1:11The conversational response to this is to add more structure, right? More tracking, more planning, more sophisticated systems, and sometimes that is what's needed. I'm not saying that's never a thing. But I do want to suggest that for a lot of women, the answer is not more structure. It's less complexity. It's removing some things from there to do list. It's honoring the reality of their capacity given everything that life is showing up, giving them right now or delivering to them right now. A simpler approach that actually happens is infinitely more valuable than an optimized approach that never quite gets started. I'm getting tongue tied. I've been recording podcast episodes all morning. So simplicity in a health practice doesn't necessarily mean doing less.

2:17It means removing the decisions that are eating your bandwidth without producing meaningful results. It means having a small number of non-negotiables that you protect fiercely, rather than a long list of intentions that compete with each other for your limited energy. It means choosing consistency over novelty. The workout you actually do three times a week beats the perfect workout you do twice a month when you're feeling motivated. It means recognizing that your environment is doing a significant amount of the work before you ever make a conscious decision. Your brain loves the path of least resistance. When the path of least resistance leads towards health, you don't need as much willpower to stay on track. But when your environment is set up to lead you away from health, willpower alone is never enough for very long. So I've had to go through so many seasons where I've had to simplify my own health practices.

3:20I actually talk about this a lot in my book, right? In fact, one of the examples I give is a couple of years ago, my dad went through a very major brain surgery as a sort of a, I don't want to say solution, but as a supplement to help him better manage his Parkinson's, he elected to have a DBS system implanted in his brain. Which basically is their electrodes that they place on certain parts of the brain is called deep brain stimulation, thus DBS. And it helps to control his tremors and it helps significantly. But man was it a lot to nurse him back into a state of health. And I had to radically change the way that I was living my own life at the time to be able to show up for him in that way. So discipline is not always a healthy thing.

4:25And I say that because that same scenario I could have shown up really disciplined around all the things that I typically do to take care of myself. And that would not have made me healthier. It would have, it would have caused me to break. What predicts long term health behavior more reliably than either knowledge or willpower or discipline. Is having a simple enough process that the healthy choice is easy to make. And I know some people hear that and they think they're lowering their standards. And that's not what it's about. It's about having the self knowledge to design your days in a way that your standards can actually be met. That is self leadership at its most practical complexity is seductive. That's true. It's sexy at times. It feels like progress sometimes.

5:30But in health as in most things, the basics done consistently will almost always outperform the sophisticated approach done sporadically. So where in your health practice could you remove a layer rather than add one. How could you make something simpler so you will actually show up for it more often. What would become easier if it was more simple start there. This is exactly the kind of foundational thinking inside of my book the consistency code. If you want to grab a free chapter head on over to GraysonGrit.com forward slash free chapter. If this stirred something inside of you, imagine what a whole book of clarity and courage could ignite. The consistency code, a midlife woman's guide to deep health and happiness goes even deeper into the mindset and practices that create real meaningful change at midlife.

6:36Grab your copy today over at the consistency code.com and keep the momentum alive.