All meaningful change starts with a decision.

A moment where what’s happening right now, simply isn’t good enough.

It’s not right. It’s off. It’s misaligned. It leaves you consistently feeling like there was just that one other thing missing that would have made it better.

The part that sucks is generally - you know what it is.

What the missing link is. The activity, the decision, the choice in the moment you wish was made differently.

And in that moment, and every moment like it, you get to choose.

Do you continue to wish you had done that one thing differently.

Or do you actually do it differently the next time.

That’s where this idea comes in:

You're not who you think you are. You're who you practice being.

The gap between those 2 things is often what causes the most personal pain and frustration.

The further it is, the more you feel like you’re watching your life from the observation deck.

But the closer they are - that’s the magic.

So how do you close the gap?

2 things, really, that are much simpler to write than they are to do:

1. Make the decision that now is the time to remove ‘good enough’, and steer towards great.

2. Create a system to foster the discipline required to get there.

Here are a few examples:

Time:
A common issue with working out as a dad, is finding the time. And often when it’s thought about as ‘finding’ it - it can be REALLY hard to find.

Instead, we need to create it. And that could mean waking up early, staying up late, not watching one more episode of [whatever] and working out instead.

Regardless of the ‘how’, it’s the act of sacrificing something (sleep, tv, etc.) for an action of health.

SOME people, can go cold turkey, and change their routine on a whim. And while that’s great - it’s not the majority. The majority need slow steps to move their body in the right direction. Here are 3 to try:

1. Slow adjustment: If you want to get up an hour earlier to work out, start by moving your daily alarm back 5-10 minutes a day until you get there. If you usually wake up at 7, wake up at 6:55, then 6:50, etc. until you get there. It’s less of a shock to the body, and it’s pretty easy to rationalize ‘5’ minutes.

2. Habit stacking: Add one more step to an already defined routine. If you used to get up, walk the dog, have coffee and then shower. Between the dog & coffee, throw in 5 minutes of pushups. If you always prep your kids school lunches, prep your protein filled breakfast at the same time. Etc.

3. Schedule it: As a dad, my life revolves around my calendar. Sports, play dates, work events, etc. If it’s not on the family calendar, it doesn’t happen. Fitness and working out are like this too. Communicate with your family that you’ll be creating some time to workout - and put it on the calendar, and treat it like any other formal obligation.

Access to equipment/a gym:
Another common objection is ‘well I don’t have a gym membership’ or ‘I don’t have a fancy home gym like all those instagram bros’.

That’s ok - here’s a list of random household items you can use to work out:

• A chair: step ups, pushups (incline or decline), one leg squats

• A bookbag (full of stuff): ruck sack for hikes, cleans/ground over shoulder, kettlbell

• A wall: balancing for squats, one leg RDLs

• Shoes: running, walking, sprinting, jumping, jump rope, etc.

Are some weights a nice to have? Yes. Hit up facebook marketplace for some old dumbbells and kettlebells. Call gyms and ask to buy old equipment. etc.

Motivation:
Are you listening to this one? This one’s important.

Motivation can’t be relied on. It’s fleeting, and comes about when the situation is ideal. When you have the time, the energy, you slept well, ate well, etc. That’s when it’s easy to be motivated to do… basically anything.

But what about when you’re tired? When it’s dark outside? When work has been crazy AND the kids are going through a sleep regression?

That’s where it HAS to be discipline within a system.

Set for yourself some non negotiable standards such as:

• On planned workout days, you MUST move for 30 minutes.
  And be ok if this means a stroller walk, a kid jog, playing chase, etc. instead of a ‘workout’. But commit to ‘movement’

• Prioritize protein in your diet
  No diet is perfect, especially when you’ve got back to back kid birthday parties and all they have is cake and pizza. But promise yourself that if there’s protein around, you’ll prioritize that first

• Do something that makes yourself proud
  This one is unique to you. Make sure that when you sit down to write in the journal tomorrow, what you’ll write will make your ‘future self’ proud of you. A choice you made, a kind thing you said, movement and time you created, a lesson you taught your little ones. Feed the positivity, even in imperfection.

If you think you are a morning person, who works out and can adapt to any situation (i.e. available equipment) - this is how you practice being exactly that.

Workouts

6 workouts to mix and match this week

Equipment: The goal is to need as little as possible. The below workouts involve at most, a single weight (kettlebell/dumbbell or in some cases even a backpack full of books will do), and some cardio (running, jump rope, indoor cycle, whatever is most convenient for you)

Duration: Almost all of these can be done in under 30 minutes from warm up to finish.

Categories: These 6 workouts are split between 3 strength and 3 cardio focus.

“Do I have to do all 6 of them?”: No. Do more than 0. If you can do 6, great.. If you have time for 1, great - put all your effort into that one. These are designed to be mixed and matched in any order or volume based on your schedule.

Workout 1 - Lower body strength focus

• Strength:

  • 1 dumbbell or kettlebell

  • 4 sets of 8 reps each

    • Front rack front squat (4 each side)

    • Single leg RDL (8 each side)

    • Front rack split squat (8 each side)

• Workout:

  • Reps: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

    • Dead lifts (one arm at a time)

    • Front rack lunge (each leg)

    • Burpees

    • (Sorry, this one is going to hurt)

Workout 2 - Zone 2 cardio (Run)

• Warm-up: 5 minute walk or slow jog

• Workout: 25-30 minutes zone 2 running

  • (180-age = max heart rate for Z2)

Workout 3 - Fully body strength focus

• 100m farmers carry (heaviest DB or KB weight you have)

• 10 burpees

• 10 thrusters per arm (something light enough to do each 10 straight)

• 10 bent over rows (each arm)

Workout 4 - Interval cardio

• Warm-up: 5 minute walk or slow jog

• Workout: 4 times

  • 4 minutes Z2 movement

  • 2 minutes hard effort

Workout 5 - Upper body strength focus

• Strength

  • 1 dumbbell or kettlebell

  • 5 sets of 5 reps each

    • Single arm clean & press

    • Bent over row

    • v-up sit-up

• Workout

  • 5 sets

    • 10 kettlebell/dumbbell swings

    • 5 snatches (per arm)

    • 5 clean & press

    • 5 lunges

    • 5 front squats

Workout 6 - Zone 2 cardio (variation)

• Warm-up: 5 minute walk or slow movement

• Workout: 25-30 minutes zone 2 cardio (try to pick an alternative to running such as swimming, cycling as available)

  • (180-age = max heart rate for Z2)

Featured recipe

Sweet potato, Chickpea and Chicken

This recipe comes directly from Chef de Home (link here). It takes less than ~20minutes to throw together and cook (outside the chicken), tastes awesome, and if you add extra chicken (as I did below) can be ~60g of protein per serving. Eat it for lunch & dinner and boom, that’s 120g right there.

Ingredients:

Roasted Sweet Potato Chickpea Salad

• 3-4lb chicken breast

• 3 cans Chickpeas (15.5 oz can of cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed)

• 1.5 lb Sweet Potato

• 1 Cup Feta Cheese (crumbled)

• 1 Cup Green Onion (thin sliced, white and green)

• 2 tbsp Pickled Jalapeno (small chopped, See Note 2)

• 1 Cup Fresh Herbs (1/2 Parsley, 1/2 Basil, fresh leaves, rough chopped)

• 1 tsp Paprika (medium paprika)

• 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

• 1/2 tsp Salt

Salad Dressing

• 1/4 Cup Lemon (juice)

• 1/2 Cup Olive Oil (divided)

• 2 tsp Cumin Powder (preferably toasted and ground)

• 1 tbsp Garlic (3–4 cloves of garlic, minced)

• 1/2 tsp Oregano (dried)

• 1 tsp Salt and Black Pepper (half and half)

Instructions

• Cook and prepare chicken how you prefer: I like to sous vide it at 138 for ~2 hours and then pan sear. But a grill, or skillet will do just fine.

• Preheat Oven: Preheat oven to 425 °F. Spray a large baking sheet (sheet pan) with cooking oil spray. Set aside.

• Prepare Sweet Potato: Clean and scrub sweet potato. Slice into ½‑inch half‑moon slices. In a large bowl, add half of olive oil, salt, garlic powder and paprika. Mix well. Add sliced sweet potato into the bowl. Massage potatoes in oil‑paprika mixture. Spread the potatoes on baking sheet (for even cooking spread sweet potatoes as evenly as possible).

• Roast Sweet Potato: Roast Sweet Potato in pre‑heated oven for 15–20 minutes or until potatoes are tender and slightly blistered. (Use a wide spatula to turn potatoes upside down half‑way through cooking.)

• Prepare Chickpea Salad: While Sweet Potatoes roast, in a large mixing bowl, add dressing ingredients and whisk well to emulsify oil and citrus. Add in drained and rinsed chickpeas, chopped scallion, jalapeno, parsley, and basil. Toss to coat chickpeas in the dressing sitting at the bottom of the pan. Taste and adjust salt and lemon juice. Top with Feta cheese. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Additional Notes: See Note 1

• Assemble Salad and Serve: Once sweet potatoes are roasted, let stand for 5 minutes before mixing into the chickpea salad. Gently toss. Garnish with more scallion and parsley. Add your chicken. Serve and enjoy.

One final thought for the week

You will fail.

A lot.

This is not a linear path to success.

It’s not even a bumpy one.

As a chart… It’s got more volatility than early stage Bitcoin

But it’s the journey, not the destination that matters.

You’re here for the long haul. Measure progress in years, decades.

Not ‘yesterday’s snack after dinner’.

Fail. Learn. Adapt. It’s all anyone can ask of you.

Earn that second wind.