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Photo by Alexander Redl on Unsplash

Counter intuitive results from personal data

Unfortunately in society when we talk about fitness or getting fit, we often think of something like this:


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Mark Hamillโ€™s Luke Skywalker is possibly the greatest destruction of a hero weโ€™ve ever seen. Source Dick Thomas Johnson.

Fans hate your โ€œdeconstructionโ€ for a good reason

You may have noticed a nasty little trend running through Hollywood and TV over the last few years. Iโ€™m not sure whether itโ€™s because thereโ€™s a lack of real creativity amongst writers and directors or whether itโ€™s because they are trying to be edgy, but traditional heroes are being ripped down and shat all over like itโ€™s a fucking Nazi book burning rally.

Luke Skywalker, Thor and Mulan, are just a few of the heroes weโ€™ve come to know and love who have been given the recent treatment and fans have predictably hated every single instance. โ€ฆ


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Photo by We-Vibe WOW Tech on Unsplash

Mattress quality is overrated when it comes to performance

Iโ€™m sure youโ€™re thinking this has to be some kind of mistake. Every single mattress company and sleep expert has told us constantly for decades now that you need to invest in a top quality mattress, because youโ€™ll spend a third of your life in bed. That if you go with something cheaper, youโ€™ll feel sore and tired the next day. That youโ€™re only cheating yourself by not spending a whole bunch of money.

Iโ€™m definitely one of those โ€œyou get what you pay forโ€ kind of people, so I would have believed this in the past. โ€ฆ


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Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

Assuming you like financial security, that is

If the 2008 recession didnโ€™t already show it, COVID19 has sure as hell woken us up to the precarious nature of existence. Many people with good jobs in safe industries have found themselves laid off with no place to go because their workplace was shut down overnight. Even if you were in a safe spot, maybe your spouse got laid off and youโ€™ve lost half your income that was used to pay the mortgage.

All of a sudden the multitude of things you bought that you didnโ€™t need are a haunting reminder that you shouldโ€™ve been more foresighted and prepared better. Those sneakers you bought because you thought they made you look fly, the watch you wear to impress business colleagues, the car with repayments that you know are too expensive, these are the choices that you look back on and think โ€œgod I was stupid.โ€ โ€ฆ


So you donโ€™t screw up someone elseโ€™s life as well as your own

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Photo by Steven Van Loy on Unsplash

One thing Iโ€™ve noticed over the last decade or two is societyโ€™s unwillingness to appropriately judge adult behaviour, especially when it comes to parenting. Youโ€™ll hear constant excuses like, โ€œyou donโ€™t know what anyone else is going through, so donโ€™t judge them,โ€ and ,โ€œevery parent is just trying their best.โ€

The bar has been set so low that so long as you donโ€™t do anything that kills your kids, hey, weโ€™re not gonna judge you, cos thatโ€™s mean. Well, Iโ€™m calling bullshit. โ€ฆ


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Photo by Alora Griffiths on Unsplash

Just pick one and run with it

Itโ€™s getting very hard to keep up with health advice. Every day you hear something on the news about which diet is best, that this food that you thought was ok is suddenly on the naughty list, that even a food weโ€™ve eaten for the entirety of our speciesโ€™ existence (red meat) is somehow bad for us.

Itโ€™s enough to drive anyone nuts.

So letโ€™s get simple. Real simple. Instead of having to do a bunch of research, Iโ€™ve outlined 7 very easy to follow guidelines that require nothing more than sticking to the statement itself. I always advise people to make one change at a time only so you can measure the results, so start small. โ€ฆ


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Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash

Itโ€™s the key metric people never consider

Iโ€™m a nice (twenty something) guy, why canโ€™t I find a good looking girl?

Iโ€™m a successful (forty something) woman, why canโ€™t I find an equally successful, well off and good looking guy?

I work hard, why havenโ€™t I received a promotion?

My product is the highest quality, made sustainably and ethically, why wonโ€™t anyone buy it?

Weโ€™re offering a โ€œgoodโ€ package for this role, why canโ€™t we get someone good to fill it?

Whether we like it or not, in multiple fields over the course of our lifetime weโ€™ll be participating in a market economy. All of the above questions are common in their respective markets because people around the world either donโ€™t realise they are part of a market or, more often, grossly overestimate their value in said market. โ€ฆ


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His smile was one of those rare smiles that you may come across only four or five times in life. It seemed to understand you and believe in you, just as you would like to be understood and believed in. Picture courtesy of Warner Bros (fair use).

And it has nothing to do with working harder

Have you ever felt like you were taken advantage of in your job?

Did you feel as though you gave so much, achieved so much, and it was never rewarded, much less even noticed?

Did it make you bitter and resentful?

Man, Iโ€™ve been there.

I was always resentful of the people who seemed to get all the praise and adulation for doing what I saw as absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, I would often ask in my head โ€œwhat is it you even do here?โ€ when theyโ€™d get yet another award or promotion. โ€ฆ


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So you can actually enjoy tomorrow

Youโ€™ve stayed up too late watching Netflix again. You know you shouldnโ€™t, but you just canโ€™t help it. Every day you come home tired from a job that you donโ€™t like so much and so of course, you want to maximize your pleasure time. You always watch one or two more episodes than you should, so by the time you finally go to sleep, you wake up with an hour or two less than you should have and feel exhausted as a result.

Ugh, that blaring alarm clock goes off and you drag yourself out of bed, ready to do it all over again. โ€ฆ


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You didnโ€™t think I was going to give it away in the picture, did you? Photo by Chevanon Photography from Pexels

Itโ€™s time we put the final nail in its coffin

What was your guess? My bet is that you guessed I was going to talk about juice cleanses. Thatโ€™d be a good guess, but no. I think most people know juice cleanses are a bunch of bullshit because health experts constantly denounce them, and the entire idea is just ridiculous. So nope, not juice cleanses.

The bullshit health myth that just wonโ€™t die has no scientific backing, but everyone acts like it does. It doesnโ€™t get a lot of play in the media, but it does get a lot of play on social media amongst the beautiful people and fitness influencers. โ€ฆ

About

Pete Ross

๐˜ผ๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™๐™ค๐™ง, ๐™ค๐™˜๐™˜๐™–๐™จ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ก ๐™ง๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง. ๐˜ผ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ก๐™š๐™ฉ๐™š ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™จ๐™ค๐™ก๐™™๐™ž๐™š๐™ง ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™– ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™š๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ช๐™จ ๐™ก๐™ž๐™›๐™š.

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