I stole this one. From a friend of mine, Sam Pedlow, a professional volleyball player and team Canada athlete. I first worked with Sam when he entered the university volleyball world. I was his first strength and conditioning coach and I saw him through two provincial championships. Now, he is teaching me. 

There is no such thing as motivation. I have believed this for a very long time. I was chatting with Sam one day and something he said struck me hard. “Discipline will set you free.”

My jaw dropped. YES. This is exactly what I have been trying to convey to people. 

Motivation is a farce. It is searching for an external reward to try and force yourself to do something. It. Will. Never. Last. 

Do you WANT to brush your teeth everyday? No. No you don’t. Do you? Yes, yes you do. Why? You have developed discipline over decades of forcing yourself to brush your teeth. You were forced to, told how important it is, and punished if you did not do it. 

Fitness (and really all of your health habits) need this same level of discipline. Motivation doesn’t work. If it did, why are you here, reading this? You have been motivated. Then life got hard. Something came up. Family. Kids. Deaths. Career. Who knows what else. And when things got tough, you stopped taking care of yourself. 

Discipline is developing the ability to continue the habits even when things are hard. Not just when it is easy or exciting. 

How does this set you free? 

No more decisions to make. You know what to do. You know the expectations. You know the results and the outcomes. 

You don’t have to decide nightly IF you should brush your teeth, when you should, what toothpaste, how long, what technique…and on and on. You just go to the bathroom and do it. No thinking. No stress. No questions. 

This is freedom. And it comes from discipline. 

Developing discipline is the answer to maintaining your health and fitness for the rest of your life.

Decision fatigue is a real thing, especially for physicians. You have to make life and death decisions daily. You have to manage staff, other health care workers, and your personal life. What is for dinner? How are you going to get the kids to their activities? What is going on with the contractors on that reno? What is the best route home from work? Feeling stressed just thinking about it, aren’t you?!

When it finally comes time to decide on a workout or on what to eat yourself, there is nothing left in the mental bank. The result is that you don’t workout and you eat for convenience instead of health. 

When you want to make health changes you are then expected to seek out the next workout program and the next diet. You’re somehow supposed to research the latest information, fit it into your schedule, and then adhere to everything, while still doing all the things life demands of you.

This is why you keep failing. 

What is the answer? 

You need to be told what to do. You need someone that understands your life, the demands placed on you, and your responsibilities, who can then figure out the exact path to your goals. Not an easy feat! 

In addition to that you need someone to keep you accountable. You need a coach to tell you what to do. And make sure you are doing it. 

Hi, I’m Coach Taylor.

I don’t want to sound too extreme here but, yeah, this is the meaning of life. 

Yes, cooking most of your own food WILL improve your health, drop weight, increase performance, and make your entire life better. This isn’t JUST about cooking though! Don’t skip over the part of the title about meals! 

Humans bond together over meals. Eating meals together is the glue that holds our culture together. But there is so much more to meals than simply eating food. Sourcing food, gathering the ingredients, preparing and cooking a meal, sitting down together to enjoy everything, and then yes, cleaning up everything afterwards, are all integral aspects to building social bonds. 

Some of the most pleasurable and interesting moments I have had with my partner and with the children in my life today have been during this process. Seeing fussy kids who have lived on processed foods, experience the joy of eating something they helped to source, prepare, and cook, suddenly eat REAL food is the true magic of the world. 

This is how we care for our family. This is how we care for our friends. This is how we care for ourselves. This is how we create, manage, grow, and strengthen all of our relationships.

In turn we end up eating more healthful food and having more meaningful relationships. 

You don’t need to diet or spend your life alone eating whatever the latest nutrition craze dictates, all alone at the kitchen counter. This is why you keep failing. 

If you can even do this once a week with family or friends, you will dramatically better your health AND your life. 

Tough love time. 

We don’t always get to do what we like. We don’t always get everything we want. Life isn’t always fair. We can sit in our bubbles and cry about it or we can accept it.  

And here are some more truths. 

I don’t care if you ‘don’t like vegetables.’ Tough shit. Eat them. I don’t care if you ‘don’t like exercise.’ Tough shit. Do it. 

You are an adult and you have responsibilities. To yourself first and foremost. To your partner. To your children. To your friends. And to your community. 

It is your responsibility to act like an adult and do the things that must be done.

Sometimes it sucks. Sometimes it’s awesome. At all times it is your responsibility.

Everyone wants the easy to understand and easy to follow diet. Here it is. 

Did nature make candy, cinnamon buns, goldfish crackers, big mac’s, doritos, or kraft dinner? No. 

Nature did make meat, vegetables, rice, fruit, nuts, seeds, and animal fats. 

Stick to that list 90% of the time and you will never have to think about what you eat again.

Wait…what? 

Yeah. Have. More. Sex. 

Forget eating or drugs to make yourself feel better. The human brain is wired to seek out sex and bask in the flush of hormones post orgasm. There is nothing on earth that will better improve your mood, connect you to your body, build relationships, and satisfy your needs as a human. Period. 

Do it with a partner preferably. Take care of yourself if you have to. But seek out more orgasms. Humans are built for sex. We are evolved to procreate. 

The best thing you can do for your mental health? Sex. Why isn’t this promoted more often? It’s free, it’s fun, and it’s available for everyone. 

If you have more sex, your life will be better. This is a Coach Taylor guarantee.

I have preached this for more than two decades. If you reward yourself with food you will forever be controlled by it. If you reward your children with food you will fuck up their relationship with eating for the rest of their lives. 

Food is delicious. You should strive to enjoy food. You should prepare meals and laugh with friends over lengthy dinners. 

You should NEVER reward yourself for an achievement with food. Ever. 

You should never turn to food to pick up your mood or make you feel better. This will ALWAYS lead to behaviour patterns that will make your issues worse. 

Food is fuel. Food is the social glue that bonds us. Food is to be enjoyed. 

Food is not there to make us feel better or reward us when great things happen. 

Less calories. Less bad food. Less processed food. Less carbohydrates. Less, less, less. Deprivation is the backbone of every single nutrition program you have ever done. 

It isn’t effective in the long term. 

Humans were NOT designed to eat like a cow. We aren’t grazers. The idea of three meals a day plus snacks was born of the industrial revolution and turned into a marketing machine for food producers to sell you more calories. 

Our physiology was designed to eat once or twice a day on average. There were times of plenty (think late summer harvest) when we probably ate a lot more and there were times of less (think the middle of winter) when we ate a lot less. 

Shifting to a more physiologically sound pattern of one to two meals a day consisting of food that nature made and you cooked for yourself is the single greatest thing that you can do for your health. 

You also don’t spend so much time focused on eating and cooking and meals. You get to eat WAY better food. You will never be hungry. Travel is more simple. Long shifts at work need less planning. Literally. Everything is better. 

You will feel better, sleep better, and have more energy. 

And, yes, there is a TON of real life, scientifically sound data supporting all of this.

I really don’t get this.

Client updates their tracking sheet, then the following text conversation ensues: 

Me: Data looks good! Your waist is down a half an inch! 
Client: Yeah, it isn’t three inches though
Me: But it is totally in the right direction
Client: I was hoping for more
Me: It’s only been three weeks and you’ve have three huge events and got fired from your job and your dog died in that time AND you still made progress
Client: Yeah, I guess so. 

__________________________________
Argh. This is obviously a fictional representation but honestly, this is NOT an uncommon conversation. 

You have to celebrate the success. I get it. You aren’t in the body of your dreams and you didn’t do quite as well as you hoped on that half marathon. 

If you fall into this pattern you are never going to be successful. 

Every small win is important. In fact, small wins have JUST as big an impact psychologically as completing major goals. So basically, everyday we could celebrate something small and fire up the reward centres in our brain. 

How do you think this will play out over time? 

What about the opposite? How do you think your well being and mindset will be affected if every time you move forward you feel depressed about it? 

This is why positive change feels so damn daunting. So many people are working against themselves. And so many people feel they only deserve to feel good once they hit their goal. There are a million steps in between! 

True change is going to take time. The best way to get there is to celebrate every positive step in that direction.

At the end of the day I am a coach. I mentor and advise my clients. I even tell them what to do. 

But it is your body. And only you can make the choices. And. Only you live with the outcomes of those choices. 

I go home to my family and my life. If you hit your goals or stay on track with your program does not affect my life. 

This may sound harsh to some but I think it is vitally important to think about. 

You have to live in your body for the rest of your life. How you treat it will determine the quality of that life. 

Only you are there to decide on the actions you take. 

I am here to empower, guide, and advise you. You must choose how to live.

I will figure out the puzzle of how to put everything together. I will give you those answers. I will answer your questions and support you. 

Then you must choose what to do with that.