A Friendly Nudge - Small Wins Can Change Your Life
...because we all could use a little encouragement!
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What if exercise could make you better at saving money or more productive, would that make doing those push ups a little more compelling?
I recently heard Charles Duhigg on Dr. Peter Attia’s Podcast, The Drive, and it prompted me to buy his book, The Power of Habit. I started reading it on a recent flight to Seattle and I had to grab a pen out of my backpack so I could start taking notes and try to resist the temptation to interrupt Jude’s reading every few minutes to show her something that grabbed my attention. She’s a pretty good sport, but even she has a tipping point.
I know that exercise snacks work. I frequently hear from people thanking me for introducing them to them. When Duhigg described the power of small wins and something called keystone habits he might as well have been describing exercise snacks.
Exercise snacks work because building a new habit is tough and early wins, even small ones, can be the difference between frustration and success. Small wins boost your confidence and help convince you that you and exercise might get along better than you expected. The secret is to make sure that you give yourself enough time to start stringing together a few of those wins. That accumulation of accomplishment can move exercise from something that you tolerate into something that you start looking forward to. Duhigg describes it as a craving and it’s a powerful motivator and predictor of successful habit formation.
It turns out that exercise has an added bonus. It’s something that Duhigg calls a “keystone habit.” Exercise tends to spill over into other aspects of your life. It’s not surprising to hear that when people start developing an exercise habit they start eating better and maybe pay more attention to their sleep. Hearing that developing an exercise habit caused people to smoke less also made sense. But reading that they frequently become more productive at work and in their personal lives and more financially responsible made me see this keystone effect from a different perspective. Exercising doesn’t just change how you look and feel, it also can change how you see yourself.
So many adults see themselves through the lens of their limitations and unfortunately so much of the messaging aimed at older adults only serves to reinforce that perception. I think of it as the bubblewrapping of seniors and even though some of it may be well intentioned it can undermine our sense of agency and capacity. Exercise helps us reestablish or, in some cases, initiate a relationship with our physical selves. It helps us appreciate that we are capable of doing difficult things.
I definitely have more aches and pains than I did as a youngster but exercise has helped me understand that there are things that I can do that change and improve how I feel. Now I just need to harness that keystone stuff to help me save money for a vacation in Hawaii.
In the meantime, let’s make something tasty for dinner.
Sheet Pan Chicken & Chickpeas
I love the combination of flavors with this dish. The paprika, turmeric, coriander and cumin seeds team up with the red onions, egg plant, lemon and chickpeas to turn drumsticks into an exotic meal. I threw some okra dusted with a North African spice blend, ras el hanot, in the air fryer for just a few minutes to bring a green vegetable to the party.
Ingredients:
8 chicken drumsticks or bone in chicken thighs
2, 15 oz cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 large red onion sliced thin and cut into 1”- 2” pieces
1 eggplant, quartered length-wise and cut into ½ “ coins
2-3 tsp cumin seeds
2-3 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp turmeric
2-3 tsp sweet paprika
1 lemon - sliced thin and seeds removed
¾ tsp kosher salt
4 cloves garlic minced (optional since I forgot it)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Cilantro, chili crisp and tahini for serving
Preheat oven to 375℉.
Thinly slice the onion and then cut into 1” pieces and place on the sheet pan.
Quarter the eggplant lengthwise and and then cut into ½” coins and place on the sheet pan.
Rinse and drain the 2 cans of chickpeas and add them to the pan.
Thinly slice the lemon, make sure to remove any seeds and place on the sheet pan.
Lightly crush the cumin and coriander seeds with a mortar and pestle or pulse with a spice grinder or chop with a knife and then add them to the veggies on the pan, along with the turmeric, paprika, generous pinch of salt and garlic if using.
Place the chicken on the sheet pan.
Add about ¼ cup of extra virgin olive over everything and then mix it all together with your hands and then spread it out over the surface of the sheet pan.
Set the pan on the middle rack of the oven and adjust another rack so that it’s about 6” below the broiler.
Set a timer for 35 minutes and check the temperature of the chicken. Target temp is 165℉
While the dish is cooking, chop the cilantro for serving.
When chicken is at temp, turn the broiler to high and place the pan on the rack that you positioned 6” below the broiler.
Leave it under the broiler for 3-5 minutes to let it crisp up a little.
Serve with cilantro, drizzled tahini and chilli crisp.
Enjoy!
Now that we have dinner covered, let’s look at some exercise options for this week.
You don’t have to do all of these to start making progress. Some of these may be too advanced, some of them may use equipment that you don’t have, so just find a few that work for you and start there. Also, don’t worry about trying to bust out 3 sets of 10 of an exercise. I added the reps, sets and recovery info for folks that had been working out for a while and as a reminder that recovery is a critical piece of strength development and injury prevention. Start where you are and enjoy the process.