TGIM: Moral Muckiness

Welcome back to Thank God It’s Monday!

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tl;dr When we say our actions are good or bad, we assign moral judgment to them. But doing so only makes us feel like we’re being effective. Instead of verbally “reacting,” take action.

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Every single conversation people have with me asking for fitness advice always entails what they believe is “bad” about their habits. “I know it’s bad but…” or “You’re going to judge me…” the list goes on.
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And we’re all guilty of doing it. After you eat and drink all weekend, you tell your coworkers how bad you were. Or after a well-earned vacation, you talk about how you really have to get back on it (“being good”).

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When we do assign moral judgments, it makes us feel like we’re doing something about how we’ve acted. For example, you ate junk all weekend, so you acknowledge that your eating did not align with your goals (and theoretically, you’ll do better next time). The judgment itself feels like an action.

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However, you’re not actually doing anything about how you acted, and realistically, you will not do things differently next time.

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Instead of assigning a vague moral parameter to your actions, you should be more deliberate with your words.

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“I overindulged on foods that do not align with my goal of getting stronger. Next time, I will eat a more protein-dense meal before indulging in dessert.”

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This takes the moral judgement out of the equation. What you did is not good or bad. It simply is what it is. And being good or bad is a subjective measure (not an objective one).
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By making note of the objective occurrences and determining an actionable game plan for the next time you’re in a similar situation, you can grow from the situation. Let’s take another example.
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Instead of this: “I was so bad last night. I stayed up too late scrolling on my phone and now I’m exhausted.”

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Try this: “Last night I scrolled on my phone for more than the 20 minutes I allotted myself. As a result, I only got five hours of sleep instead of seven. Next time, I will set the app to close after 20 minutes to make sure I put my phone down and reach my target sleep.”

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It all sounds like semantics. But the goal is to go from “reacting” with a moral designation to an action to do better the next time a similar situation presents itself. By more clearly articulating what didn’t align with your goals, you can be honest with yourself about steps you can take to do better.
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The opposite is true of the flip side. Instead of saying “I was so good today,” be more descriptive about why you feel like the day went well. Determine if it was the food that you ate, the extra movement, the work you did, or even decreasing distractions, and why those things align with the person you want to be. By doing so, it will reinforce the actions you took to have a “good” day so that you can repeat them in the future.
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If you found some value in this, please share it with a friend you think would enjoy it! And let me know if you’d like to be added to get TGIM.​
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This week, my podcast recommendation is new from Michael Smoak’s The HigherUp Podcast, “How Physical Health Will Drive Your Success.”
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With that, note what you impose moral judgement on this week and let me know how you will reframe it moving forward.
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Until next time,

Shannon