The recipe for positive change & personal growth

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The Health Growth Letters is a weekly publication of tips, frameworks, stories, and lessons to help you build a more balanced life based on faith, health, and wellness. If you’ve been forwarded this email you can subscribe here.

What’s on the agenda:

• Verse: What do we lack that is of value?

• Lesson: How to identify & create change

• Featured Guest:

• Optimization: Huel (plus my experience with it!)

A verse I’m thinking about

Do you have everything you need?

We are really good at justifying our actions — or lack thereof. We are even better at making excuses for why others can do or have done things we haven’t.

“They must have great genetics”

“Their parents were rich, they had the opportunity I didn’t have”

“It’s easy for them to make friends because they’re more outgoing”

We say stuff like this all the time.

But here is the thought I’ve been pondering… “What if I already have everything I need to make a difference and achieve my dreams?”

It’s a scary thought, but I think it’s true.

When we think about gifts, talent, and opportunity, we typically think of the gifts, talent, and “leg up” we get from our upbringing, but what if none of those “gifts” matter? What if better genetics, more financial opportunity, better looks, more love, and support don’t matter?

God has gifted us with everything we need to make an impact and to succeed through the Fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) and I believe that the more like Christ I can be in my endeavors the more impactful and successful they will become.

In fact, it’s even promised.

A lesson I’ve learned:
How to create and sustain change

As a growth strategist, one of my primary responsibilities is to create forecasts for e-commerce brands.

The first forecast I create for a brand is typically a “what’s likely to happen scenario” for the year ahead. The majority of the time brands, founders, and marketers look at those forecasts and say “I don’t want that! We need to do better, be better, or get there faster!” To which I say, “Then we need change”.

It’s a light bulb moment that often gets everyone on the same page.

When I think about personal growth and change as individuals, I think the most common issue we all face is assuming change will happen on its own. That all we need to do is select our goal and time will take care of the results. We don’t stop and create a “what’s likely to happen” forecast should we continue on our current course.

If we did, like many brands I work with, we’d realize we need to make changes to get where we want to go.

The Three Types of Change

To create change, we first need to understand what change is, and, what it is not.

Let’s start with what change is not. Change is not time. 

I know it often feels like it is, but time is a constant. It doesn’t change. Yet we often give time the most credit for change. We say I got fat… as I got older. I got rich… as I got older. I made more money… as time passed.

But none of those are a result of time.

Time simply reveals the result of today’s habits and actions in the future.

Let me give you an example:

The average person gains 1-2 pounds per year. If you take the average person today, and look at them 10 years from now they will likely be 15-20 pounds heavier. But that isn’t “change” that is a future version of a current state.

It’s the result of a poor diet, not getting enough sleep, too much stress, and not exercising enough.

It’s predictable.

It’s what happens IF THERE IS NO CHANGE.

So what is change?

There are three types of changes — changes in trajectory, changes in proximity, and changes in velocity.

1. Trajectory Changes

Trajectory changes are the result of an inflection point. An inflection point by definition, is a point on a line where the concavity or angle changes.

As a result, trajectory changes alter the location you will end up down the road. They can be big, life-altering changes, or they can be simple life optimizations.

Here are some examples:

1. You could come to faith in a religion after having no belief.

   • If you did this, your entire life, belief system, and way of living would change. The trajectory of your life would completely change.

2. You could be in a bad accident or diagnosed with some disease

   • This could change the entire direction of your life — hopes, dreams, and ambitions would all change in a moment and your life would start heading in a new direction

3. You could start investing each month

   • Smaller scale, but rather than keeping money in the bank or spending everything, committing to investing money alters where you’ll end up financially at retirement

4. Changing careers or starting a business

5. Having children

The list goes on.

Trajectory changes happen all of the time, many of which we aren’t even aware of.

2. Velocity Changes

Velocity is how quickly we move towards the destination or goal of our new trajectory.

Think of velocity as the fast-forward or the rewind button on a movie. You don’t change the endpoint or the way you get there, you just find a way to get there faster. Velocity is what builds momentum and makes achieving proximity change more enjoyable.

Think about losing weight.

You make a conscious decision to try and lose weight (inflection point) and you want to lose 15 pounds (proximity change), but you also want to lose 15 pounds in 8 weeks, not 20 weeks (velocity).

A velocity change would be going from a 500-calorie deficit per day to a 750-calorie deficit per day.

It doesn’t change habits.

It doesn’t change the destination.

But it changes how quickly you will reach your destination.

2. Proximity Changes

When most people think of change, they think of proximity changes. That’s because Proximity change is the perceived outward change.

Let’s look at the weight loss example above:

When you decide to lose 15 pounds and start eating more healthy foods, you’ve created a true trajectory change, but no one notices that. When you increase the velocity by cutting more calories from your daily diet, or adding exercise, only a few people notice.

But when you look different from what was expected…. people notice.

But proximity change is a result, not an input.

Proximity change is simply a function of (change in trajectory x velocity) / time

Creating Change

Everyone wants change. Namely proximity change.

Everyone wants to be fitter, richer, happier, have more freedom, be more like Jesus or a “better person”, less lonely... maybe not all of these, but something in there resonated with you

The problem is most of us want to change, but we don’t want to change. Unfortunately, proximity change doesn’t happen without a change in trajectory.

We need to change our direction before we get a different outcome.

The Recipe for Change

To end today’s lesson, I want to bring the 3 types of change into a recipe for change, or a change protocol. It’s composed of 5 steps:

1. Create an honest forecast of your current habits and actions, and answer this question, “Does this lead to the result I want?”

   This is the hardest step for most people because it forces them to take a realistic look at their lives and habits, but it’s also the most empowering. Understanding where you’re currently headed elevates the importance of change

2. Ask yourself, “What do I need to achieve the thing I want to achieve?”. 

   The purpose of this step is to identify the action that changes your trajectory toward your new goal. For example, if you're goal is to lose weight, you might say “I need to limit alcohol” or “Start counting calories”

3. Be consistent with the actions you know you need to do

   Build systems, find accountability, and do what’s necessary to stay on your new trajectory. Change is hard, and our routines and habits take time to be overwritten. Do whats necessary to stay consistent.

4. Be realistic with timelines

   The number one problem people have when trying to change is wanting results too quickly, and while velocity can help you achieve your goals faster, it is also more taxing and harder to maintain. Start slow and look for ways in increase velocity later

5. Check-in and re-forecast periodically

   Step 5 is to repeat this process routinely - maybe every quarter. You are not limited to one inflection point in your journey, you can always and new ones later on to change your direction, or increase velocity.

Featured Guest

I had a busy week and didn’t reach out to collect information from my next guest (sorry!).

That said, I’m always looking for guests to feature! If you are interested, and have a story to tell, please fill out the form below to have your wellness-based living tips featured in one of my letters!

Surface area of accountability

I made strong progress this week! I added Huel shakes as my breakfast and it really helped me set lock in and cheat less.

I did go fishing and have a football party where I drank beers this weekend so plateaued the back half of the week. Ready to get after it this week 💪

An Optimization to try?

I actually ordered Huel after featuring it in my newsletter two weeks ago. After trying it an loving it, I was happy to feature it again!

It’s a little high in fat and is a true meal replacement shake, but it’s been really helpful in my weight loss journey.

Fuel Your Ambitions

• 40g protein, plus 27 essential vitamins & minerals

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• New customers get 15% off with code BEHUEL15

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