💪💪💪 We’re on a mission to help one million people RISE by 2030 💪💪💪

📚📚📚 Reading Time: 2 minutes 📚📚📚

👂👂👂 Listen on podcast via www.myrise.co.uk/podcast 👂👂👂

💡💡💡

If you’re a frustrated yo-yo dieter and gym disliker who would like to lose 20lbs in 8 weeks while developing lasting healthy habits without having to do boring exercise you hate and give up food you love, then email contact@myrise.co.uk with ‘RISE’ and we’ll send you the information for our online 20lbs weight loss challenges.

💡💡💡

The news and social media has recently has been full of talk of “the Pingedemic”.

The large number of people that are being told to self isolate by the Track and Trace app.

Now I’m not going to get into how effective the app is or isn’t, the cost of it or any wider conversation on COVID and how it’s been dealt with (so no one needs to reply and tell me their thoughts on that).

Instead I’m going to talk about the comments I’ve seen on a few different articles about the app and the Pingdemic.

I’ve just had a flick through some in response to a BBC article about the changes to the app that are coming in (at time of writing) to reduce the level of contact needed to cause a ping.

Comment after comment explained why they thought this was a good thing………….

And / or why they’d stopped using the app…………

Because of an experience where they had been pinged.

Ever single one told a detailed story.

Of what they’d done on that eventful day.

A description of where they went, with who and why.

And how they’d been pinged a few days later.

Each clearly an explanation of why they felt they had been wronged because “it was our first time out since pre-COVID” or “there was only six of us” or “it’s alright for some who still get paid but I couldn’t earn for 10 days”.

Every single one of those could’ve been simplified down to;

“I was within 2m of someone who had COVID for 15 minutes and the app told me”.

———– Again, no need to reply and comment on the accuracy of the app – every comment I read clearly described a situation where those people were within 2m of a number of people for a sustained period of time ————-

This is something we humans are really good at.

Justify and explaining a situation.

Adding in a detailed story around it.

To the point where we often lose the important central point.

Adding “and”s and “because”s and “which meant”s to what could be a one line response.

A powerful exercise we can use is to just state what happened.

Strip back all the ‘story’ around it.

All the meaning and emotion that we’ve added to it.

That will leave us with the bare bones of the situation and will be more likely to enable us to make changes that will take us in the direction we want to go in.

“I’ve gained weight over the last few years because it’s been a difficult time. I’ve been really busy at work which meant I haven’t had time to exercise. And I’ve not been able to eat better because we eat as a family and I don’t want to have separate meals. And they’ve all got big appetites. And I was unwell for a bit. And we had some family problems at one point which meant I couldn’t get to the gym. And there was the Lockdowns”………………

Becomes……………

“I’ve been in an average calorie surplus”.

Or;

“I’ve been struggling with the kid(s) because they’re all emotional. And they shouldn’t behave like that. They answer back which means a lack of respect. I would’ve never done that at the same age. And I don’t know if I’m dealing with them the right way. It’s hard because I’m so busy with work. And so tired. Which means I don’t have the patience with them”………..

Becomes………….

“A teenager answered back to a parent”.

And so on.

Doesn’t minimise the factors around the situation – they’re all still relevant and to be considered at times.

It just cuts back to the bare bones of the situation.

Puts it in a different context.

One that will, hopefully, serve us better.

Or is, at the very least, worth trying.

So, try it.

That thing you’re struggling with at the moment.

Strip it back.

Remove all the emotion and the meaning you’ve added.

Get to that bare bones of what’s happened.

The shortest possible version, without “and”, “because” or “which means”.

And see if that gives clarity on the situation and what you might do to change it (or, maybe, accept it as it is).

Much love,

Jon ‘Pong’ Hall

Jon Hall
Jon Hall

When not helping people to transform their lives and bodies, Jon can usually be found either playing with his kids or taxi-ing them around. If you'd like to find out more about what we do at RISE then enter your details in the box to the right or bottom of this page or at myrise.co.uk - this is the same way every single one of the hundreds who've described this as "one of the best decisions I've ever made" took their first step.