Cut Out, Don’t Add in!

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As many of you might already know I am an avid listener of podcasts. I have a select few that are my go to’s and one of the CrossFit related ones is the Chasing Excellence Podcast with Ben Bergeron. For those of you who do not know, Ben Bergeron  is an extremely successful CrossFit Coach and gym owner. He coaches athletes such as Matt Fraser, Katrin Davidsdottir, Brooke Wells, and many other extremely high level CrossFit athletes. To say the least he definitely knows a thing or two about coaching successful athletes.

Check out the podcast. It covers more than just CrossFit related topics and is well worth your time!

In his most recent podcast, he presented an idea that not only has applicability in CrossFit, but also can have a lot of utility in our every day lives. The topic of his most recent podcast was 10 things that you should cut out of your life. I thought this podcast was great not only because of some of the things he listed, but more so the main concept behind the podcast. Instead of following the prototypical format of listing things that you should be adding in to your life, he discussed things you should take out. This was an interesting concept to me because it seems as if people are always advocating addition of things rather than subtraction of things. Many of us are strapped for time and energy, so the thought of adding another thing into our lives can make it a lot less feasible. On the other hand cutting down on or cutting out certain things is a lot more doable. It may even in turn open up more time or energy allowing you to add some things into your life!

Aside from the overarching theme of cutting out things a couple of my favorite items from the podcast were: don’t hit the snooze button, don’t get mad at traffic, and don’t eat and scroll. I am a big fan of not hitting the snooze button, I think hitting the snooze button makes getting out of bed much worse, and for what? You might get 5-10 minutes more sleep but its not even good sleep! If you are someone who chronically hits the snooze button then that is a sign that you just need more sleep or better quality sleep! Check out this article I wrote on how to get better sleep and more sleep. Don’t believe me that the snooze button is bad? Check this video out. Hitting the snooze button to me is retroactive rather than being proactive. Its almost as if we are starting the day off by not doing the first thing we were supposed to do…get up on time!

Chuck up a deuce to all those old bad habits and cut em out of your life!

Another thing I think people should do, but I know will take some training and patience, is not getting mad at traffic. Traffic sucks, I hate it just as much as the next person, but for most its unavoidable. The worst part about it is no matter how many lane changes, four letter words you let fly, or tailgating you do, it never moves faster. We have no control over traffic. Instead of allowing the situation to aggravate you, use it proactively. Ben talks about using that traffic time to call your mom, listen to a podcast, listen to an audiobook, some new music, just something that you to be proactive with your time. Traffic is inevitable, so it would behoove us to implement some strategies that allow us to get a positive outcome out of a traditionally infuriating situation.

The last one he talks about is a huge problem we have in todays smart phone era: don’t eat and scroll. Now in this example he is talking specifically about when you are in a social eating setting (with friends or family at the table). We see it all the time, you’re at a restaurant and you see lots of people scrolling on their phones instead of talking with friends, family, or significant others. When this happens the person is essentially saying that whoever they are with is not worth their attention. That whatever they have on their phone is more important than the people they are with. You might think that it is harmless scrolling but you are taking away the most valuable thing you can give to anyone: your time. My best suggestion would be to think of how it would make you feel if someone was paying more attention to their phone instead of you. Probably not very good. Remember that feeling in your head every time you have an urge t check instagram or facebook in a dining setting. I promise you, you’ll never regret not checking your social media, but you’ll regret missing out on great conversation.

Again I do not think this specific podcast is life changing and has the answers to all of our problems, but there are definitely some great ideas in it. Aside from a couple great ideas there is also a big overarching theme that I think can have positive applicability in a lot of peoples lives. Cutting out things instead of adding in is much more feasible with a similar result of improving your life. Of course cutting things out will take effort but it is well worth it. It might be a rough change at first but if you persist through the rough times you can reap all the reward. Next time you think you need to add something into your life but can’t figure out how to do it, think of a way you can cut something out!

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