Knowledge is not enough. Action taken by you is the only thing that will ever bring you results.
If knowledge were enough, health coaches who spend a great deal of time pondering how to best help people implement healthier habits into their lives should have super healthy habits in all the Core 5 areas. So should doctors and other health professionals. But this is not the case. I don’t have evidence to back this up, but I don’t think any human being has very healthy habits in all the areas – myself included. Have you ever tried a scoop of chocolate ice cream plopped in a steaming mug of hot chocolate for breakfast? Bomb.
Taking steps forward is different from plain ol’ doing something to stay occupied
Beware illusions of productivity. Reading about healthy eating, saving recipes that you swear you’ll make next week, buying flashy products/services, and things like this can have their place, but taking action is free and up to you.
Companies that promise results are deceiving you for your money. It’s easy to think that we are taking meaningful action when we pay for something, but you can throw your money around till the cows come home, it won’t do anything if you’re not spending effort too.
When spending time working on your health, think: am I using my time to act, or am I creating an illusion of productivity without actually taking steps that will build on each other to get me to my desired outcome?
We want to be spending most of our time acting, with short periods of learning interspersed
There’s no need to be an expert. This comes up often in coaching, so let me be the one to say it out loud – no one could possibly be an expert in every area of human health. If you encounter someone who tries to convince you that they know everything about how to live a healthy life, you are listening to the voice of a fool.
Even the best, most seasoned coaches have areas they know little about. It’d take thousands of lifetimes to learn everything. As humans, we literally don’t have the time to learn absolutely everything before taking action. Luckily, being an expert is always – yes, always – unnecessary.
Minimal knowledge is more than enough. If you know that veggies are healthy and that sleep is important, than you have all the knowledge you need. Any more is just extra.
For example, if a client came to me and asked, “How much protein should I be eating in a day?” there’s no clear answer for them (sure, there are general guidelines, but they have to be tailored to us as individuals which takes trial and correction. And memorizing such guidelines is next to pointless given the variability since humans aren’t identical machines – for example, how much they workout, what’s their desired outcome, their preferences, etc. will all affect their answer to this question).
So, just like how health coaches don’t have every possible fact that could come up memorized, you as someone wanting a healthy life don’t either. Isn’t it nice to relieve a bit of pressure by knowing this, and by knowing that no one else knows it all either?
Conclusion – Knowledge is Not Enough
It’s the really simple, big picture things (the Core 5 areas!) that matter. If we focus on these big things, more often than not all the small pieces will fall into place automatically.
Knowledge and action are neither sufficient without the other. We must have both, with an emphasis on action. With this, you have everything you need.