What is the "dip" and why do we get stuck in it?

Let me paint you a picture. It will be a familiar one. We have all been there. It is sometime between Christmas and the Superbowl and you sitting on the couch snacking on a bag of M & M’s, probably watching a rerun of Top Gear on TV. It gets to the part of the “Celebrity in a Reasonably Priced Car” segment and obviously it is some famous Brit that you nether heard of or care to know about and out comes our favorite expletive $^&*@%!!! You left the remote in the kitchen…. And slowly it hits you, you don’t remember when or how but you have failed miserably at your New Year’s resolution. You then start to remember all of the broken promises that you have made to yourself. That book that you only have read the preface of is clearly in your line of vision. The dirty laundry seems to be everywhere and your gut is still blocking the view of your … well you know what. What happened? Only weeks ago, you’ve made it to the gym 4 times. Your fridge was stocked with healthy treats and you started feeling better overall. You were already thinking about cord-cutting and pondering if you really needed that subscription to HBO. How did this happen so fast? Where did it all go wrong? You, my friend, are in “THE DIP”.

What is the dip? It is not a rut, it is not a pit. It’s a dip. A dip is exactly what it is. It’s a letdown, disappointment or state of disarray. You can get out of dip yet the bad news is that most people stay there because they do not know how they got there. There actually are a few reason why. Some are minute, but compounded with others they become big, Lets go through a few of them.

You are not getting enough sleep.

It took me a while to learn this… I used to say “I’ll sleep when I die”, but mis amigos, sleep and the lack of it are the number one reason you are in “The DIP”. That night you stayed up to binge watch Narcos is like borrowing from a loan shark. You’re currency is time and the effects of insufficient sleep are the payments. Studies show that just one night without good rest quadruples our risk of catching a cold. In two nights you’ll have less motivation, less empathy, slower reaction times, poor concentration and increased appetite. It takes a few days to reset your sleep clock and by that time, the initial euphoria of you goals have worn off and guess what? You’ve guessed it. You in “The DIP”.

You have run out of time. (Planning vs. Scheduling)

Time is not on your side. We misuse time simply because planning and scheduling are two different things. You can schedule all you want but if you are not prepared at the scheduled time, your schedule is CRAP. This is where planning comes in. We are ambitious in our goals and perceive structure when things are scheduled. When things don’t go as scheduled, you get deflated and ambition becomes frustration. Scheduling and planning are two very different concepts. When you schedule something you’re setting time aside to do it. Planning is the preparation for your scheduled time. If you scheduled to be at the gym at 6 AM 3 days a week, you need to plan exactly what you will need to be at that gym at 6 AM. That one day you realized that you left the water bottle at work and forgot to place your gym clothes in the dryer was the day you just chalked off telling yourself that you will try again tomorrow. Do you see when you started heading to “The DIP”?

You really weren’t that serious about it.

I’m just going to call you out on it. I’ve done it too. Two summers ago, once again I set out to learn the guitar. I researched a few classes and books and decided that I was going to go with a self-guided program. I went on Amazon, and bought a low end acoustic electric guitar and purchased the program. In total I probably spent about $125. The ideology and desire was there, but after a few days here and there both the program and guitar began collecting dust in some corner. It reminded my friend has with his wife and I had that same summer. He offered to enroll her in swimming lessons since she wanted to learn. The local YMCA was offering lessons, and since New Yorkers have to pay the “NYC” premium, they had to pay for the group of lessons. So three weeks after administrative fees, guest fess and $546 she tells him that she’s not going to class because she got her “friend”. (Ladies, I sympathize, but before you crucify anyone, let me finish). He knew for a fact that she has been in a pool before with her “friend” so his argument was that knowing that it was 10 weeks the probability that she would have it at least once or twice during that period was high. She told me that she just wasn’t going and he let it be. The reason he was upset wasn’t that she wasn’t going but she didn’t understand the seriousness of $546 he invested in her. She ended up missing some other classes and never truly learned to swim. The moral is the more serious it is the more value you will place on it. From the get-go, I went with the easier and cheaper way out. Do you know why low budget gyms make money? They know that average psychologically of its members. It locks us into a low cost commitment of going to the gym that at first we will feel excited compelled to follow through on but in the end when we don’t go don’t worry about the impact to out wallet. Trust me if your gym cost $250 a month, you would go.

#planning #scheduling #sleep #motivation #TheDIP #rut #stuckinthesameplace