This post was inspired by this recent presentation by Simon Sinek. For those of you who have not heard of Simon, or his work, I encourage you to initially watch this presentation and then explore his body of work. It really is inspirational reading/listening and has certainly had a marked influence on my life, how I view the world and also operate my business.
So, what does all this have to do with lifelong fitness and wellbeing you may be asking!
Well, in the presentation Simon discusses James Carse’s work who authored a book called Finite and Infinite Games which subsequently influenced Sinek’s publication called ‘The Infinite Game’. Sinek outlines ‘games’ and how we play them. Now these can be games in the traditional sense for example football, rugby, etc but this context can also be used to model situations and behaviours. So in this blog post we are going to use ‘exercise participation’ as the ‘game’.
He goes on to describe that ‘finite games’ have known players, defined rules and an agreed outcome i.e. most goals/points in an agreed time-frame or format WINS the game. And the key emphasis here is the ‘winning’ part.
In contrast ‘infinite games’ have known AND unknown players, the rules are changeable, and the aim is to continually perpetuate the game (keep it going) as opposed to winning.
So, finite against finite works just fine i.e. 2 football teams competing against each other
And infinite against infinite is also stable as eventually as the game/situation evolves 1 person/entity loses the resources or will to continue and drops out of the game
The problem arises when you pitch finite versus infinite philosophies!!
In this context we can use the ‘taking regualr exercise’ as the game. An example of this might be setting a target in the gym, attaining that goal and gaining the WIN!! Or achieving a target weight, attaining that goal and gaining the WIN!! Defined rules, specific outcome often over a defined timescale. Invariably what happens is that if/when people attain this shoort term goal by taking a ‘finite game’ approach they subsequently find themselves in a health and wellness rut as lifelong health and wellbeing is an infinite game !! Common issuues with this are stagnatation, regression or loss of motivation to continue and they subsequently discontinue or become more erratic. The don’t ‘stay in the game’
The other issue with a finite mindset can be that your focus can shift toward what others are doing rather than focusing on your own goals/objectives. This is ofetn further fuelled by the continual daily barrage and consumption of health and fitness related images on social media which only work to re-enforce this obsession with others and what they are supposedly achieving.
Let’s now contrast that philosophy to one which is based on the infinite game principles. Where the approach is toward goal setting focused upon a vision of your own health and wellness journey and the route this might take and the ‘stations’ it might stop at along the way. But also imagine that the end point of this journey is death, and the start point is birth. And our primary objective might be to be that little bit better than we were last year thereby attaining incremental gains along the way.
Sinek’s suggestion is that adopting a finite mindset will result in stagnation and eventually a lack of will to continue and subsequent cessation of regular exercise.
He outlines 5 principles which are actually based around leadership but can also be adapted toward our health and fitness journey
- Just cause – a cause so important that we are willing to make sacrifice to achieve it. In this case out just cause is our lifelong health and wellness. There are certain decisions and sacrifices we may need to make to achieve this. For example, a healthy diet, good sleep, positive mindset as opposed to excess alcohol/poor nutrition, continual late nights/erratic sleep and engaging in negative patterns of behaviour. It has to be something we believe in.
2 .Trusting teams – you can view this as supporting others on their health and wellness journey and the ‘team’ is the wider population. For example, when you are in the gym offer the assist/spot, offer support toward those engaged in fitness activities, pass on knowledge when appropriate to help others. These behaviours toward others make them feel comfortable and encourage them to be their best and achieve their goals. Successful companies such as Gymshark are clear adopters of creating inclusive environments and communities I the health and fitness space.
3. A worthy rival – those who you might know who are more successful at maintaining good health and wellness, positive mindsets or regular patterns of exercise for example. Rather than this be a ‘threat’ which is often the case which then results in people making excuses and avoiding addressing the underlying issues. The goal is not try to try and beat them. Instead view this as an opportunity for inspiration to evaluate our own strengths and weaknesses and make positive change Rivalry is about you advancing not winning! Try and identify some worthy ‘health and wellness’ rivals and draw inspiration from them.
4. Capacity for existential flexibility – the ability to make a profound shift to advance our ‘just cause’. In our example this might be getting out of an exercise rut, trying a new form of exercise, engaging the services of a coach because our motivation and direction have waned or challenging the status quo of our nutrition because better evidence has emerged.
5. Courage – challenge conventional approaches and belief systems. Up until a few years ago dietary sources of fat were seen as the devil and were touted as being linked to cardio-vascular disease and vast numbers of people became ‘fat phobic’. Fast forward to current day when it now commonly accepted, and research supports the approach that healthy dietary fats are essential for human health and the link to cardiovascular disease is not robustly substantiated! Ask questions, gain knowledge and have the courage to challenge the status quo!
So, in life and your own health and wellness journey ask yourself ….
What game are you playing?? Finite or infinite??
The only true competition in the infinite game of our own health and wellness is YOU, and your goal is to ‘stay in the game’. And therefore, the only person we need to ‘out-do’ is ourselves (not others) and what we have done previously.
I hope you found this post useful. If you have, I’d appreciate a like, share and connect with me on social media to provide some feedback.
I encourage you to watch the full presentation below and consider checking out some of Simon Sinek’s work. I am sure you will find some value from his work.