Operations

The need for cheat days (and I’m not just talking about your diet)

I think most people know what a cheat day is – you’re on a stricter-than-normal diet, it’s tough to hold out and restrict yourself 100% of the time, so you allow yourself a day to cheat.  Which can mean a lot of different things – eat anything for one meal, a day, etc.  But the point is that, whether you want to say it’s a human thing or just our society, it’s really hard to stay on a highly-regimented and restrictive program every single day of the year.

Not to say there aren’t good reasons – work dinners, travel, time, etc.  But the point is that cheat days provide a ton of value for people on a diet, sometimes actually contributing to a person’s goal (for example weight loss), if only because they know there’s a cheat day coming in their future.

What I found interesting, however, is what I heard in a mastermind group I’m a part of.  One of the guys is an entrepreneur, his business is growing and so he has hired people to take on many of the responsibilities he used to do himself.  Including sales.  He knows intellectually that there are certain areas of his business where he should not spend time – whether others are better or simply that it’s a poor ROI relative to where he could be working (or not at all depending on what he values).

But he also feels both that he just simply likes sales and that it keeps him connected to leads.  So what he has done is apportioned one day per month that he terms a cheat day – where he works on whatever he wants, which is primarily sales.  Just like a diet, it satiates his desire to do something that he knows he probably shouldn’t.  But it’s not so involved that it costs him significant value.

For some folks, the context might be the business realm, for others (but definitely not me) it’s about about feeling relaxed when folding laundry when you could get the corner laundromat to do it for pretty darn cheap.  It could be anything.

I thought this was a really cool concept, especially since I have more than one area of my life where I know “the better” thing to do, but I’d also like to not have to give up that “other thing” 100%.  So why do so?  Why feel like I’m always tapping into my willpower to restrain myself from something when I can allow myself a cheat moment – do enough where it’s not gnawing at me but not so much that everything gets screwed up.

And frankly, I think the chances of sticking with that “better thing” actually increase if it’s not all or nothing.

Thinking 3 Days Out

It’s pretty common on my business trips that I head out after dinner with friends, colleagues or vendors to a bar or club.  And until recently, those nights usually ended a good deal later than normal, and certainly later than my body would’ve preferred.  But a couple weeks ago, on a trip out to Miami, I made a very conscious decision each of the 3 nights I spent there, to get to bed at a decent hour.

Later that week, when I got back to town, I knew that I had a really busy schedule. Not to mention, my wife was taking care of our son and is pregnant, so already tired; and she definitely didn’t want to hear about my reasons for being exhausted.

I found myself saying to people when I was heading to bed, “I’d love to go out tonight but I’m just thinking 3 days out.  Yes, it’s three days out, but I can’t afford to be suffering for the next couple days in the hope that I’m recovered 3 days out.”

And then I came to realize after the trip, that that state of thinking a few days out was becoming a habit, in 2 ways.  First, I am continually thinking about what’s coming, not just what’s immediately in front of me, but what’s out a few days. And whether that affects what I eat or drink, or just how I prep, what’s happening a few days out is affecting my behavior.  Second, there’s a realization, especially when it comes to food and drink, that the immediate gratification or feeling I get is far outweighed by how I want to feel afterwards – with food, sometimes it’s a matter of feeling horrible immediately after eating way too much.  And alcohol, well, that doesn’t need much explaining.

Sure, a good amount of this shift has come from getting older, having more responsibilities, etc. but that doesn’t make it any less relevant or important.  It has, in fact, caused me to re-examine my daily decisions and at least be more conscious of the longer-term impact of those decisions.

Life is certainly about moments, but that doesn’t mean that maximizing this exact moment should trump future ones.