Learning how to move sustainably
Disclaimer: This is an opinion blog. I may use clinical knowledge and experience as a Physiotherapist to develop this content. I will also cite resources where appropriate. However, this content does not replace nor seek to replace the consultation with a Physiotherapist or other healthcare professional for your health concerns.
More recently, sustainability has sort of lost its lustre as a meaningful word. I want to help breathe a little bit of life back into sustainability by attaching it to a more useful concept: the infinite mindset.
In a business book entitled, “The infinite game,” the author, Simon Sinek, discusses two types of games: finite and infinite. A finite game is like soccer, where you have a clear idea of the players in the game, and a clear winner or loser. In an infinite game, however, you have no idea who the players are, and there is no clear winner or loser. The fundamental way to “win” at an infinite game is to stay in the game the longest. To play in either a finite or infinite game, the players must have a finite or infinite mindset, respectively.
You might be wondering, “what does a business book have anything to do with health and movement?” The CONCEPT of the infinite mindset is not exclusive to business, and it’s the MINDSET that I think is so crucial to changing the way we think about movement and health.
Hint, the key is to STAY IN THE GAME. The key is to think SUSTAINABLY.
The Infinite Mindset in Movement and Health
In the first move to live blog post, we talked about how the fitness industry has misconstrued the truth behind words like “fitness” and “exercise.” Movement and health are the original concepts of “fitness” and “exercise” without all the fluff. Fitness is framed as a finite game, whereas movement and health are infinite, which is terrible because of the way we think and talk about exercise:
“I got destroyed from my workout today!”
“I lost ‘X’ pounds.”
“I’m finally at my goal weight!”
“I won the race!”
“Just do it.”
These phrases imply that there IS a clear winner (or loser depending on your point of view). And here is the thing, an infinite game includes the smaller finite games within it. For example, to become healthy, you may need to work out. But the issue is that fitness makes it ALL about the workout and saves nothing for the long-term goal of health. And then we get discouraged when we don’t achieve a fitness goal and feel like our efforts were “all for nothing!” Someone trying their best to improve their physical and mental wellbeing, despite the short-term outcome, is FAR from nothing.
Movement and health is an infinite game. There is no clear winner or loser, and at any point, another player (life circumstances) may enter without your prior consent. The key to movement and health is to keep working at the small wins along the way like reducing your body weight or finishing a race, but ALSO acknowledging that the REAL goal is to keep moving and keep healthy for as long as you possibly can. You might feel compelled to think that what I’m saying is equivalent to, “Don’t give up!” or “Keep going with your fitness goals,” which isn’t the case. I’m saying this:
“Imagine running a 10K at 70 years old because you WANT to, not caring about your pace or time.”
“Imagine feeling like your movement is limitless until you pass away. You will rarely think that you can’t move a certain way and doing what you want to because you think about your long -term health, sustainably.”
Thinking with an infinite mindset can help those who feel pressured to look a certain way or achieve a particular “fitness milestone” but who cannot seem to do so RIGHT NOW. Even if you haven’t met your ONE goal, that doesn’t mean your journey towards better movement and health has to stop, it can keep going, for as long as you are willing to keep it going. I think that’s a huge win for sustainability.
Until next time!
For those of you who don’t know him, Simon Sinek was the author of “Start with Why,” which stemmed from his revolutionary TED talk with the same title. He became known for his theory on the golden circle, which illustrated that those who understand why they do what they do are more likely to act in ways that align with what they believe in and are more successful in the long-term. Take a look at his website (simonsinek.com) and other social media if you're interested.