I was listening to The Art of Manliness yesterday and it was about the Tyranny of Convenience. It was about how convenience makes all of our lives easier, but it does not make our lives better.
We can get just about anything with the push of a button on an object in our hands. Very soon you can have your own flame thrower! Thank you Elon Musk.
For me, it is a little scary how easy things are getting. It always makes me think of the movie Wall E, how in the future we will just be these obese, catered to creatures who have our every whim met.
The podcast talked about how things that make your life better tend to be inconvenient. Learning how to play an instrument to hear music versus listening to any song you want for instance.
Exercise is not easy and most of the time it is not convenient. There is effort, time, sweat, discomfort, etc… But there is this weird thing where it actually feels satisfying to have sore muscles. That is because your body is meant to move!
Find all the opportunities you can to move. Don’t let someone or some thing burn your calories for you whenever possible. This is called Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT).
Here are a few examples:
-Take the stairs
-Walk to someone’s office for a chat instead of e-mailing
-Park further out
-Stand and stretch every hour
-Stand on one foot for balance
-Ride a bike
-Play with kids and animals
-Skip to the mailbox
There are seriously hundreds of ways you can incorporate NEAT into your every day life. It will make your life more inconvenient, but studies have shown these activities might be even more important to your health than your workouts.
At first, these interruptions in your routine will not seem like much fun. No one likes having their routines messed with. But stick with it and you will find you are: more energetic; not as stiff; and as a bonus you will burn more calories.