WHOOP Podcast - No Quitters Here: Expert Tips for Sticking with Your New Year's Goal

Episode Date: January 18, 2023

We’re at the mid-way point of January and this week’s episode is a compilation of tips and tricks to stick to your goals. It takes 21 days for a new behavior to become a habit so we have 21 minutes of insight and expertise on how you can set yourself up for success and achieve your January Jumpstart resolutions. WHOOP VP of Performance Science Kristen Holmes sets the stage by explaining the Goldilocks Rule (0:51), author and endurance athlete Rich Roll explains the importance of taking a leap of faith (3:00), Super Bowl Champion Steve Weatherford shares his insight on how to feel better in your life by developing a routine and rhythm, Paralympic track star Scout Bassett highlights how leaving your comfort zone can help you achieve your goal (11:20), Olympic diving gold medalist Tom Daly talks about living in the moment and taking the pressure off of yourself (14:55), and finally CrossFitter Noah Ohlsen offers his tips for getting a good night’s sleep (18:20). Resources:Rich Roll EpisodeSteve Weatherford EpisodeScout Bassett EpisodeTom Daly EpisodeNoah Ohlsen EpisodeSupport the showFollow WHOOP: www.whoop.com Trial WHOOP for Free Instagram TikTok YouTube X Facebook LinkedIn Follow Will Ahmed: Instagram X LinkedIn Follow Kristen Holmes: Instagram LinkedIn Follow Emily Capodilupo: LinkedIn

Welcome back to the WOOP podcast, where we sit down with top athletes, researchers, scientists, and more to learn what the best in the world are doing to perform at their peak and what you can do to unlock your own best performance. I'm Kristen Holmes, VP of Performance Science at Woop, and we are on a mission to unlock human performance. It is Quidders Week. And if you have been going strong with your January jumpstart resolutions, we've got a great episode to help you. keep working towards your goals. We've brought back clips from some of our best guests who share their tips on how to accomplish goals and stay motivated. Whether you are trying to sleep better, manage weight, drink less alcohol, break a bad habit, or develop a new habit, these tips can really help keep you going. When it comes to your general willingness to learn something or to do something, one of the things we've learned about the science behind motivation is that the level

of difficulty of the goal can influence whether you continue pursuing that goal. We call this the Goldilocks rule in that the goal needs to be not too easy or not too hard. In either of those scenarios, you can get apathetic if it's too easy or paralyzed if it's too difficult. You want the goal to be in the sweet spot. I call this the challenge. zone. As you progress with your goal, you might need to add constraints to make it a little bit more challenging, to get out of that easy zone, or take a step back or slow down so you move from too difficult back into challenging. Recognizing the relationship between these zones and how the effect motivation is truly the key. In this episode, you'll hear from author and

endurance athlete Rich Roll, Super Bowl champion Steve Weatherford, Paralympic track athlete Scout Bassett, Olympic diver Tom Daly, and CrossFit athlete Noah Olson. New to Woop? Use the code will when you're checking out to get a $60 credit on WOOP accessories. You can use that credit for new bands, battery packs, loop body apparel, and more. Head to join.wop.com to get started. If you have a question you want to see answered on the podcast, email us, podcast at whoop.com, or call us at 508-443-4952.

We would love, love to hear from you. And your question just might be answered in a future episode. As we continue to develop new habits and set ourselves up for a successful year, it is key to recognize how important changing your lifestyle can be. Author, podcaster, and endurance athlete, Rich Roll, joined our show to discuss. us how making changes in your life can be difficult, but sometimes you have to take that leap of faith. Let's kick things off with Rich. I ended up walking away from big law firm life, but I continued to be a lawyer for a number of years, but I did it from a self-employed perspective.

So as my time investment increased with the ultra endurance endeavors that I was doing, I was able to, I had the privilege of being able to kind of configure my work schedule around that so that I could still get the training in that I wanted to do and kind of be a responsible lawyer. I didn't end up completely walking away from being a lawyer until the day that my first book came out, which was in 2012, but I was really, you know, I had one foot out the door and, you know, basically was a slow kind of exit out of that such that, you know, when I was writing my book and the kind of, you know, months leading up to the publication of my book, I was doing almost no law work at all. So it was a slow pivot out of it. And then kind of a ceremonial, okay, I'm not

renewing my bar, my bar membership. And so I'm completely shutting the door. So if someone calls me and says, can you, can you help negotiate this thing? I have to say, no, I can't. So I wouldn't be tempted by that. But it wasn't an overnight thing of like, I'm slamming the door and walking away and trying something new. It was really a much more, you know, gradual segue into new things. And those new things really didn't show up in a concrete way for a long time. Like, it took a long time to figure out how to craft a career out of these things that I care about. I imagine it took you quite some time to unpack, okay, you want to leave this world behind of being a lawyer, but now who is the new rich role? And so many people tie their identity up in the career that

they've built. And I would say the more years you spend building that career, my hunch is the more it starts to feel ingrained as part of who you are. So for other people thinking about a transition like that, what are a few of the, what are a few of the gut checks? you had along the way to know that you were making the right transition. Yeah, I think it's important to not be impulsive about this decision. You know, we're in this kind of culture in which it's very romantic to like quit your job and like, you know, go to Tahiti or whatever. And for most people, that's not realistic. And I rarely, you know, suggest that as an option to people. I think you need to be rational and smart about it so that you don't incur all kinds of problems and financial

burdens down the line. So it's a balance of, on the one hand, this idea that you're not allowing anything new to come into your life if you're holding on too tightly to the thing that's not working. So on some level, you have to have, you have to be ready to take a leap of faith into the unknown because you're not going to know how it's going to play out. And if you're waiting until that roadmap is completely laid out in front of you, you're never going to take the leap. So at some point, you have to understand that that leap is necessary. At the same time, that has to be buffered by that sense of responsibility. And what that looks like is going to be different for every single person based on your circumstances. And the other thing I would add to that

is that I think it's really important that you've done a lot of internal work to resolve your inner demons or, you know, really gain clarity over what makes you tick and what it is that you want out of your life before you start making, you know, rash or semi-rash decisions about your career path. Because if you have a lot of unresolved inner emotional turmoil or past traumas or whatever it is, we all have our complicated psychological makeups. If you haven't reckoned with that, then you're probably not in the best position to trust your instinctual impulses. And so I had to do, you know, at least 12 years of work on that before I felt confident trusting those impulses and those instincts and believing that they would not lead me down

the wrong path. So that's a really important piece that I feel like doesn't get enough attention. Everyone needs to start somewhere and Rich has an amazing story. So if you want to hear more about it, go check out episode 146. Once you make that leap, you have to start to build on it. So let's hear from Super Bowl champion Steve Weatherford on how creating a routine can help lay the foundation for achieving your goals. Here's Steve. I would say have the ultimate vision of a rhythm for yourself, right? And that's the thing, like, when we listen to music, we love it because it's got a rhythm.

It's flowing, right? We don't like to listen to a plan. We don't like to listen to a routine. We like to listen to a rhythm. But in order for you guys, if you're listening to this, and you haven't found that wellness rhythm, you haven't found that relationship rhythm,

you haven't found that learning rhythm, start with a plan, right? And I think the plan for you is, after you're done this podcast, like write down the things that matter most to you and then start to design with a routine, a life that includes those things that matter most to you because if you live a life of meaning,

you'll live a life that matters most to you. I created a construct from my life predicated off of what could I do that with appease and make other people happy. So find out what's important to you and design a life that is full of it. If you love relationships, design a business, design a life, design a routine that includes that. And it might take you a year. It might take you two years.

But guess what? Like for me, I got about 39 years to go. I'm 39 years old right now. The average age is 78.3. Relationships are important to me. My dad, my dad's 67. So if he lives another 12 years, think about that. I don't know how old you are as you listen to this, but how old is your dad, your mom, you know, your brother's, your sister.

And then I want you to think about this for my dad. 12 more years I'll have him, right? According to science. I see him twice a year. That means I'm going to see my father 24 more times before he's gone. That hits different, dude. Think about that. And so in order for you and I to live a life that matters most,

it's not about six packs. It's not about abs. It's not about trophies. It's not about money. Those things, those are the things that are going to naturally occur. when you're living a life that matters to you because it's not going to be it's not going to be something you're like oh i'm going to show up on monday no no no you said you love this so let's go start with a plan and once you get a plan make that your routine and if you stay in that routine long

enough it will become your rhythm there's a scripture in the bible it's galatian six nine it says do not grow weary and doing good for in due season you will reap if you don't give up and that's a word for everybody listening to this right now like if you're not doing good start doing good get a plan start doing good for in due season if you don't give up doing good you will reap if you don't give up but at the end of the day you're the only one that's going to pull yourself out of the mud wash yourself off find out what matters most you get into a routine and then find that rhythm where you're just flowing man where relationships are coming to you where you're going to relationships where finances are flowing in your direction and you're not grinding,

you're receiving grace. And I believe that, that to me, that is my aim in life. Some really great insight from Steve there on how something like getting into a new routine and mindset can make a big difference. If you want to hear more from Steve, go check out episode 159. Making a change is not always the easiest thing to do. But this next tip from Paralympic track star scout pass it is going to help you find ways to leave your comfort zone. Take a listen to Scout. There was a little four-year gap in between college and going to OTC where I worked a full-time job for medical device company. And then I got the, it came on the back of not making the 2012 Paralympic Games and realizing that in order for me

to make this happen, I have to be all in. And I have to be willing to sacrifice and to suffer. be broken down once again, right? And that's what led me to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista. But Jimmy, when I went there, I had my car, friends, couches, and spare rooms. And that's about it. And I remember this year, again, anxiety, panic, fear of, this is crazy, what are you doing? Paralympic athletes don't make a living. What am I doing when I've just come from like a really successful job where I had full benefits and to trade all of that for poverty, basically, just seemed absolutely insane. But again, another part of the journey that really built me.

And getting through that, I realize, as I have with my orphanage experience, nothing that you face in the present or in the future is going to be as hard as what you've lived through, scout. So therefore, you're going to be okay. You're going to figure it out. You're going to make it. The point is that so many times people are afraid to go after a dream, a goal, because they don't want to go to those places, right? Of leaving the comfort zone, of what they know they've had, and to be willing to suffer to that degree. And oftentimes to achieve a level of greatness, you have to be. I don't know a single person in my life that, I would consider really successful, both as a person and professionally, that hasn't suffered

or sacrificed a tremendous amount. And that really is what separates the good from the greats is not the ones who work the hardest. Everybody works hard. You know that, Jeremy, in your sport. Like, people work hard in all industries of life. Lots of people work really hard. That's not the differentiator. The differentiator of greatness is the ones that are willing to take on the most risk and to fail the most. And I can look at, and I'm about to go through another season of that, but are the ones who are willing to do that. People are willing to leave what they know, their comfort zone, and say, all right, I'm willing to lose a lot. I'm willing to fail a lot. I'm willing to risk everything or a lot for greatness. Obviously, it's worked out, but

I don't think it would have worked out had I not been willing to go to that place. Scout has an incredible story and journey that I encourage everyone to go learn more about if you don't know it. And you can hear more about it in episode 190. So we've heard how changing routines and leaving your comfort zone can be impactful. And this next tip is going to help you take a step back and take a little bit of pressure off yourself. Tom Daly joined the show to discuss his pursuit of an 11th, Olympic gold medal in diving and how valuable it can be to let yourself live in the moment and not be overwhelmed by the pressure of accomplishing a goal. Here's Olympic gold medalist,

Tom Daly. I mean, it's been my life for as long as I can remember. Like, you know, it's not a job that you can just leave at the office. It's a, it's a lifestyle. And you have to be ready to give up everything at all costs to achieve those goals. And at times, at times, like when it's really tough, like after Rio, I was like, why am I doing this? Why am I putting myself through this like almost like torture? Like you, I found myself like it was 2020 was the first time where I didn't experience this. But all the previous Olympics, I was so excited and worked so hard for these Olympic games and put so much pressure on myself that it was almost like a torturous experience to actually do the

Olympic Games because you don't want to mess it up because you know you've only got one in a like one chance in every four years. So it was this time in 2020 where I was like, I'm not going to torture myself through this experience. Like I, it was, I guess this comes with experience, but you have to remember that you are more, like every person is more than just an athlete. An athlete isn't just what defines you. You can't define yourself by how well you do in a competition. You are more than your sport and, you know, your friends and your family are what's really important. And when you kind of get to that feeling of, you know what, I'm just going to be here because I want to enjoy it.

I want to do my best. And take all of that pressure that you put on yourself off of you, that's when you can really fly. And until you get to that point in your career where you can really see that and have that perspective, that's the only time that you'll be able to get to your fullest potential. I think that's right. I think the pressure is probably what builds a lot of the discipline, though, early in a career. Absolutely.

Just the enormous sacrifice that you made to become a gold medalist that came from the intense pressure that you put on yourself to be won. Winning it, it feels like in listening to you, came from allowing yourself to be relieved of that pressure. Yeah, it was like almost I realized in, like in Tokyo, I almost gave myself permission. Okay, like now you can do it. Now, okay, now you put yourself through enough torture.

Now you can go and win it. And it was like, it was weird. Like I woke up that day and it was like I, I spoke to Matty, my synchro partner. It was like we both just knew that it was going to happen that day. It was like we found this sense of flow that was like it was just like it was just like it was weird. Like even my husband said like he just knew we were going to win like he had. I mean he said he did done good karma and he was giving 20 $20 to like whoever like the homeless

people outside the store and he was like doing whatever he could to get as much good carmas. And I was just like and he went and bought a bottle of champagne like before because he knew that it was like he just everyone around me. It was just like everything kind of came together in this thing that we were able to do it. It was really surreal. It's pretty amazing how Tom was able to take the pressure off himself at the biggest stage to achieve his dream and win a gold medal. To hear more about Tom and his journey to becoming an Olympic champion, check out episode 142. In order to perform at your peak, whether you're an Olympian or not, your body needs to be well-rested. that's right sleep is key crossfit legend noa olson shared some insight on how to commit to a good

night's sleep here's no i think the most important one and it again seems pretty obvious is just holding yourself accountable and going to bed early like it's really easy to just watch another episode of that show or stay up late scroll in instagram but you have to check yourself at some point and say, no, it's important to me to improve my recovery, get a good night's sleep, like I'm shutting everything off. So that definitely is where I have to make sure that I get to bed at an appropriate time to allow myself to get that good night's sleep. That's most important. Other things that I like to do, I'll try to throw on the blue light blocking glasses as often as I can. Sometimes you forget, but it feels like I'm doing the right thing. And then I often

like to in bed have some good conversation with Joanne that we kind of close the day out on a good note feeling good and relaxed and at peace with the way that our lives are and I'll try to do some deep relaxing breathing to drift off to sleep. I know those are no like major secrets, but that seems to be what works for me. Having Max cuddling with us on the bed feels good spiritually and in my heart, but sometimes he takes up too much space. Like last night, I ended up diagonally with one leg off the bed and no sheets on because Max was on my right side, taking up half the bed. But it's worth it. If you enjoyed listening to Noah, you can listen to his full interview on episode 161. Big thanks to all of our guests for sharing their insights.

If you enjoyed this episode of the Woot Podcast, be sure to leave a rating or review. Check us out on social at whoop. Have a question you want to see answered on the podcast. Email us podcast at whoop.com or call us at 508-443-4952. Your question just might be answered on a future episode. Once again, if you're new to whoop, use the code will, W-I-L-L, when you're checking out and get $60 credit on W-W-A accessories. You can use that credit for new bands, battery pack, body apparel, and more. Head to join.org.com to get started. That's a wrap for this week.

We'll catch you next time. And as always, stay healthy and stay in the green.