Week 3 / Adapting
“Once an overall goal has been set, a teacher or coach will develop a plan for making a series of small changes … Deliberate practice is deliberate, that is, it requires a person’s full attention and conscious actions.”
Anders Ericcson
While watching this video, you may notice that we're focusing on mindfulness, which is three of five principles outlined by Anders Ericcson's work in the book he coauthored 'Peak: Unleashing your Inner Champion through Revolutionary Methods of Skill Acquisition and Performance Enhancement in Work, Sport, and Life.' At the same time, we've barely touched on or tried to shape a SMART goal other than to pick one meal to focus on. We'll dig into goals a bit more next week but we first had to fully understand and appreciate the project we're tackling. Imagine the following two scenarios:
Scenario 1 / Experienced cook with:
A fully stocked kitchen
Presently cooks at least four meals a week
Comfortable in the kitchen
Regularly prepares protein in advance
Has trouble adding a decent amount of veggies
Scenario 2 / Inexperienced cook with:
A shortage of sharp knives and kitchen utensils
Uncomfortable with the timing of multiple ingredients
Isn't sure how to tell when protein is fully cooked
Usually orders healthy meal kits with minimal prep
While both cooks have the same end goal, the obstacles and strategies will be totally different. Cook 1 wants to overhaul a meal but wants to find a recipe with a decent variety of veggies that take a starring role. They may struggle with supplying unique produce, prepping it, and using it up before it goes bad. Cook 2 also wants to overhaul a meal but they may have difficulty supplying their kitchen with the right tools, finding a recipe that isn't overwhelming and judging the amount of time it will take to prepare it.
When we actually start doing the cooking or preparation next week, Cook 1 may have decided to add one to two veggies to each of the four meals they're currently cooking. Cook 2 might be trying to cook a full but easy meal from start to finish two times during the week.
You can see that when you get more granular about what your challenges are, you can design goals that make sense given your unique obstacles. When we can be so specific about our challenges, we can design strategies guaranteed to succeed and once you starting winning, the momentum builds.
When you create a routine, embrace that routine, and see the results of that routine, you stop negotiating with yourself. You see your routine as a task, in the best possible way: Your routine isn’t something you choose to do; it’s just what you do. And you stop making choices that don’t support your goals.
Haden, Jeff. The Motivation Myth: How High Achievers Really Set Themselves Up to Win (p. 41). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Out of Scope
If you've set a clear, manageable goal—such as focusing on improving just one meal for the week—but then start making changes to snacks, other meals, or overall diet habits without planning for those additions, you're experiencing scope creep.
Why That’s a Problem:
Overwhelm and burnout: Trying to change too much at once can lead to decision fatigue, stress, and giving up altogether.
Diluted focus: You don’t give yourself enough time to observe patterns, build habits, or learn from the single meal you originally committed to improving.
Inconsistent results: Without a focused approach, it's hard to track what’s working and what’s not, making it difficult to adjust effectively.
Erosion of confidence: When your original plan starts to feel unmanageable, it can lead to feelings of failure, even though the issue was an unrealistic scope—not your ability.
Just like in project management, sticking to the original scope—in this case, one meal per week—gives you space to learn, adapt, and build momentum with confidence.