This week’s issue of Harder To Kill is going to be a smorgasbord of ideas, tools and tactics you can use for the remainder of this year (44 days left as of the date of this newsletter) to move from “surviving” the holidays to positioning yourself to go into 2024 with momentum. Use one of these, some of these, or all of these. You’ll thank me on January 2.

Let’s get started.

Brainstorm & Shitstorm

Get out a sheet of paper with two columns. In column 1 write “brainstorm.”

In this column write down all the positive, fun, innovative, generous things you could do to make this the best holiday season ever. Don’t limit yourself to just health ideas, think about family, friends, co-workers, your church, strangers, and yourself. Maybe sit down with your spouse and your kids and do this exercise. Imagine it is Jan 2 and you are reflecting on what an awesome holiday season it has been, one with no regrets.

Now, in column 2 write “shitstorm.”

In this column write everything that could go wrong. You don’t plan, you forget to buy gifts, you eat a lot of crappy food, you drank too much, you said things you shouldn’t have, think Grinch meets Scrooge and they planned the holidays.

Now look at these contrasting columns and make the decision how you want the next month and half to go. For extra credit, write down how you plan on living the next 44 days.

Set an Intention

With the Brainstorm / Shitstorm exercise under your belt, it becomes easy to set an intention for the holidays. Here’s mine:

“My intentions are to assume the best in all situations, lead with kindness, and own everything. No excuses.”

Make it short and memorable, like a mantra. You’ll be amazed how this intention will help you make better choices in how you respond to people, what you choose to eat and drink, how you move your body, etc.

Recruit A Buddy

As regular readers of this newsletter know, I’m a big fan of having a band of brothers, a posse, a tribe. This can be two people but if you can expand to at least 3 people, you’ll be amazed at how your accountability will increase.

All you have to do is start a text with your group, share your intentions and then report how you did. Do this daily; it takes maybe a minute or two total. You’ll probably have to nudge people occasionally and remind them of their intention. Encourage them to do the same to you. Keep it fun and simple.

Measure Something

We leverage Pearson’s Law at Argent Alpha to great effect. Pearson’s Law states:

"When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported back, the rate of improvement accelerates.”.”

The first part of Pearson’s Law, measuring, you can do on your own and have a lot of success. You can measure steps, how many cocktails you had (or avoided), how much protein you ate, how many friends you contacted…pick something important to you and start measuring it.

The second part of Pearson’s Law is the jet fuel and it combines the previous tip of “Recruit A Buddy” - report your measurement to a friend. When you combine measuring and reporting, success goes through the roof.

Embrace vs Avoid

Change how you think of the holidays. Move from avoiding something and reframe your thinking to embracing it. I used to avoid situations that had temptations and now I reframe them with a simple thought: “I’m the kind of person who can go to a holiday party and make great choices that keep me on track with my goals.”

This approach works well when paired with the Intention you set.

Substitute vs Subtract

This method is super helpful to think about when you go into an environment with a lot of temptations. Think substitute not subtract. Our brains don’t like to be told no. So don’t subtract, substitute.

I’ll use food as an example.

If you are at Thanksgiving and your history includes you strapping on the feedbag and hitting all the fixings really hard, try this: Eat all the turkey (or protein) you want. Load it up in the middle of your plate and spread it out a bit so it takes up a lot of room on the plate. Then fill in the remaining (smaller) parts of your plate with your favorite item (for me it’s the stuffing with sausage my wife makes). Maybe throw a little gravy on there.

The point here is when you load up on protein (and fewer starches and rich foods), you’ll satisfy your hunger, enjoy yourself, not look like the weird diet guy and stay on track. And if you worked out earlier that day (see below), your body will thank you for the muscle building protein.

And for those who enjoy a cocktail, try the mocktail. A popular mocktail with the Argent Alpha crew is club soda with bitters or a wedge of lime and/or lemon. It satisfies the desire to have a drink in hand but no booze and it hydrates you. I was skeptical the first time I tried it but it works. And if you want to be festive, throw some of those bright red cherries in there.

Create A Buy-In

On October 1, we started the 1,000,000 step challenge. One of the ways I get steps in is by creating a buy-in. For me, my buy-in to watch any television after dinner requires a 30 minute walk with my wife. Not only does this improve my digestion and level off my blood sugar but I get more steps for the day and I decrease my screen time. On top of that, I sleep better! Wins as far as the eye can see.

There are so many ways to create a buy-in. For years our family has had some kind of group workout on Thanksgiving morning. We’ve done turkey trots, classes at boutique fitness gyms, and hiked mountains. We always have a buy-in before we enjoy the main meal.

Starting a day that you know has potential dietary landmines in it with a workout has a halo effect. You will make better choices at the dinner table when you have had a fitness buy-in.

If It’s Not There, You Can’t Eat It

I’ll admit, this tip is easier if you are an empty nester and your spouse is aligned with you on your health journey. Here it is:

If it’s not in the pantry, you can’t eat it.

Willpower is rendered useless when the chocolate covered cherries used to come into our house. Yes, those cheap ones they sell at Walgreens. For me, they are a childhood memory and I cave at the sight of those little red boxes.

So we simply don’t buy them. If they aren’t there, I can’t eat them.

Happy Holidays!

There you have it, a smorgasbord of tools, tips and tactics to help you stay Harder to Kill during the holidays.

I invite you to try one today and keep stacking these tips throughout the holidays. You’ll enjoy yourself and go into 2024 with momentum and a sense of accomplishment. Happy Holidays!

Recently, KSTP-TV in Minneapolis did a featured segment on one of our members. After the segment aired, we were interviewed on Minnesota Live. This feature reached a lot of people and dozens of Men over 50 have contacted me.

We are accepting applications through December 31, 2023 and will reopen them sometime in first quarter 2024. Check out the links below and if you think you might be a fit for our community (it’s virtual, we currently have Men in 10 states), go to Argent Alpha and apply.

KSTP Interview on Minnesota Live.

Video recap of our Live Event on September 30.