Why knowing what to do is so often not enough
Most of us already know the basics.
Sleep more.
Eat better.
Move regularly.
Get outside.
Pause.
Breathe.
Reduce stress.
Connect better.
And yet many of us still struggle to do these things consistently.
Why?
Because knowing is not the same as having built the procedures that make healthier choices more available.
I was thinking about this in relation to my own life.
Six days a week, my alarm is set for 4.47am.
That is the time it takes me to:
get up,
drink coffee,
practise my Greek on Duolingo
(1674-day streak and counting),
have a bath,
get dressed,
prepare my gym kit,
and drive to the gym in good time for a 6.30am class
(or two, depending on the day).
I do not drink alcohol.
I eat a vegan diet with no artificial additives.
I am usually in bed by 9pm, reading my Kindle. At the moment, Game of Thrones.
It is not that these choices are right for everyone.
They are just mine.
And the important point is this:
I do not have to think much about them.
It is not a daily internal debate.
Not:
“Should I go?”
“Do I feel like it?”
“Maybe tomorrow.”
“Perhaps I’ll skip it.”
I just do it.
It is my procedure.
I follow it.
And it works.
I don’t do this because I wake up every morning overflowing with motivation.
I do it because the procedure is already there.
That is what I mean when I say change is often less about more information, and more about training better defaults.
If we are disconnected from our body,
organised around threat,
running on stress,
or have never really learned how to notice and respond to what is happening inside us,
then even good advice can remain strangely hard to carry out.
We may know we need rest,
but not know how to come down.
We may know we need movement,
but not know how to shift from pressure into action.
We may know we need boundaries,
but not know how to tolerate the discomfort of setting them.
We may know we need sleep, stillness, nourishment, or connection,
but not know how to make those choices from a regulated, values-led place.
Procedural learning is what happens when a healthier response becomes more available through repetition.
Not just understood.
Not just agreed with.
Not just admired.
But practised enough that, under real-life conditions, we are more able to do it.
Because under pressure, most of us do not rise to the level of our intentions.
We fall back on what is more deeply learned.
So sometimes the more useful question is not:
What do we know we should do?
It is:
What have we actually trained ourselves to do?
We do not just need better advice.
We need better procedures.
And once a good procedure is built, it reduces cognitive load rather than adding to it.
That, in my view, is where much real change begins.
Good procedures reduce cognitive load.
But the quality of the fuel still matters.
That is where intrinsic motivation comes in — and I’ll say more about that in my next post.