10 thoughts on how you can improve your internal chatter for improved health.

Smarter Sundays - #253.

Sep 07, 2025

When you’re working on your health, there is a lot of focus on the external:

Training programs
Nutrition guidelines
Prepping your equipment or joining a gym
Setting up your calorie deficit
Getting all the latest tech for tracking your numbers

While all these do have a place, what I’ve found has helped me work on my consistently over 15 years has been a look inwards.

The inner wiring, the internal chatter or the inner monologue, whatever you may want to call it plays a larger role than we pay conscious attention to.

Here are a few ways that I talk to myself and have hardwired my brain to think, that has helped me over the years:

Dopamine hits through actions rather than through words.

Most of your internal issues can be solved through actions.

Telling someone you will work on improving your health gets you pats on the back, but it doesn’t get you the results that you need.

Words can make you feel better briefly, actions will make you feel better consistently.
PC: The eldest boy.
When in a bind, remind myself that I have the capacity to figure it out.

If your default thought is not one that looks for solutions but is one of surrendering to fate a.k.a.

“This is just how it is with me”
“This is just who I am”
“That’s just the way things are”

then you are unlikely to find solutions for the issues you face.

Believing you’ve the agency to figure things out, to do hard things, to get out of your comfort zone goes a long way in moving you in that direction.
PC: @visualisevalue
Self pity is a form of procrastination.

Too many people allow a single misstep to define their day. They moan and groan and wallow in self-pity (like yours truly🙋‍♂️) instead of shrugging it off as a known price to pay for learning a new skill.

Give yourself grace, and then focus on moving forward.
Self-criticism is an even bigger form of procrastination.

One high calorie meal shouldn’t lead to a overloaded weekend. One missed workout shouldn’t lead to a week lacking in physical activity. And yet, so often people do this.

Instead of acknowledging a minor setback for what it is, they blow it up in their heads and spiral into catestrophizing their mistake while chastising themselves, which in turn ends up being the bigger mistake.
As a young cricketer my coach would always remind me: Focus not on the ball that just ended, but the one coming up. No matter whether you scored a boundary, or nearly got out, or you dropped a catch, put it out of your mind. Focus on the upcoming one for that is the one that is important.
PC: @Visualisevalue
Nix Certainty. Embrace life’s surprises.

Too often people don’t want to start something without knowing for certain the result they will achieve. This is especially true with one’s fitness goals.

“How much weight will I lose in 3 months?”
“How much muscle can I gain in the next 12 months?”
“How much can I improve my 10k timing by in 12 weeks?”

They get caught up in wanting certainty, they end up doing none of the work that could guarantee the results they seek.

The ones who have improved their health long term know the truth:

The fun is in the journey, not in reaching the destination.

Doing the traits that will lead you to a healthier life becomes easier if you let go of your need for certainty of the eventual outcome.
Consistently reliable > Occasionally extraordinary.

Some folks have no right to call themselves perfectionists. Unless they’re calling themselves perfectionists in procrastination.

A lot can be achieved when you ditch your need to be perfect and instead focus on being consistently reliable.
Self-control is empathy with your future self.

"If you want to have high self-esteem, then earn your own self-respect." - Naval
Today’s effort > today’s result.

The results of a single workout, a single day of running, a single day of being in a calorie deficit, or a single day of meditation isn’t immediate.

Do not make the mistake of judging your daily efforts by the daily results.

Life is a quest of identity. Through your daily actions take pride in the person you’re becoming.
PC: @Visualisevalue
Shitty now or shitty later?

There are times when I am walking to the gym, or when I am about to lace up to run, or when I need to say no to a food I love where I absolutely do not want. In that current moment I am feeling shitty about having to do the task at hand.

And yet, that feeling goes away the moment I am through with the task and is instead is replaced with a feeling of gratitude for getting through the task despite not feeling upto it.

When in doubt, always default to feeling shitty now versus feeling shitty later.
Knowing you’re not a finished product, and that you’re constantly learning, refining, changing, and growing.

I have said this before and it bears repeating.

You could be 25, 34, 46, 54 years of age (or older), and yet you’re not a finished product.

You will still have new skills to learn, new emotions to embrace, new challenges to overcome.

Learn to embrace being a beginner, being a learner, and being someone who is happy to stumble knowing that you can always get back up.