Or is it?
If you have ever watched GI Joe – an American cartoon hero from the 80s – this catchphrase might sound familiar.
He would end every episode with some kind of PSA… like “don’t accept candy from strangers kids”
And the kids would reply: Thanks GI Joe. Now I know…
And GI Joe would say: And knowing is half the battle…
But is it?
I recently came across the concept of GI Joe fallacy.
Cognitive science explains that knowledge of a desired action is not enough to make it happen. Knowing something is just not enough to put it into practice. It’s not half the battle. It’s actually a teeny tiny fraction of the battle.
Let’s take fitness and fat loss as examples, cos well that’s my field! There is no shortage of knowledge and info. Most of us know the actions we should be taking. But, if you ever look into health and wellness stats, collectively we’re simply not taking the action:
- About 40% of adults in the UK do not meet the recommended guidelines for physical activity
- 58% of women are overweight or obese
- about 23% of women in the UK drink more than the recommended daily limits for alcohol
We know we should be exercising. We know junk food is bad for us. We know too much alcohol is bad for us.
Yet, collectively we’re not really doing anything with this knowledge.
Why is this?
In short there’s a disconnect between knowledge and the actions we take.
But why?
Why is it so hard for us to act on things we know?
In short, our brain feeds us the wrong info. And this happens quite a lot!
Our intuitions are often totally wrong.
Here’s an example. I’m sure you’ve all seen this one before. Which line is longer?
And although we know the answer, we probably need to work a bit to get our minds to agree, right?
It’s the same with nutrition and fitness. We know the answer – eat less shit. But our brain needs convincing. And instead we spend money, time and energy and resources on keto, shakes, or some new fad like blood sugar monitoring. [Rolls eye]
Our reference point is wrong
A reference point a comparison against which all subsequent info is compared is often wrong).Here’s another example. Which orange dot is bigger?
Our brain wants to tell us that it’s the one on the right. But actually they’re the same size. It just seems bigger because the circles are so much smaller. The reference point, the grey circles, is different.
In the health and fitness space, this is our brain convincing us that we’re not doing that badly, that our sister / aunt / friend are in the same or worse situation. Our problem is not that urgent.
(Of course it is in our interest to believe that too. Cos change is hard and all that….)
How can we change our behaviours?
Ultimately it boils down to this.
When it comes to behaviour change, we have to step beyond “knowing” and into consistent action. And this involves a number of factors:
Good habit formation: Learning to create good habits to support your goal. Making good habits easy and visible. Making bad habits difficult and invisible.
Environment shaping: Creating an environment that allows you to consistently work towards your goal.
Emotional regulation: the ability to say: I will not let this experience derail me. The experience might be a poorly child, an argument with your partner or an issue a work. Learning how to deal with these experiences consistently in a way that supports your goals is key.
Clarity of intention: are you actually going to do this? Or are you just saying you’re going to do this because you think you ought to. Or because everybody else is doing it? Why is it important?
Managing Motivation: being aware that motivation will ebb and flow. So how do you manage this and continue to take deliberate action?
Accountability: Creating a process to help you make sure you do the thing. Whether its check-ins, assessment and re-evaluation, celebrating success, all of these are key to keeping you on track.
So you see, knowing isn’t half the battle.
But stepping from knowledge to action is what will lead to success!
And the good news is that we can work on that!
