Of Pilots and Precedent (secrets we can learn about dieting from lawmen and engineers)

Two days ago, NASA's prized Mars rover, "Curiosity", landed on the face of the red planet without a hitch. From an outsider's perspective, one might find oneself thinking, "Well, of course it went off without a hitch; these guys are rocket scientists, after all!"  But just because someone is a genius -- much like with any expert, academic or athletic or anywhere in between -- it by no means is a guarantee that enormous challenges will go flawlessly.

Give a look at this video to get the gist of what sort of hoops this one-ton intergalactic laboratory-on-wheels had to jump through in order to call the first stage of it's mission a "success":

From a dieting perspective, there is actually one major thing we can learn from Curiosity through this.  It's a secret that rocket scientists, engineers, and pilots of all kinds know very well:  The concept of the "autopilot" feature.  According to Wikipedia, in the times prior to the invention of autopiloting, "...aircraft required the continuous attention of a pilot in order to fly safely.  As aircraft range increased allowing flights of many hours, the constant attention led to serious fatigue.  An autopilot is designed to perform some of the tasks of the pilot."

"So how does this apply to my diet and training?" You wonder.  Well, I'll tell you.  Did you watch that video above?  So many complex measures to combat so many unpredictable variables with little-to-no room for error, and yet it went without a hitch.  Why?  AUTOPILOT.  There was no thought, no emotion, no psychology or pressure felt by that little rover's driver.  That's because it's driver was a non-thinking, non-breathing robot built to make decisions in lieu of a human being whose many qualities which MAKE them human - fear, anxiety, and fatigue among them - create an atmosphere of increased probability for failure.  Simply put, some of the most wonderful qualities which make us who and what we are, can simultaneously work against us when we are up against a strict challenge.

If it's one thing I've learned thus far in my dieting, it's that the best way to ensure as easy a journey as possible is to put your mind on autopilot.  Too tired to go to the gym?  Shut your mind off and go anyway.  Don't listen to your mind.  Craving sweets or being terribly tempted?  Turn off your mind.  Go onto autopilot.  Keep going about your business and do not allow yourself to think or dwell on or crave those items.  Summon your inner robot and quarantine your feelings and emotions; it's okay to have them, and to express them, but if you refine your autopilot feature properly, you will soon develop the ability to segregate your thoughts and feelings from practical tasks you simply must just accomplish regardless of how you feel.

Sounds easier than in practice, huh?  Well, that is true without a doubt.  Downloading and installing a mental autopilot is no easy feat, especially if you don't believe you possess the power.  But I have good news - there's an app for it ;)

In the world of common law, we have this concept known as "precedent".  Precedent is a rule established in a previous legal case that was fully researched, presented to a judge and jury, and decided upon.  Some of these cases produce new laws (think Roe v. Wade).  In other instances it is more a matter of interpretation, such as whether an unborn fetus is considered a murder victim if it's mother is killed, or if through a physical crime to the mother the fetus dies.  The point is, how these decisions are decided upon in legal cases absolutely affects future cases, because prosecutors and defendants alike can use the rulings to support or refute new legal matters on the grounds that these prior cases were fully researched, fully presented, and fully decided upon.  No need to go through the motions again when the work has already been done, right?  Precedent also helps to ensure consistency in law and rulings, as well as expediency of trials and predictability of outcomes.

To tie this all together, when you are first setting out to control your mind and develop a sort of mental autopilot to help you either avoid temptations or stick to fighting the good fight in your workouts, you'll find that you naturally will develop a system of precedent in the beginning stage.  The more you stay strong and overcome adverse desires,  the easier it will be the next time you find yourself in a similar situation.  Don't get me wrong, the temptations don't fully go away, and the fatigue or laziness or general lack of motivation will occasionally creep in and dissuade you from working out.  But I can guarantee you that the more you ignore those negative thoughts and just force yourself to do what you gotta do anyway, the sooner you will develop that little autopilot function which makes getting through the less glamorous times much more manageable.  You realize you will survive.  You realize that no, you won't die if you don't get a slice of that cake, that the temptation will go away, and you'll remember how good you felt when you avoided the temptation.  The more you stick to it, the better of a case you will develop and the larger a library of precedent you will have to draw upon with each subsequent trial you face.  Your discipline will become more routine, and the outcomes much more predictable.

I have a coworker who brings pizza into the office everyday, and that's where the inspiration for this post came from.  I realized as she was heating up her customary four (FOUR!!) pieces in the convection oven, that I would just as easily pick up a raw onion and eat it like an apple as I would eat a slice of that pizza.  I wasn't tempted by it at all.  5 months ago, 4 months ago, I wouldn't have been able to say the same.  My mind still errantly associated psychological satisfaction with the physical act of eating pizza.  The tastes, the smells, and the textures all screamed "EAT ME!!" when I saw pizza.  But over the course of 6 months I have said, "No!!" enough times to realize I'm strong enough and perfectly capable of not succumbing to temptation, and now it isn't just a matter of using autopilot to help me avoid caving in; now, I'm not even tempted by it at all!  Pizza has no hold over me :)

So, regardless of where you are in your journey, whether you're the NASA Curiosity rover about to enter it's "7 minutes of terror" or you're already starting to colonize Pluto, I suggest you view overcoming challenges in a new light.  Attacking things systematically is always best especially if you have a logical thought process to lean on when the emotions come flooding in.  If you can learn to develop a little more of a mechanical approach toward the things in your life so easily derailed by human error, who knows where you'll land???  And I imagine the view will be spectacular once you arrive :)