Lots of people ask me for tips on how to start and exercise program or improve their performance. I have found that sending them articles, detailed plans or scientific research quickly gets ignored. Most people want tips, checklists or some other abbreviated form of knowledge that cuts to the chase. I am not sure if this is due to our society's short attention span or if people just want a simple, easy way to accomplish a arduous task.
So, I will offer tips on how to eat, stay in shape, get motivated and so on. Tips work well when they are used as summations of concepts that will change your behavior. They do not do the work for you. In fact, a tip should be an action item that requires an immediate response.
Consider this great passage from an article in Psychology Today:
"When do tips work? When we do. Change takes focused attention on relevant facilitating behaviors (hopefully these are the behaviors captured in the tip), as well as a great deal of sustained effort. We all know how this goes - two steps forward, one step back, two steps forward, three steps back, two steps forward . . . a moment of success . . . then back to the work at hand. New habits are established slowly and they are hard won and well deserved. Anyone who tells you anything else is trying to sell you something, and there's lots of that going around - fitness without real exercise, diet without fewer calories consumed, increased well being without a conscious choice to live differently."\
What if someone asked you how to become a successful rainmaker in your career and you said, "Here are a few tips: work hard, stay late, impress the boss and make a difference in the business. That's all there is to it." You would not find it very helpful despite it being accurate. Do not think simple tips on how to get in shape of any better. There is a great deal of effort behind each of those items, and there is no shortcut to success in any endeavor.
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