Hard choices, easy life

"Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life." - Jerzy Gregorek

I am such a fan of the simplicity of this statement I decided to inscribe it on the side of my new espresso maker

This way, every morning when I make coffee, I am reminded to not skip the gym today.

If I skip the gym, that’s an easy choice.

What happens if I make easy choices? I’ll have a hard life.

My idea of going to the gym is simply statistics.

According to the data on my Apple Watch, I have a 39.2 VO2max

What is a 39.2 VO2max?

It is a measurement of the maximum amount of oxygen your body can consume during exercise

Why does this matter?

According to this scientific paper, and many others like it, they have determined lower scores of VO2 max is associated with higher risk of heart disease, cancer, dementia, Alzheimer's, depression, and Type 2 diabetes

Using my age and gender to determine which category I reside in, I can make a decision to statistically steer my health into a much lower risk category with a much higher VO2max

How can I get a higher V02max? There are many ways of achieving this

I choose the one which requires the least amount of preparation and the highest amount of discipline, which is running on the treadmill for 20 minutes at a 11.5 kilometres per hour pace

Going to the gym? Well, that would be a hard choice but I’d have a much easier life

Inspiration

A Polish man by the name of Jerzy Gregorek says is quoted saying "Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life" a lot. Jerzy immigrated to the United States from Poland in 1986 as a political refugee during the Solidarity Movement.

I discovered Jerzy from an archived podcast from Tim Ferris and Naval Ravikant, and thoroughly enjoyed listening to how he approaches life obstacles.

"Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life" is such a simple quote which encompasses so much of a philosophy I believe in. - It aligns with the inversion mental model. The idea of 'doing easy things' has occupied 3rd place in my list of 7 things I deliberately avoid for more than a decade