David J Baldwin

AIM HIGH  For All or Nothing Thinkers! When I wanted to start meditating, I was intimidated by the habits of people I know who swore by their practice of meditating 20-40 minutes per day. How did they carve out that much time for themselves? I'd read story after story about people who reduced their anxiety and increased productivity by introducing meditation into their lives, but couldn't seem to get started. I was stuck in All or Nothing Thinking. If I can't meditate 20-40 minutes a day, I just won't meditate at all! My friend Brian introduced me to the AIM framework by asking me 3 questions.  What's the ACCEPTABLE minimum number of minutes you could meditate per week?  What's the IDEAL number of minutes you'd meditate per week?  What's in the MIDDLE?  I answered: ACCEPTABLE: 5 min X 5 days = 25 min/week IDEAL: 10 min x 7 days = 70 min/week MIDDLE: 8 min x 5 days = 40 min/week So I set out to meditate 8 minutes a day and

If you've ever dieted or tried to start eating healthy, this may be a familiar story: You're nailing your diet. You've eaten "clean" for 5 days straight! Perfect! Then Friday night you have a margarita. It leads to 3 more, and suddenly you're grabbing 2 slices of pizza before you get on the subway. When you get home you house every cookie in the house and wash it down with the pint of Ben and Jerry's you left in the fridge. Saturday morning you wake up and the memory of last night's binge comes over you like a bad dream. Just me? No one else? Ah good, then you can stop reading here and go back to watching Miranda Sings videos on YouTube. As a coaching client of Precision Nutrition this year, I've been working to eliminate my binging. But it hasn't been easy. I'm not perfect. The binges still happen, but they've become less frequent as I've changed how I talk (and think) about food. Here are a couple of the mi

Sick of dieting? Tired of counting calories? I sure am! I've spent the last 9 months experimenting on myself with the help of a Precision Nutrition Coach. So I wanna share THREE of the things that have really worked for me: • LEVEL UP YOUR COFFEE GAME Coffee is delicious. And connoisseurs have been refining it (and adding crap to it) for centuries! In a single cup of coffee, you can travel to South America, Africa, or Asia. If you have coffee every day like I do, the things you're adding to your coffee may be adding to your waistline. Why not experiment with leaving it out? But instead of framing this goal as "stop putting milk and sugar in my coffee," why not think of it as an experiment to "find and enjoy the perfect cup of black coffee"? Words matter, and I often find myself resisting when I'm told to STOP doing something. But I love a challenge! Some Sample Numbers: 2 T Half & Half = 52cals 2 tsp sugar = 30cals 82 cals x 2 coffees x 7 days =1148

Earlier this month, I was hired to travel with an excellent volunteer chorus as they traveled to sing with an orchestra in South America. Professional singers are often hired to supplement the numbers of a church or otherwise avocational choir, and we're called "ringers." After the dress rehearsal, we lined up on the steps of the theater to take a group photo, and I inadvertently stepped in front of a regular member of the choir and blocked him. "Oh sure, put the tall guy in front of me," he joked. I stepped behind him and said "Oh gosh, I'll stand behind you! I don't care: I'm only here for this one concert!" As I thought about the incident later, I thought about how I might've sounded a bit cavalier and considered finding him to apologize. Instead, he found me later that night at a reception following the concert. I introduced him to another friend saying "oh god, I sounded like an asshole when I spoke to this guy earlier today!&

In 2016, I set one of my goals as “Drink Alcohol 2 or Fewer Nights Per Week.” I failed miserably. While there were many stretches that I did not have alcohol (like whole months in a row,) this success was due to short moratoriums like “Sober-Tober,” wherein I agreed not to drink any alcohol at all for a month, usually with some big event on the horizon, like a birthday. I’m great at following rules. At deciding that I won’t do something at all. But I’m also great at ALL OR NOTHING thinking. I’m NOT great at moderation. As I approached 2017, I thought about how I could make progress or reframe this goal. As I analyzed why my goal didn’t work in 2016, I had a few thoughts. 1.      I do not think there is anything inherently wrong with drinking alcohol. In fact, I REALLY enjoy it! I enjoy the taste and ritual of opening and drinking a Northern Italian red wine. I love slowly sipping a glass of bourbon. In 2012, when I gave up drinking for 90 days, I r