Five Weight Loss Tips I Learned from Watching Billions and Succession
Big business can teach us a lot about things other than behaving badly and being mega-rich.
If you enjoy binging a good series from time to time, then I assume you’ve seen all the available episodes of Showtime’s ‘Billions’ and HBO’s ‘Succession.’
At first, I thought, “Ho-hum, shows about horrible rich people…yawn.” But, like millions of other viewers, I got swept up in the story lines, wondering how these emotional misfits had made all that money in the first place, and whether they’d be able to dominate the competition and stay on top.
Of course, those shows are fiction, but as a writer I have to believe they’re at least loosely based on real people, satirical though their portrayal may be. What really interested me, though, was the underlying business strategy. I found myself enthralled by the characters’ primal desire to win at any cost, and the tactics — both cunningly cut-throat and strategically logical — they used to do so.
One day it occurred to me that this was information I could apply to other areas of life. The more I thought about it, the clearer I began to see five winning strategies emerge from all that messy drama. To me, these strategies seem particularly well-suited to lifestyle change efforts.
Here are the five things I learned from Billions and Succession about weight loss.
- Go For the Jugular
Thinking about weight loss as a high-stakes business deal immediately reframes it. Suddenly, instead of an emotionally-draining slog, you’re facing the challenge of a lifetime — a minefield you must negotiate with precision, skill and determination. When you wake up every day with the attitude, “I’m gonna kick this thing in the pants today!” success is almost guaranteed. - Fail Fast
There are dozens of weight loss strategies, but probably only one or two that will work well for you. Trying and failing at a bunch of them until you hit on something you can sustain is a key part of the process. Mindset is key here: Rather than letting a failed attempt shake your confidence, use it as intel on how to move forward. Doing this quickly — by not spending too much time spinning your wheels on a tactic that doesn’t work for you — can bolster this business-like attitude and help you find a winning strategy faster. - Break Paradigms
There are some really crazy weight loss methods out there, some of which are downright unsafe. I’m not encouraging you to go down that road. What I am suggesting here is to think outside the calorie-counting, carb-limiting box. Explore alternate-day fasting, time-restricted feeding, cold immersion therapy, fasting-mimicing diets. One of the greatest pioneers in this outside-the-box approach is Ray Cronise. He’s used some very strange techniques (always medically supervised) to help people lose hundreds of pounds. Of course, you should only try something extreme after getting the go-ahead from your physician, and ideally under his or her supervision. (It’s also worth nothing that, ultimately, Cronise settled on a whole food plant-based diet to optimize weight and health span.) - Negotiate Like a Boss
Weight loss is hard. Sometimes you just want to eat a cookie. So you start negotiating. You know how that conversation goes: “I’m just going to have one…” or “I’m going to workout twice today…” or “I already ran five miles this morning…” or “I’ve been perfect all week…” Next time you start negotiating, stop and ask yourself this: “What would Bobby Axelrod say if you walked into his office and said those words?” That’s right — negotiation over. Get back to work! - Pay For Performance
Of course, it’s not all work and no play in the billionaire’s club. All that hard work has to have a payoff, so yes — you deserve to cash in on your wins from time to time. Just be sure you’re only rewarding yourself after you have truly reached a milestone. And right there, as you savor the sweetness of your success, employ another tactic from the titans’ play book: start plotting the next phase of your world-dominating take-over.
