66. The Preparation Principle - How 20 Minutes Can Win The Day

What if the gap between your goals and your results is just 20 minutes? Adam pulls back the curtain on the Preparation Principle—a simple, repeatable routine that turns chaotic days into consistent wins. Rather than chasing motivation or relying on end-of-day willpower, we show how a short morning or evening prep block removes decision fatigue, steers you away from impulse eating, and makes healthy choices automatic.

We walk through real-life breakfast-to-dinner logistics: packing protein feedings, staging quick go-to meals, pre-logging calories, and placing snacks where you actually need them. You’ll hear how limiting variety during the workweek reduces friction, why tracking offers honest feedback when emotions run high, and how small systems add up to big progress. Beyond nutrition, we map the same approach to movement—setting out shoes, scheduling a 20-minute walk, and treating your training like a non-negotiable meeting—so steps and workouts happen on autopilot.

Then we zoom out. The same 20–30 focused minutes can transform study habits, skill-building, and career growth. Short, deep sessions beat sporadic marathons, and the compounding effect over weeks and months quietly reshapes your identity. No hype, no hacks—just a clear, practical framework that protects your attention, curbs cravings, and builds momentum you can trust on busy days. Take the 30-day challenge, protect a daily prep window, and watch your choices align with your goals without the drama.

Enjoyed the show? Subscribe, share it with a friend who needs a sustainable plan, and leave a quick review—what will you prep for tomorrow?

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Transcript

Quick Disclaimer & Welcome

SPEAKER_01 0:00

This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only, which for general health and fitness information and professional experience, not individualized medical advice. This content does not replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to your health routine.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Welcome to Live Transform, the podcast from Transform Health and Epic, where evidence goes offered, move for life transformation. Lead yourself. Value what matters. Engage in the process. This is how you live transformed. And now here's your host, Adam Kelly.

Morning Routine Story

Food Prep While Juggling Family

Decision Fatigue And Slip-Ups

The 20-Minute Preparation Principle

Coaching Break: Build Systems

Removing Excuses With Prep

Morning Vs Evening Prep Tactics

Steps, Structure, And Tracking

Apply Prep Beyond Fitness

Make Time, Don’t Wait For Time

Thirty-Day Challenge And Payoff

Final Challenge & Closing CTA

SPEAKER_01 0:45

What is up, all of my people? I hope you guys are having a blessed, splendid week. It is Wednesday, uh, March 4th today. And so we're doing another recording release on the same day. At least that's the goal. Um, you know, life has just been doing what life does this week. So, anywho, we're here. We're still on time, we're still getting it done, checking the box. So, I wanted to talk about something real quick. Again, just like the last episode, I'm gonna try not to take too long. I said that the last episode ended up being a 30-minute episode, but that's okay because I feel like it was very valuable, helpful, practical information that you could apply then and now. So, um, today I want to talk about something a little bit different. And this all stems from number one, multiple conversations I've had with people over the years, especially working in this profession. And then also my own experience and things that I've implemented in my own life and structure. And it brought this topic to the forefront of my mind earlier this week. And I thought, you know what, this will make a really good episode because I'm sure somebody will be able to benefit if they implement this and also begin to think this way in all areas of their life and watch how far ahead they get with what will feel like or appear like much less effort and energy required to do so. So, what is the story that this comes from? So the other day I was doing my normal morning routine. So, what my mornings typically look like, uh, they're a little bit different each day. Some days I actually come to our facility and train a couple clients, you know, before the sun even comes up. And then the rest of the days I'm at home for the start of the day. So this was a day that I came into work, trained my clients, went back home. And I normally, my wife has to go off to work, usually about the time I get home, and then I'm getting the kids ready and getting myself ready and eating breakfast and doing all the things that need to be done in order for me to be able to go off to work, them to go off to school, and everybody's doing what they're supposed to be doing. So that's what I have a little like maybe hour gap right there, hour, hour and a half gap from the time I get home from work until it's time to get them to school and then get back to work. So during this time is usually when I am one making my own breakfast, and then sometimes making their breakfast. If they want something quick, they know how to make it. But a lot of times they end up asking for eggs because they see me making my eggs and egg whites. So I'm like, sure. And or maybe something else I'm helping them with. But, anyways, we're getting breakfast knocked out, and then you know, I spend probably uh I'd say 20 to 30 minutes prepping for the day. Okay, getting my meals ready, one breakfast, cooking it, eating it as I'm doing all of this, and then getting my lunch ready, getting any snacks ready that I have for the day, because my days typically run long just due to, you know, I have little gaps in my schedule and stuff like that. Um, but get my meals and my snacks ready, all my protein feedings that I need throughout the day to in order to hit my protein totals. And then usually for dinner, I have something at home. Even if it's a late evening, I'll come home and you know, heat up something that I've had prepped or prepared that's quick and do dinner that way, or I'll come home and actually cook myself something. Um if I don't get off late. So my family um typically eat different than I do. You know, everybody's setup looks different, you know, how we have to go about things. Um, they have different goals than me. So I eat the way that I eat, they eat the way that they eat. Usually, if I'm at home, then I'll cook their dinner and make my dinner on the side or pull out my little tub of ware or whatever it is. Again, this is my choice. This is what works best for my goals and works best for us as a family unit. So I'm not saying you need to be eating separate meals from your family and not enjoying what they eat, or you know, just making junk for them and then only making healthy stuff for yourself. It's not that we feed them unhealthy meals, it's just I actually track and log on my food. And if we're making something where all the ingredients are put together, it's way too much work and effort for me to track that. And right now, currently being in a fat loss phase myself, my calories are a little less um padded. So I have to be a little bit more particular on what food items I eat in order to hit my macros. But anywho, um this morning, as or not this morning, but a morning this week, as I'm going through this process, I'm just kind of thinking about my day and thinking about clients and all the things that are usually on my mind. And I was kind of rushing because for some reason I got started late this morning on my normal routine. So I was trying to rush to get everything done and get out the door. And, you know, I was feeling the stress of that. And I was thinking about that, like, man, this is this is a little stressful. You know, I'm trying to get everything done, make sure I have all my stuff ready, make sure I dot my I's and cross my T's. But then I thought about, man, all the times that I didn't take this time to prepare ahead of time and didn't devote to making sure I have the meals that I have. This is exactly why so many times I failed at being consistent, especially over the long haul and day in, day out, because I wasn't prepared for the day. I wasn't prepared for what I need, which led me to having to make a lot of impulse decisions and last minute decisions and completely fatigued and exhausted decisions, which usually are not the best options for us in that given moment. It's just the most convenient or the easiest route. And that typically is not a good thing when we go that route, especially if we're stressed or we're busy or we've had a long day or whatever it may be, got to be somewhere else after you get off work, kids got events, whatever it is. And you're just, you know, by the end of the day, you've had to make all these decisions all day long. Even if you're a stay-at-home parent, you've had to make all these decisions, do all these tasks, be here, get this done, fix this, do that. So by the end of the day, especially, you're wiped out. You know, maybe even by lunchtime, like you're just like, hey, well, I'm just gonna go grab something downstairs from the cafe and go get me a bagel or something, or some muffins because I just don't have the time to go and leave for lunch because I need to get this work done. Or on the way home from work and you're absolutely ravishly starving because you had nothing to snack on between lunch and dinner, and now you're extremely hungry, so you stop and get yourself an ice cream or a little snack from the store on your way home for the ride home, or maybe you grab something out of your office. It ends up us making choices that don't typically align with our goals and what we want to see just based on the circumstances. And so as I'm thinking about this and going about this prep, it dawns on me that for so many years I was stuck in this cycle of I'm super motivated early in the day, I'm knocking it out, I'm eating good, I'm doing these things. But as the day goes on, I start slipping and I start making poorer decisions, and I start basically caring less about what I'm consuming and what my goals are in that moment, just because of life and the day and everything else. So this led to just grabbing snacks at the convenience store or running down the street to Walmart and grabbing something or grabbing some fast food or whatever it may be. Even though I was so dedicated and motivated first thing that morning with that first meal, I had no plan or preparation for the rest of the day. And so that's what leads to this discussion about how 20 minutes of preparation can help you win your entire day. Because, as I said, all day long you're having to go and make decisions and you're having to do things and be places and all the adulting that takes place. And all of this is pulling from your willpower because it's most likely things you don't really feel like doing at the current moment. Even if you love your job or your career, maybe today you're just not feeling it, but yet you still got to show up, right? So by tapping into our willpower all day long just to get by in our day-to-day life, by the time it comes time to eat something, or our stomach is screaming at us because we're hungry and we haven't ate anything, the amount of willpower that we have remaining to devote to not only telling ourselves no about the easier options and the more convenient or the more tasty options, but then telling ourselves to going the harder route, which is going to find something healthy or paying more money for something healthy, or going out of your way to get groceries, or having to come home and cook dinner, or whatever it may be, which is probably harder than just grabbing something really quick or stopping at the burger joint and picking up a bag of burgers on your way home for the family. And so I've learned that by dedicating this 20 to 30 minutes each day, you know, it's typically five days a week, just work days, weekends, you have more flexibility, have more time to plan otherwise, but at least during the week, as long as I devote this 20 to 30 minutes each day to making sure I have everything I need, I log everything in my food app so I don't even have to go and log it all day. I just grab it out of the fridge or grab it off my desk or my shelf or whatever, depending on what the food item is, and I'm good to go. That it leads to me making a lot less poor decisions when it comes to food choices and when it comes to discipline and when it comes to just eating in alignment with what I'm wanting to accomplish with my health and my physique. And it took me so long to get to that point because anytime I would try, you know, maybe I would do meal prep one day. I'm super motivated. So I spend four hours in the kitchen meal prepping for the whole week. Yes, it feels like a great accomplishment, it's nice, but now I'm like, man, there's no way I can do this every single week. Or, you know, um, maybe it's the first time that I'm prepping my food for the day. And because I don't really know what I'm gonna choose, I don't have like kind of go-to meals, and I definitely recommend people have go-to meals that you grab on a regular basis and maybe you swap in and out so it's less thinking, more easier to make better choices. Uh, variety tends to be overwhelm and over-stimulating. So the less options we have, typically the easier it is to make a choice and to make the right choice. Look, I know what it feels like to be frustrated with your health, trust me. To feel like you're doing everything right, but nothing seems to be sticking. That's why our coaching isn't about perfection. It's about building a system that works even when life gets messy. At Transform Health Initiative, we help busy adults rebuild their health, rewire their habits, and redefine their identity without shame, without overwhelm, and without starting over every Monday. If you're tired of trying to do it all on your own, we're here when you're ready. All right, back to the episode. By doing this early and doing this each day, I free myself from the excuse of, well, I don't have anything, I just got to grab something. And this has been a complete game changer for my own personal journey. Like I said, just having that plan and knowing, hey, this is what I'm gonna eat. If I get hungry, I have food. I don't need to go try to figure out something because if if I wait until my stomach's growling and I'm hungry, kind of like late at night, the chances of me going in there and grabbing a piece of fruit over grabbing some Oreos or some Doritos or some candy, not a very high chance. I'm likely gonna go for the easiest thing, the most comforting thing, the thing that tastes the best, or the thing that gives me the biggest dopamine hit because I'm already wiped out from the day at that point. But this doesn't have to just be in the evening, it could be first thing in the morning. If you don't have a plan for breakfast and you know that you get hungry usually at least, you know, a couple hours after you wake up. And so now you've made it a habit of stopping at the donut shop or at McDonald's and grabbing you a biscuit or you know, whatever that may look like, because of the fact you weren't prepared. Imagine if you would have woke up 20 to 30 minutes earlier and prepared for the day, including your breakfast, or you prepared it the evening before. If you don't, if you don't have the ability to wake up earlier, it just wouldn't be reasonable. Then preparing at some time the evening before, spending that 20-30 minutes, prepping your breakfast, prepping your lunch, prepping your snacks, prepping your drinks, prepping your you know, supplement stack if you take multivitamins or whatever else, you know, having all this stuff done, having your workout clothes packed and ready by the door, already in your car. So it's just instinct, having your running shoes by the door. So as soon as you wake up and that's the first thing you see, you know, just finding ways that you can make the next day or the rest of the day easier and less decisions to have to make, you're much more likely to be more consistent and more dedicated to your goals. And this is one of those principles, the preparation principle, we're gonna call it. This is one of those principles that can literally transform your entire health journey. This just just just by that extra time, just that little bit of dedicated sacrifice time out of your day. And what's really cool about this is this absolutely applies to health and fitness, even if it comes to working out. Maybe you know, get up 20, 30 minutes earlier and go get a walk-in because you know that if you don't get your steps in early, the way your day goes, you're probably not gonna have time to get them in later on in the day, or you're gonna have to stay up later or do it when it's very inconvenient. And now your stress is much higher, much less sustainable. But if you get up 20 to 30 minutes earlier, go knock out your steps. Now you don't have to worry about it for the rest of the day. You have freed yourself from that responsibility from the rest for the rest of the day, which means you're much likely, much more likely to be successful because you've already got it done. And it's the same way with this 20 to 30 minute window of prepping your food and your nutrition for the day and your drinks for the day. Once you have it done, you don't have to worry about it anymore. Yeah, it's you know, not the most enjoyable thing every single day, whatever, but the fact that it saves you so much for the rest of your day, and even on top of that, saves you from self-sabotaging your goals, which now you don't have to have that shame and that guilt at the end of the day. Man, is that such a better place to be. You tell me which one is harder, okay? Tell me which one is more difficult to dedicate 20 to 30 minutes each morning or each evening to prepare for the rest of the day or the next day, or to have to go to bed feeling shameful because once again, you were so gung ho and you were so on it all morning long, all afternoon long, and then you caved at dinner time, or you caved at lunchtime, or you caved over the weekend. Just you tell me which one is easier to have to deal with. I know which one because I've been do I've done both of them. I've been on both sides of this coin. And I know for me, the inconvenience, the slight stress, because again, mornings are kind of hectic at my house. Um the slight stress and inconvenience that that 20 to 30 minutes comes with saves me so much throughout the day, and it actually helps me be way more dedicated and way more disciplined to my goals. To me, it's just a no-brainer. Like I would much rather dedicate a little bit of time each day to facilitating success than to leave it up to risk and chance and to leave it up to myself, frankly. Because I know me. You may not know you, you may not have these tendencies, maybe you don't know your tendencies, but I know me. If I don't have a plan, if I don't have extreme structure, I'm gonna have a problem. That's just it is what it is. It's like tracking my food. Not everybody needs to track their food all the time. I think everybody should do it for at least 30 days, at least once every few years, just to know what your normal eating patterns look like and how much energy you're getting from that amount of food and how many nutrients you're getting from that amount of food. I think that's very smart and wise and responsible. But not everybody needs to track every single thing they put in their mouth every single day forever. I, however, personally tend to thrive with structure. So for me, it's less about I need to see what I'm consuming every single day because I eat pretty much the same way, uh, probably 80% of my day, if not more. I need to have that structure of if I put it in my mouth, I put it in the app. And if I don't put it in my mouth, I don't have to put it in my app. So at the end of the day, my shame, my guilt is 100% in my control. It's a matter of holding myself accountable. And tracking my food is one way that really helps me hold myself accountable and really put my feelings in check because regardless of what I'm feeling, regardless how tired I am, regardless how busy the day has been, regardless of what's going on in life, calories a calorie. 2,000 calories on a good day is 2,000 calories on a bad day. Just like 100 pounds in the gym on a good day is a hundred pounds in the gym on a bad day. Those are two areas where things are very consistent and you get what you give. Okay. And I like that. I need that kind of structure. So I track my workouts. I need to see that feedback. For me, not everybody needs that. But I think every single person, regardless of their goals, would benefit from spending 20 to 30 minutes preparing their food and their drinks for the day. Even if you don't have fat loss goals, even if you don't have muscle building goals, just the fact that you have several less things to worry about throughout your day is gonna make your day a lot better, I promise you. And the last part on this, this doesn't just apply to health and fitness. Like I said before, yes, this goes great with health health and fitness, but you can apply the same principle to anything in your life, and it will make you wildly more successful if you have violent consistency and stick with it. So if you have a career goal, get up 20 to 30 minutes earlier each day, or devote 20 to 30 minutes of 100% devoted attention, not I'm gonna spend 30 minutes working on something, but I'm also watching this YouTube video and I'm answering this text message and I'm checking my inbox real quick. And no, 20 to 30 focused minutes devoted to expanding your career after a month, after a week, after a year, you're going to have your mind blown at how much you progress at that goal. Or if it's you're in school and you're studying for a degree or you're studying for your diploma or whatever it may be, if you spent 20 to 30 minutes every single day with 100% attention on studying, you're gonna be wildly more successful than if you were to spend once or twice or three times a week trying to shove in two hours of studying because you haven't studied or you haven't prepared at any other point in the week, and now you're just shoving in information that you're not even gonna be able to recall because you're just shoving it in just for the sake of getting it done. But imagine if you broke that up throughout your week every week. Just imagine that. Regardless of what the goal is, you want to get better at something, just devote chunks of time that you can afford consistently day in and day out, and it's much better than just winging it or saying, Oh, I'll study when I get time. I'll study when I get time. How many people have said that and failed their test? I'll study when I get time, I'll eat better when I get time, I'll plan my meals when I get time, I'll go work out when I get time, I'll go to sleep when I get time, I'll stretch when I get time, I'll meal prep when I get time. No, guys, time is not going to just drop into your lap and say, Hey, I'm ready for you. That's not the way time works. Time is happening, regardless if we participate or not. The time is happening. So it's up to us. Are we going to make time or are we gonna wait for something that is never going to happen until we actually do make time? So I challenge you. It doesn't matter how busy you are. It doesn't matter how much you got going on in your life. I know of nobody, and I don't know everybody. So maybe you fall into the category outside of this. There's always outliers, you know, usually, not always, usually. But I don't personally know of anybody who cannot give up 20 to 30 minutes of their day at some point in the day to devote to making the rest of their day easier. I don't care how many hours a day you work, how many ball games you go to, I promise you you can find a little bit of time each day to set apart for what you want to accomplish. And if you hold yourself to that and you develop the discipline that no matter what, I'm gonna devote this time to what I need to do, what I've set out to do, you will not fail. It may take a while, it may take longer than you want, but you will not fail if you implement this. The preparation principle. 20 minutes a day, guys, 20 minutes of prep can win your entire day. That's all I got for you folks. I hope you enjoyed this. I hope you apply what I'm saying and test it out. Don't take my word for it. Don't believe me if you don't want to. Test it out. Give it 30 days. Don't do it for two days and say, oh well, this guy's an idiot. He doesn't know what he's talking about. This didn't make my day any better. Come on, guys. Nothing works overnight. Give it 30 days. Be serious about it. Put it on your calendar. Hey, if at 6 to 6:30 in the morning I can squeeze in that time to prep my food for the day, hold yourself to that for 30 days. And at the end of 30 days, it's not even going to take you 30 days. That's the amazing part. But, you know, just because more time usually solidifies things even better. At the most, at the end of that 30 days, not only are you going to transform the way that you see preparation, but you're going to transform whatever area it is that you're preparing and dedicating that time for. You're going to notice a substantial difference in that 30 days. If you're having trouble controlling how much you eat and making better choices throughout your day, and you devote this time to preparing your meals, now obviously there's also the responsibility of eating those meals and not just leaving it in the fridge for another day and going to grab something else. This is implying that by prepping your food and your drinks and your supplements, that you're actually going to utilize them when you're supposed to. But when you do, your mind is going to be blown at not only how successful you are at what you're out to accomplish, but how much easier it feels now because you've put in the reps and you've given the time to make it more of a habit and be consistent with it. And then your mind is going to be blown at the fact that it actually does help you save time. And it actually does make the rest of your day easier. And it actually does make sticking to your goals and sticking to your macros a hundred times easier than just trying to wing it each day. I'm telling you guys. If I could have learned this 10 years ago, heck, if I could have learned this 20 years ago when I started lifting, this summer will make 20 years since I started lifting. If I would have learned this back then, I don't like living in the hypothetical world, but I can only imagine where I could be right now. Because I see how far I've come since I have been implementing this. And I see how much it makes my life easier and less stressful since I have been committed to this and implementing this. So this is my challenge for you guys. Devote 20 to 30 minutes a day to whatever it is that you want to be a beast at, that you want to be violently consistent at, that you want to be wildly successful at. Devote that time and watch how everything changes. And your goals just start coming to you rather than you feel like you're striving every day to reach your goal. So in the meantime, in between time, I love you guys. I appreciate the support. I appreciate you guys for showing up each week, tuning in, listening. Please share these episodes. Tag a friend, send it to a friend, send it to somebody that you have this conversation with that you know maybe struggles here, maybe that you know they could benefit, and they just haven't thought about how much of a difference 20 to 30 minutes of their day could truly make to their whole life. Share with somebody you love, guys. But until next time, as always, do something good for yourself, something good for your health, something good for those you care about. And whatever you do, make sure you went on purpose. Talk at you next time.