The Insight: Because they reflect the triumph of our natural instincts
We all know the rules of modern life are hurting us — but what’s less obvious is that they’re not random. They’re the fulfilment of instincts we evolved to survive a radically different world.
If we want to be healthy in our modern world, we have no choice but to break away from the standard norms. But knowing this and doing it are two different things. The real challenge isn’t knowing we have to; it’s the immense difficulty of actually doing so.
One of the keys to making it easier is a deeper understanding of their origin. Contrary to a simple story of corporate greed, today’s unhealthy norms are a direct consequence of our own human nature.
The Ancient Programming We Can’t Escape
Our bodies and minds were shaped by evolution to survive in the harsh environment of our ancestors. When Homo sapiens emerged 300,000 years ago, it was because our biology was supremely adapted to the scarcities and dangers of that environment.
A critical part of that adaptation was a set of powerful survival instincts:
- Minimize Energy Output: Conserve precious calories by avoiding all unnecessary effort and discomfort. Since keeping warm or cooling down costs energy, seeking stable comfort was a necessary survival tactic.
- Maximize Energy Input: Gorge on calorie-dense foods whenever possible. In an environment where calories could be simply non-existent for days at a time, this was a critical hedge against starvation.
These instincts, combined with our ability to store energy as fat, ensured we survived long enough to become the planet’s dominant species.
When Ancient Instincts Meet Modern Success
For millennia, we have applied our intelligence to fulfilling these primal instincts, and in the last few decades, we have succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. We have engineered a world where it is possible to live without meaningful movement, insulated from all discomfort, and with unlimited calories available.
Our societal norms only reflect our instincts. It is perfectly normal to consume highly processed food at any hour, and it is considered strange to perform push-ups in the middle of street. The norms reinforce the path of least resistance because they are born from our collective, instinctual drive for ease and energy. We also rarely question them because we grew up inside them. And our fear of social exclusion is, in itself, another powerful instinct.
Understanding this gives us leverage, as it reframes social awkwardness as a necessary feeling to bear—at least as a momentary step—if you want to be fit and healthy.
Two Paths to Reclaim Your Health
So how do you move forward? Use the two strategies below.
- Embrace the Part of the Outlier. You can deliberately become comfortable operating outside standard norms. Start small, and use your understanding of how these norms emerged. You will feel weird, uncomfortable, but knowledge enables you to go past these feelings much more easily. You shift from questioning yourself to knowing what to expect.
- Adopt a Better Set of Norms. At the end of the day, we’re still social animals, and abiding by the norms of our reference group is another powerful instinct. So change your reference group! Find and cultivate a community where healthy behaviors are the default. This allows you to harness your natural desire for social conformity and point it toward a better outcome.
Foresighted helps you on both and will help you decrease the influence of norms on your life.
So let’s start simple. What’s one opportunity to break free — right now?
In Practice
This week, try to identify a movement opportunity you are not taking advantage of, because you feel constrained by norms.For example, think about waiting times in your day/week:
- commuting by bus/train: could you do pushups while waiting if no one was watching? If not in the morning, then in the evening when you can shower at home?
- kids school/activities: do you sometimes wait for pick-up? Do you watch them from the sidelines? What is preventing you from exercising during those moments? Squats require no gear, no space — just a willingness to ignore the weird looks.
The first step to change is awareness. And a masterclass with JĂ©rĂ´me will give you plenty of it.
Reset Your Norms with JĂ©rĂ´me
If you want to break free from unhealthy norms, there’s no better guide than JĂ©rĂ´me Rattoni.
He’s a respected leader in the natural movement community — but more importantly, he’s lived what he teaches. After years in the corporate world, balancing travel and parenting, Jérôme knows how to make movement practical, sustainable, and socially acceptable in the real world.
At his Masterclasses across Europe, you’ll learn:
- How to integrate movement into daily life — even in “awkward” public moments.
- How to rewire your comfort zone, so unconventional movement starts to feel normal.
- How to connect with others on the same path, and make healthy behavior your new social baseline.
This is the second strategy from today’s essay in action: change your reference group. When you spend a weekend surrounded by people who see movement as normal, your instincts start to shift.
Upcoming Masterclasses:
- Westport, Ireland — 29–31 Aug
- Gothenburg, Sweden — 6–7 Sep
- Reading, UK — 11–14 Sep
- Sardinia, Italy — 2–5 Oct
👉 Get all the details here. If you’re in Europe and want to deepen your practice, I wouldn’t miss it.
