Why Dwayne Johnson Can Have Epic Cheat Days

It’s not just the 240lbs of muscle…

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is a pretty badass dude.

He is a cultural icon of fitness, success, and masculinity. He has his own line with Under Armour, and he is the highest-grossing Hollywood Actor. When the NFL needs someone to do a pre-Superbowl pep talk, they choose Dwayne Johnson.

A less known fact about Dwayne Johnson is that he really enjoys a cheat day. If you head over to his Instagram account, you’ll see shots of french toast, double cheeseburgers, pancakes, chocolate chip cookies, and tequila.

Many people will see this and think:

And for most people, this won’t work in their favor.

It’s not because they don’t have 240 pounds of solid muscle that annihilates donuts like an Atom bomb. It’s not because they don’t have a massive gym that follows them around everywhere they go called the “Iron Paradise.”

The reason that most people will struggle to sustainably emulate The Rock’s cheat days is because of a conflict of identity.

Let’s break that down a bit.

I believe that this excerpt from Atomic Habits is the most powerful concept in self-improvement.

Your identity is a democracy, and its outcome is determined solely by the actions you take. If you want to have a certain self-image, you need to be sure that your actions are aligned with that image.

Okay, so how does this apply to The Rock?

Dwayne Johnson has a deep well of evidence to support his identity of being a fit, masculine, and confident man.

When he behaves in a way that contradicts that identity (such as scarfing down 3 boxes of cookies and watching a movie), it doesn’t make a dent in his self-image. He has cast so many votes in favor of his identity as a strong and fit man, and this identity is rock solid (pun intended). It can withstand some contradictory behavior.

When people scroll through Dwayne Johnson’s Instagram feed and see the mouth-watering debauchery of his cheat days, they think: “Cool, I can do that too!”. But they fail to see that the actions are not the same thing.

A cheat day for Dwayne Johnson is vastly different from a cheat day for someone who is on the seventh day of their first diet. This person is involved in a transformation — they are attempting to form an identity by establishing new habits.

If they can stay on track and continue practicing healthy habits such as proper nutrition and exercise, at some point they might be able to build a resilient identity as a “fit person.”

But if they deviate from actions that are aligned with being a “fit person” while still in the process of forming their identity, it can be catastrophic to their progress. They don’t have enough votes for the identity they’re trying to create to be able to withstand a significant vote for the other side.

When they do this, the deviating action will cause them to lose the vision of the identity they’re trying to create. In the ensuing existential frustration, they are likely to double down on the bad habits that contradict the identity they had been striving for.

This is how one cheat meal can turn into a cheat week.

The misalignment from actions that contradict our desired identity is the route of self-sabotaging behavior.

If you’re in the process of transformation — of forming a new identity and new habits — it is crucial that your actions are aligned with the identity that you envision. You are in an election, and you need all the votes you can get to support your transformation. Once you have sufficient evidence to support that you are the person you are trying to become, you will be more resilient, and able to let loose with behavior that doesn’t align with your vision.

The Takeaway

Sitting on your ass binging on Netflix and brownies is loser behavior. However, Dwayne Johnson can sustain indulging in this because of the massive amount of evidence that he has to support his claim that he is indeed not a loser.

Inspiration can be dangerous. If someone who does not have the same amount of evidence to support their refutation of loserdom engages in similar actions, it will likely not work out so well for them. They may enter a crisis of identity brought on by the misalignment between their actions and the person they want to be. Further self-sabotaging behavior can easily follow.

Your actions are important — they are the votes for the person you want to become. When you are in a transformational process, you need to ensure your actions are coherent with the vision of your desired identity. After years of hard work and evidence of success, you will be more resilient. But don’t try to run before you can walk.

Be mindful of drawing inspiration from other people who are at completely different stages in their transformational journeys from you.

Be honest about where you are in your journey toward becoming who you want to be. If you’re not there yet, you’ll just make the journey harder if you indulge in actions that are misaligned with the identity you want to create.