like everyone i also visualise my dreams and feel good about thinking “one day i will build my own self-sufficient farm in mountain and raise a family with 2 beautiful daughter and 1 son ”.
have i took any action towards it - of course yes, but it depends on motivation and last for week 1 or 2.
let’s take an example : running is best exercise everyone wanted to do
and want to make as a habit, many people influenced from social media (
although it’s a good thing ).
Average people Approach : they get motivated suddenly
and wanted to loose fat, or gain strength, stamina etc and change the
life from tomorrow morning ( not gonna lie 1/100 able to do it too) but
data is data and we believe why not me - and where it getting wrong
-here your ego becomes your enemy.
Brain doesn’t understand what is good or bad, it depends on what repeated most is easier to do in simple.
take “baby step” / “small step” / mini, tiny thing anything you want to say. do that until this will change your identity and further increase some reps/time.
My Story :
in my life i have applied with pushup habit : i am the one who barely can do 5 pushup most, so i decided to take only very small step that will feel unavoidable (i don’t need to make decision every time ) . i started with 5 pushup and i used to cross mark on paper stick to wall to track the habit offline, it really helped me a lot. i was not in hurry to improve because i know this is my side project.
my simple rule was :
result was astonishing although it took 3-4 month of consistency but don’t feel like i was doing the work.
Result : i increased pushup from 5 to 20 easily, 130 day consistency ( and more people come to me say did you join gym you physique changed , i laugh and usually say idk, really), my identity totally now i strongly believe that i am the pushup guy i am so much in good delusion that i started even social media page named IG : @calisthenicshabits and i daily post recording of my workout ( using convict conditioning by paul “coach” wade ). this was very big win in my life for the first time on my own.
what i did right : simple small step ( progression when feel boring), that’s it.
what i learnt : yes it takes 4 month to build pushup habit but i can harvest it’s benefit all of my life, that too less investment compared to return of investment, right.
Steps :
1. identify clear goal what you want to achieve
2. break it down into minimum obvious actionable step ( you will able to
say - oh, that’s too fucking easy, i can’t avoid that,let's do and
finish )
3. use visual tracking (crossing on paper on wall )
4. if feel
boring increase reps/minutes etc.
5. Do it consistently.
that’s all you need
suppose you want to make a 2 hour deep work habit in morning from 5-7am. and you know this is the highest paying habit you can build whether you want to start a business or even getting a job or any upgradation of skill.
so 2 hour deep work per day looks very impressive ( this is your step 1 ) ,
now break it down into bare minimum like 30 min, 10 min or even 5 min. there is no need to rush, you are not competing to anyone.
and not make like tomorrow i’ll wake up at 5am that will be too much mental effort and you eventually quit after week 1 or 2 , make it 6:30 , do 30 min of deep work , cross mark it on your tracker
Done. You won the day.
once you really comfortable with 30 min , increase to 40 then 50.
giving mini effort daily for 6-7 months it will become your habit - and it will payoff for your life without fighting willpower.
Signing Off,
Sameer