I write one blog entry per week.
I could do two. I could probably even do three without the quality dropping off.
And three would be better, right? I would be getting more words out to all of you. I would be transmitting more ideas. I would be closer to my goal of having enough of these to compile them into a book (would you buy that book?).
So, why not three? Is it because I’m lazy?
And the answer is… kinda.
Wim Hof is famous for his paradigm flipping views and experimentation with breathing, and the importance of breathing in our lives. He has several breathing exercises which are proven to improve your health, both mentally and physically. He’s also an expert in meditation. He believes that everybody should engage in practiced, thoughtful, intentional breathing. Given how important he believes this daily practice is, how much do you think he recommends that you do? An hour a day? 30 minutes a day?
Not even close. He says to do one deliberate breath per day. Just one.
Similarly, a fitness expert in the Tim Ferriss book Tools of Titans recommends doing one push-up per day. One single, solitary push-up.
Why would people who believe so strongly in the benefits of something recommend that you do so little?
Because everybody can do one breath or one push-up per day. There’s no reason not to. You’re never going to be too busy. It is easy to accomplish that goal.
And that’s important. We are more likely to keep doing things that we are succeeding at. Momentum is powerful. Habits are strong. Rigging the game to set yourself up for success will help you continue to keep playing it.
This is counterintuitive to how we think. It seems like we should try to do as much as possible, and when we embark on a new routine for self-improvement, that is usually what we do. And then we slip up, because it’s hard, and we ran out of time, or energy, or willpower, and now we feel guilty, so we don’t want to think about it. So, then we don’t do it again the next day, and now the habit is broken.
But if you make it easy for yourself, you build up this winning streak that you don’t want to break. You’ve gotten used to this routine. You have not only developed a habit, but this thing you do is now part of your identity. Now you’re the guy who takes a five minute walk each day, or reads two pages of a book each day, or plays one game of chess, or donates five dollars to a charity every week, or writes a blog that is read by a bunch of awesome weirdos every Sunday. You weren’t a person who did push-ups, but now you are. Because you started. And you started because you made it easy.
What is a daily or weekly habit that would put you on the path to being the person that you want to be? And what is the tiniest, easiest possible version of that thing that you could definitely do no matter what? Tell me in the comments. I want to know.
(I bet you know somebody that might find this blog post useful. Why don’t you send it to them? They will appreciate it, and they will think you are a smart person who reads awesome stuff. You can also guarantee that you never miss my next post by sending a text message using the miraculous device that you are probably reading this on right now to the phone number 484848 with the word CRIP. Doing that will make you a part of the CRIP army, and you will get one, single text message from me personally every Sunday.)
Be First to Comment