The Power Of Habit can be seen everywhere in our lives.
Many of us are already consistent in doing negative things.
Now let's talk about how we can start getting consistent with things that will make our lives better.
A lot of guys say they can't be consistent with things like exercise, eating healthy, getting up early, making sales calls, and talking to beautiful women.
They say its hard to build good habits.
The thing is that building habits are daily choices that become consistent over time.
Think about it, when you do negative things like lying on the couch watching reruns of some crappy show it comes easy.
Before you know it you have been lying on that couch for weeks and even months.
You formed a habit very quickly.
The reason is it was a comfortable thing to do, and you wanted to do it.
So now let's look at the opposite.
For example, you want to exercise, you get yourself to put on your shoes, but then the resistance starts popping up in your head.
In the great book “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield, the author talks about the idea of the resistance.
Its the voice that comes up when we want to do something that is important and that will improve our lives.
The resistance is the voice that says”you don't need to do this, let's stay here in bed it's nice and warm.”
Sometimes the resistance will start getting creative it will say something like “Let's do it tomorrow, let's watch some TV, and then tomorrow we go to the gym.”
Of course tomorrow the same story repeats itself.
In the book, the author makes the point that when we hear this voice, we should take it as a signal that the thing we are supposed to do is important and that is why the resistance is there to stop us.
See the resistance doesn't give a damn about change or your personal evolution.
It wants you to stay right where you are now.
It hates your plans for the future and success.
So what do we do?
Well, our goal is to become consistent in the new positive action we want to take.
There is no magic pill here, but there are some steps we can take to overcome the resistance:
Facing The Resistance
(1)Decide to Take Action and Take the First Step.
Decide to take action by getting up and take the first step you need to take to make it happen.
For example, put on your workout clothes and shoes.That is step one.
(2)Expect the resistance to Show up and Ignore It.
Remember if what you are supposed to do is important the resistance will show up.
This is just the nature of the resistance.
So expect a knock on the door as soon as you start taking action or even think about taking action.
The resistance will never show up when you start doing pointless things like eating junk food or drinking too much alcohol.
(3)Do it for 60 days(then it will be a habit).
Make a goal to do it for 60 days.So for example when your goal is to go to gym three times a week then do it for 60 days.
The latest science says that it takes about 60 days for a new habit to form.
So if you can make it to 60 days you will have formed a new habit.
Obviously forming good habits are a lot harder to create.
Negative habits are easy because they are easy.
So fight through the resistance,the rewards are massive.
Consistency is a Superpower
One of the biggest differences between people that are successful and the rest is that successful people are consistent in executing on their goals.
A lot of people start the race, but most people will quit after a few weeks.
I remember when I started JiuJitsu many students started with me as white belts, but as the weeks went by fewer students came to class.
What is the reason for this?
Well, its simple, the resistance showed up.
I also felt it; there were days that I felt that I don't want to go because my body was sore or its cold outside and I have to drive to the academy.
There are not a lot of difference between the people who stopped and the people who kept on coming to class.
The only difference was that the people who quit listened to the resistance.
Those who were successful heard the voice of the resistance but decided to ignore it and take action.
The quitters thought it would be more painful to go to the academy than the pain of looking back and regretting that you never got your blue belt.
They were wrong, the pain of regret is always worse.
They made a choice.
They were not consistent.
They fell for the seductive voice of the resistance.
If you take a hammer and hit a concrete wall you will not do any damage, but start hitting that wall for a day, weeks, months or even years, and eventually, a crack starts forming and you know that at some stage you will break down that wall.
Will Smith told this famous story of his father telling him to build a wall.His dad said,”Just put down one brick”.
Then the next day you put down another brick and the next day another.
After a few months or a year, you will have a wall.
This is the power of consistency.
The most powerful things in this universe are very simple actions done consistently.
That is the name of the game.If you execute consistently of whatever you want to achieve, then you can change the world.
