“Slowly, but surely” is a wildly underrated strategy.
Did you read that third word? Like, really read it?
“…Surely”
It’s the “surely” that makes this strategy a game-changer.
“Surely” is the kind of bet I like to make in my life.
Being “done” signifies completion.
And while this isn’t inherently bad… when it comes to the things we can never really “complete”—maybe this isn’t exactly good either.
Think about health, introspection, and connection.
These things are never “completed.”
And so if we can teach ourselves to “end” before we’re all the way “done”—we’ll essentially be learning how to create open loops that our mind might want to “close” in the future.
Some examples:
When you create an open-ended process for the things that compound in value over time, you give your future self a hat-tip that makes the start of the next session easier.
And anything that makes starting easier should always be considered.
You might not think that what you did this morning was important… but it was.
In the same way that sharpening the saw before you cut the tree is…
Or in how warming up and stretching before intense exercise is…
Or in how planning before acting is…
Try and cut the tree, do intense exercise, or act without the ideal precursor and in each case—the task will suffer.
So, too, will your day.
When you get the start of your day right—you get to cut through the rest of the day with a sharpened mind, a loose and flexible body, and a clearly defined plan.
Which reminds me… you might not think that what you do at night is important… but it is.
1% gains is the philosophy that guides my life.
Each day, I try to:
But, I don’t always reach this goal.
Sometimes, what 1% gains ACTUALLY looks like is:
While 1% might feel infinitely achievable… the reality is, we’re imperfect creatures immersed in an imperfect world and we have to account for the ebb and flow of life.
There will be days when you’re feeling it and crush your daily tasks (maybe even with 2-5% gains)… and there will be days when you’re not feeling it and you dip into the negatives.
Don’t let this discourage you—stay the path.
Keep investing in yourself like you would your retirement investment account. Continue to reinvest with the goal of the overall average being a 1% increase rather than the actual increase being 1% every single day.
The real power of the gains come from the long-term compounding of regular reinvestments. Just ask your financial advisor. Trying to get a forever positive return on any stock/fund in the market simply isn’t practical. And neither is a forever positive return on any task you undertake in life.
You don’t get 1% returns each and every single day.
You get 1% returns on average over the course of years and years of regular investing.
THAT is how you get the real 10/15/30% gains and that is how you get the most out of your personal development habits in life.
Stay. The. Path.
When it comes to habit change… “black-and-white” rules are much better than “gray” rules.
It’s hard to draw a line in a gradient of gray. And drawing clear lines is what habit change is all about.
My advice is commit 100% to whatever you’re trying to change or change the habit you’re trying to change to something you can commit to 100% of the time.
On Thursday, July 28th, I’ll be hosting a LIVE chat on Twitter on the Art of Stillness—and why/how stillness can help us live better lives. Join me if you’re free/ interested. Details here.
.…They don’t.
21/30/60/90 days isn’t the amount of time it takes for a hard task to become easy.
…It’s the amount of time it takes for you to not forget to do the hard task(s).
Many people get this twisted.
Hard tasks, generally speaking, never get easier.
The 21/30/60/90 day mark is simply how long it takes for you to integrate a new habit into your lifestyle—it’s the getting to and the starting of the task that gets easier.
Remember this the next time you commit to a new lifestyle habit.
Day 22/31/61/91 is going to be just as hard as day 1. You’re delusional if you think otherwise.
The key is to make sure that the pace you’re setting for yourself at the outset is one that you’ll be able to maintain far beyond just 21/30/60/90 days.
Good measure is to imagine how you’ll feel about your new lifestyle habit on day 9,000.
Do you think you’ll still be doing the task in question?
Proceed accordingly.