#76 Build Discipline by Starting Small

ByLukas
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The trick to building discipline: stick to your projects more often than you quit, so your actions start overruling self-defeating thoughts.

So how make sure you stick to more of your projects and habits

Make them feasible. Start small.

Write a couple of sentences in your journal every day.

Write short articles.

Walk for 5 minutes.

Do 2 minutes of breathing exercises.

In the long run, you’ll probably have to build up volume and intensity. But first, start small. Build trust of completion. Become disciplined.

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#313 Keep it Achievable, Pleasurable, Sustainable

ByLukas

I’ve been publishing daily posts for 300+ days now.

The secret?

Writing less.

  • I don’t want to spend hours writing daily posts, so I keep them short.

  • I don’t want to drag myself to a 4-day writing session to create all posts for the coming week in advance (then not write for the rest of the week)

  • I don’t want to set writing goals that are painful to reach and make me feel burnt out.

  • I do want to write a little bit every day, so I prove to myself every single day that I’m a writer.

  • I do want to feel that writing that daily post is achievable and fun.

  • I do want to build momentum.

Keep it achievable. Keep it pleasurable. Keep it sustainable.

In other words: Tiny Trust Builders.

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#78 Unconscious categorization

ByLukas

Within a split second, I’ve categorized an object as an apple. Now I don’t pay attention to the dimensions, color, smell, and texture anymore.

Within a split second, I’ve categorized an emotion as anger, fear, frustration, love. So I don’t pay attention to the physiological changes in my body anymore.

I’m always categorizing – but I didn’t consciously create the categories.

But what if I’m categorizing inaccurately?

Can I interrupt instant categorization, governed by language, habits, patterns, past experience?

Can I re-open my senses and see, smell, touch, hear, feel again?

Can I start sensing nuances between the objects I behold?

Can I discern nuances between the feelings I feel?

Mindfulness, journaling, meditation, and learning languages can help with more conscious categorization.

Because what if the anger I feel is nothing but fear?

What if the fear I feel is nothing but frustration?

What if the frustration I feel is nothing but unrequited love?

And what if the love I feel is nothing but infatuation?

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#193 How do you react?

ByLukas

You want to get the guitar piece exactly right but still trip up once in a while. How do you react?

You want to run a marathon but can’t even finish half a marathon yet. How do you react?

You want to explain how you feel but end up feeling misunderstood. How do you react?

Do you let frustration hold you back?

Or do you use the gap as leverage to change your actions and bridge the gap between your current and desired identity?

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#187 Causality on its head

ByLukas

You don’t have to feel certain to start taking action.

You take action to start feeling certain.

You don’t need to be calm to do yoga.

You do yoga to become calm.

You don’t need to have a quiet mind to meditate.

You meditate to cultivate a quiet mind.

You don’t have to speak Spanish fluently to have a conversation in Spanish.

You have a conversation in Spanish to learn to speak Spanish fluently.

You don’t need to know how to love to start loving someone.

You start loving someone to learn how to love.

And while this chain of causality sounds logical, sometimes the logical things are the hardest to remember.

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