(8) Good Habits

Rise early , eat healthy , exercise regularly , smile consistently , stand up straight and be punctual. We all know good habits is the foundation of leading a good life , but it is just so damn hard to cultivate and maintain any of them. So how do we start cultivating them? The secret is to just do it.

The hardest part of cultivating good habits , or accomplishing any goals is to get started. You need to put yourself on the line , fake it until you eventually make it. The moment when you start taking action , you will gain momentum from progress , and that will compound itself into a good habit.

We don't grow if we choose to stay in our comfort zone forever. Comfort zone is comfy and warmy for the short term , but over the long run it can slowly but surely degrade your life. One of my favorite recent book , 12 rules for life (which I highly suggest everyone to get a copy , not the perfectly written book , but the wisdom in it is golden ) written by Canadian clinical psychologist and professor of psychology , Jordan B. Peterson has this wonderful analogy regarding bad habits. Imagine every single bad habits of yours as a tiny little dragon. The longer you ignore it , the larger it grows , and given enough time it'll grow into this lethal , fire spitting , man eating dragon that will destroy your life. But if we choose to face the dragon head on , it would be so much easier to slay it while it's still a tiny little dragon. Even if the dragon evolves into this monstrous creature , it is still an absolute necessity to slay it , for the dragon hoards gold that will lead us to a better life.

Right now you're probably going like yea yea yea , slay the dragon , have good habits , all that sounds good to me , but I have zero motivation and discipline to do anything , let alone put on my shiny armor , pick up the sword and slay the dragon. Well then , I have good and bad news. Bad news is you are born with the amount of discipline you have , and it is extremely unlikely that you are going to gain more of it.

There is this really cool study that proves that our discipline is finite. So the experiment starts by dividing the participant into group A and B. They were asked to solve this really tricky mathematical question , which in fact has no solution at all. The test is not to find out the answer , but to see which group will try longer before giving up. Group A was placed in the room while waiting for the test to start , and on the table is this really delicious looking chocolate cake , they were specifically told not to touch the chocolate cake because it is reserved for another studies. Group B did the same , but instead of chocolate cake that was on the table , it was celery. Now , which group do you think last longer in the test before giving up? Answer was group B. Apparently group A used part of their finite discipline on resisting their urge on eating the chocolate cake , and they were starting the test with less persistence as compare with Group B , which really didn't have to tap into their discipline pool for resisting the urge. I mean , it was celery after all.

So what do we do if there is no way to increase our discipline level? The trick is to change our perspective about forming habits. When we see discipline as prerequisite to forming a habit , we are thinking about using a limited resources within us , and that is simply not sustainable.

How long did you last after making that new year resolution of going to the gym 3 times a week? Not very long I guess. But when was the last time that you have to struggle and motivate yourself to brush your teeth? Basically never right? The difference is , with going to the gym you're using discipline , but with brushing your teeth , you've already made it into a ritual. Making good habits into a ritual is the only way for long lasting changes. Start now , put yourself into the stretch zone where you're constantly experiencing an optimal amount of discomfort , and make it a ritual.