Make it stupid easy, but do it daily

First week of the new year! How’s it going?

It’s that time of year when many choose to develop new habits.

And when it comes to new habits, the following approach has simplified my life and it made it better.

1.) Choose One Thing You Want To Make a Habit

There are a lot of things we want to change. But let’s start with one. Not 10 things. Just one.

Choose one habit you’re going to build for 30 days. It might be waking up early. Working out. Anything. Decide.

The commitment to consistency over intensity is highlighted as a fundamental principle for life change. The prevailing culture often glorifies intense efforts and monumental achievements, but the true measure of success lies in the consistent execution of daily tasks. Celebrating small actions, irrespective of their perceived significance, becomes pivotal in this approach.

2.) Choose Something That Is Stupid Easy

If you want things to be consistent, you need to make things easy initially. You want it so easy that you’d be embarrassed to talk about it.

Here are some examples:

• Wake up early: but watch your favorite show. Eventually, you may decide to swap watching your show for something more productive.
• Working out. Can you do 10 or 20 pushups? Do 5 or 10 instead. Easy right. Get used to do the easy stuff. And then you’ll naturally gravitate toward the harder intensity.
• Eating healthy. If you’re eating too much junk food, why not commit to eating just one fruit or veggie I do. Choose you’re favorite. Then add another and keep going.

3.) Commit To Consistency and Avoid Intensity

This process, rooted in the philosophy of “Consistency over Intensity,” challenges the conventional notions of success and provides a practical guide for cultivating lasting habits.

Michael Jordan was successful because of consistency. When a season was over, he went back into training for the next one – regardless of how the season went (championship of not).

Famed investor, Warren Buffet is not successful because some think he has a better brain. He built his investment expertise because he put in the work every single day.

David Goggins is not successful because he loves running like a fat kid loves cake. He can run ultramarathons because he runs every. f*. day. Rain, shine, cold, heat, feeling great, or feeling awful—it doesn’t matter. He laces up.

4.) Do It Daily

You must commit to doing this every day.

No vacations. No weekends. You never miss a day.

Maybe your habit is waking up every day at 6am. I don’t care if you went to bed at 2am, you’re getting up at 6am.

Let’s sum it up…

The four-step system outlined for building habits involves the following:

1. Choose only one habit to focus on initially.
2. Make the selected habit incredibly easy to accomplish at first.
3. Commit to consistency, valuing actions over perceived success.
4. Execute the chosen habit every day without exceptions for 30 days.

I am genuinely interested in what you plan to do. Let me know in the comments, or email me at paul <at> irisreading.com – it will make my day knowing that someone read this and decided to make a change in their life.

Wishing you the best!