Getting Started AudioChapter from 41 Self-Discipline Habits AudioBook by Peter Hollins

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41 self-discipline habits for slackers, avoiders, and couch potatoes, written by Peter Hollins narrated by Russell Newton. Set small goals first How do you eat an entire elephant? One bite at a time! Corny jokes aside, it’s far easier to be disciplined about small things to start with and build momentum from there. Change is hard, and our brains are wired to return to what feels comfortable and predictable. That’s why big changes can be so hard, and why we can often get overwhelmed staring at the big picture and seeing how far we have to go. But if you start slow, you can build momentum without getting overwhelmed. If you want to start walking thirty minutes a day, five days a week, start with just five minutes a day.

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If you feel like continuing after five minutes, go for it! But all you have to focus on when you start is that crucial first step. That’s all. If you want to start eating better, identify just one change you can make in your diet. Keep that going for a while, then see where you are and what step to take next later. Often, when our mind thinks something is going to be easy, there’s not much resistance to just starting. And then, once we start, we can immediately start to feel that sense of achievement, movement, and hope—and that allows us to begin to build momentum to keep going. The longer you stay in prep mode without starting, however, and the longer you contemplate the huge mountain ahead of you that you have to climb, the more immobilized you’ll feel.

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Try not to psych yourself out by setting the bar too high. Confidence should be built by setting and achieving a small goal before going for a bigger one. After all, what feels better, knowing you have a big project ahead of you, or knowing that you are already on the path and doing what you need to do? Be patient with yourself and try not to get frustrated with the process. Accomplishing those small goals first can give you the motivation and inspiration to take the next step. And the next! It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of a big goal and forget that those big goals are really just a collection of lots and lots of little goals. And all you are really responsible for at any one time is a single one of those actions.

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Once you meet one goal, promise yourself you will look again and set the next one. But before then, your main job is just to get the current step completed. A lot of people believe that if they cannot summon the energy, money, time, or willpower to achieve the entire massive goal all at once, then they can’t start and might as well not bother. But that’s not true! You only need enough to do the very first step. Then bank that progress and look at the next step. How to Use This in Your Life Immediately Think about a goal in your life right now that has felt a little intimidating or overwhelming. Choose something that you have not felt confident or energetic enough to tackle.

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Look at this big action and break it down into as many tiny actions as you can. For example, if you wanted to write your one-hundred-thousand-word novel, well, that’s just a question of writing one word one hundred thousand times over. Really! Set yourself the goal of writing one thousand words at a time. If that seems intimidating still, drop it to five hundred or one hundred. Choose the baby step that makes you think, “Oh, actually that’s not such a big deal. I think I can do that." Then do that.

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Think small. Start on a Monday Human beings love a fresh start. It’s seemingly in our DNA. Beginning any new project on the right day give you the opportunity tostartoveranew, and promotes self-improvement, motivation, and self-discipline. The most significant dates turn out to be, in this order: the first day of the year, the first day after a national holiday, andMonday, the first day of the week. Monday gives us more motivation than other days of the week because it signals a new beginning. It works even better if the day has personal significance for you, such as a birthday, a holiday, or the start of a new job. Whatever it is, there is great power in harnessing the energy and enthusiasm that comes with a new leaf and a chance to start over again, no matter how small.

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I know what you’re thinking: you hate Mondays. You hate them so much sometimes that you start dreading them on Friday already, right? But you can transform this attitude into one where you’re genuinely excited to begin again. Research in the journal Psychological Science has shown that people are actually more likely to follow through with new projects begun on a Monday. It’s as though observing the start of the week gives you an extra boost, cements the new start in your mind, and tells your unconscious mind, “This is it—the start of something different." It’s a temporal landmark that allows you to wipe the slate clean, forget about where you’ve been, and turn your full enthusiasm to the week ahead and its goals. It’s not so much that the week is new, but that you get to be a new person and make a clean break from any failures or missed opportunities of the past. Productivity gurus may say that the best time to start a new goal is this very instant, but there’s something about the ceremony and markedness of a Monday that may in fact be more powerful.

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How to Use This in Your Life Immediately This tip is not free license to procrastinate all your work until next Monday! How you start on a Monday matters, too. It’s worth saying that Monday is great, but you can also choose some other significant day—for example, if you have for years started your weekday on a Wednesday, then that may be more meaningful for you. If it’s your birthday coming up in a few days, plan to start something new then, and signal to your unconscious mind that something new and fresh and exciting has begun. Here’s how to go ahead with a Monday start date: •Make a list and be prepared. On Sunday night (or better yet, Friday afternoon) make a plan for exactly what you’re going to do come Monday morning. Don’t “ease into it”—just start, and start with the big, important things first. Think about the most important first step and knock that off the list as soon as possible so you can capitalize on that momentum and get yourself feeling excited and accomplished as soon as possible.

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•Don’t just plan the actions that relate to your goal directly. Also, plan the outfit you’re going to wear that day (choose something clean, appropriate, and well-fitting that makes you feel like a million bucks) and make sure you have a breakfast plan lined up. Schedule your first cup of coffee for when you’ve already been up for one or two hours, for maximum efficiency. •Supercharge your fresh start with fresh everything—fling open a window and fill your lungs with the air of a new day, open a fresh bar of soap, or wear a new pair of socks, and expose yourself to the new morning sun as soon as you wake up. Try a little ritual to reinforce all these bright feelings of newness—start a brand-new journal, say a little prayer, or do something you’ve never done before to honor the occasion. Never Skip Two Days in a Row When you’re starting out, the first day matters. Baby steps matters. But once you’ve started, it’s all about preserving your momentum.

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Momentum is nothing mysterious, though—it’s simply our ability to keep moving once we’ve started moving. We don’t need to continually maintain the same degree of intensity, though. You can slow down, only don’t completely stop! In the beginning, there may be a strong and perfectly natural desire to miss a day here and there. Nobody’s perfect and remember, your brain is working hard to bring you back to its old equilibrium, so you may be pushing hard against the tendency to run back to your comfort zone. But once you’ve begun, make a promise to yourself that although you can skip a day here or there, you will never skip two days in a row. This is a great rule to have for yourself, because it’s flexible. We all mess up from time to time.

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Maybe you’re ill. Maybe some truly unexpected emergency crops up. That’s fine. If you skip a day, forgive yourself and move on—but don’t allow yourself to do it again. Otherwise, you are on the path to making it a habit. One day is a normal setback. Two days starts to seriously undo your momentum. All or nothing thinking can be deadly when we’re trying to learn new habits and genuinely improve our lives.

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If you are ultra-strict with yourself and freak out when you’re not perfect, you may actually send yourself into a downward spiral and think, “Well, I’m so far gone now I might as well give up." But you don’t have to aim for perfection. You just need to be consistent—and giving up is the one thing that will destroy that consistency! How to Use This in Your Life Immediately Your attitude is what will make the difference. This two-day rule is really a psychological trick. We are in essence immunizing ourselves against small setbacks and simply refusing to let them turn into big setbacks. Step 1: When you mess up, deliberately move away from bad feelings about yourself. You haven’t failed; it’s not a catastrophe.

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In fact, it’s pretty normal and one hundred percent predictable. Whatever you do, don’t allow bad feelings to get in the way of you continuing your mission. Remind yourself that messing up one day is not a sign that you’re a hopeless case, but simply that your approach needs adjusting. That’s it. It’s just data. Step 2: Take that data and see what you can learn. What needs to change to make sure this doesn’t happen again? Take the slip-up as valuable, welcome feedback.

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You didn’t think the process of change would be perfectly smooth sailing, right? Step 3: Set up consequences for not following through on two days. You need to really, really feel that it’s impossible for you to miss two days in a row. Encourage this belief by having someone else hold you accountable, or find a way to make the consequences so real and uncomfortable that it’s actually preferable just to get back onto your winning streak again. As an example, let’s say you fail to go to gym one day even though you’ve been the last two weeks straight. You pause and look at why. You don’t wallow in self-pity or beat yourself up. You just say, “Hm, what happened there?"

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Maybe you notice that you missed your morning workout because you stayed up all night and were too exhausted. The actionable next step is clear: go to bed on time tonight and don’t miss your workout tomorrow. Monitor Your Progress So you’ve broken things into baby steps, you’ve taken the first and most important baby step, and piece by piece, day by day, you are building your goal. Well done! Now you’re well and truly on the path, you’ll need to keep track of how you’re going. Knowledge is power. Tracking helps you stay focused on what'simportantto reachingyourgoal. It also helps you identify potential obstacles and strategies for how to overcome them—before they derail you.

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Consciously tracking your development can help you set more realistic goals and stay positive along the way, because you are seeing concrete evidence of your incremental improvement. Think about keeping a journal to write down your self-discipline goals and to track your progress. Alternatively, you could have a highly visible chart somewhere to remind you of the journey you’re on. This reinforces the positive changes that you're implementing in your life and gives you a record that you can look back on with pride—especially on those days you feel like giving up. It might be tempting to miss a day, but then when you look at your unbroken streak of twenty days, you might decide to push on instead of interrupting that momentum. This is the power of tracking—if you know what your baseline is, you know, without doubt, whether your interventions are actually working and how much they’re working. The simple act of measuring yourself alone is a boost of motivation. Think of it as having yourself as an accountability buddy.

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On the other hand, if something isn’t working, tracking yourself will show you this clearly and immediately and give you a chance to identify what is actually the source and magnitude of the problem. That takes us to the obvious question—how do you track? How to Use This in Your Life Immediately If you’re thinking you need some kind of complex app or tool to get you started, hold on—the first step is actually to determine what metrics you can use to measure your progress. Your progress may naturally lend itself to being quantified and measured, but it may not. For example, you may be trying to lose weight, and so you could settle on measuring pounds of weight lost. However, take a moment to think about this carefully. If you only have five pounds to lose, you might choose smaller increments than one pound, or you may choose other metrics entirely, such as waist measurements or how close you are to wearing a too-tight pair of trousers! Don’t rush this step.

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First, zoom out and look at the bigger picture, i.e., your larger goal. Then think about realistic, appropriate time scales (again, baby steps will help here!). Reflect on why you’re doing what you’re doing, and then choose a frequency at which you’ll check in on your progress to completing these mini-goals or baby steps. With our example, you might want to lose weight primarily for health reasons and decide that indefinitely checking in weekly makes sense since you are looking to make gradual changes that will last for the long term (i.e., you’re not just crash dieting to lose weight by next Wednesday). Once you’ve decided on how often you’re checking in, decide on how you’ll track your progress. Again, choose what is appropriate. Keep it simple. You might keep a chart on the bathroom wall where you record your weekly weigh in, joining up the dots to form a graph that shows you your progress over time.

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Progress tracking works best when you build in a little ritual and reward with each step. Take a moment at every interval to look at how far you’ve come, remind yourself where you’re going, and celebrate the steps you’re taking to get there. Put Your Goals Where You Can See Them In the above example, the tracking chart was placed visibly in the bathroom where it would be seen every day, even on those days where no actual weighing in would happen. This is no accident. You’ve heard the phrase, “get it in writing." Well, goals are the same—when written down, they become more real to our unconscious minds, and are more likely to be achieved. Writing goals down forces you to clarify them, put them into concrete words and see them out there in the world. It’s the first step to making them real.

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Written down goals (as well as visible tracking) are a kind of positive reinforcement. Any time we follow a desired behavior with a reinforcing stimulus, we are making that behavior more likely to occur again in the future. Ordinarily, we think of this reinforcer as a reward (e.g., having a treat after you complete an exam), but simply marking your progress has the same effect. Tracking progress against a written goal makes your achievement more tangible and allows you to enjoy it more, making positive associations between the behavior and you feeling good. And that’s the key right there: the more you can attach positive feelings to your desired actions, the more likely it is you’ll keep doing those actions. For example: •You write down an inspiring and motivational message for yourself, capturing your reason for aiming for your goal. You place this prominently in your office and look at it daily. This encourages you.

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Those good feelings come to be associated with working in your office, and you find yourself wanting to be there and to achieve your goal. •You have a white board in your study with your week’s goals written on one side. As you complete tasks, you erase them and rewrite them on the other side. Now you have visual evidence of everything you’ve achieved (positive reinforcement—you’re making progress!) as well as a clear indication of what’s outstanding. •You have a jar filled with pieces of paper, each with “$100” written on it. As you pay down a large debt, you manually remove the papers and tear them up, burn them, or throw them in the trash. Doing so feels so good! You reward and reinforce each one hundred dollars paid, as well as encourage yourself to keep going and empty that jar for good.

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How to Use This in Your Life Immediately Firstly, make sure you are not shaming or scaring yourself into achieving your goals. Punishments and negative emotions can control your behavior to some extent, but you’re far more likely to make sustainable changes if you make the process genuinely enjoyable and meaningful. Focus on ways you can make every step of your journey as pleasurable and positive as possible. Don’t underestimate the satisfaction to be found in tracking your progress. Tell yourself out loud, “I’m getting closer every day to my goal” and allow yourself to bask for a few moments in those good, encouraging feelings. Write down your goals. Make them clear, simple, and workable. Then make sure you can see how you are getting closer and closer to that goal.

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Hang your written goals or progress charts up somewhere or put them where you can see them every single day. Use calendars, stick things to your fridge, put notes on your computer screen, or even set reminders on your phone. You can set a specific time every day to check in, perhaps noting that you’ve gone one more full day without (insert addictive behavior here). Pat yourself on the back. Visualize Your Outcome Visualization comes naturally to anyone making a goal. We’ve all fantasized about what life would be like once we achieve our dream. However, visualization is not just daydreaming; it’s a powerful tool that spurs and maintains our motivation. Visualization helps self-discipline because your brain can’t actually differentiate between real and imagined images.

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So, when you imagine something vividly, your brain chemistry changes as if you’re actually experiencing those images. Visualizing positive things gives you positive feelings and associations, reinforcing your behavior and keeping you on track. This makes it easier for you to overcome feelings of fear and take actionable steps toward achieving your goals. So, dreaming and visualizing are not magical—they prepare and prompt your brain to actually achieve what you’re holding in your imagination. Your motivation spikes. Your unconscious gets to work on finding creative solutions for your problems. You are programming yourself to expect a positive outcome and to recognize opportunities and possibilities in line with your dream. It's not a question of “imagine it and it will mysteriously manifest in your life,” but rather, the more clearly you can picture what you’re aiming for, the more efficient you’ll be at making that a reality.

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Athletes, for example, take pains to “rehearse” a certain move or play in their mind long before they train their physical muscles to follow through. The mental preparation lays the foundation and gives them the confidence, focus and conviction to then bring that vision to life. In the same way that an athlete actually creates new neural pathways just by thinking about a certain action, you can do the same, and start training your brain to behave as though what you want is already true in some sense. How to Use This in Your Life Immediately You can use visualization to imagine a detailed and vivid outcome—this inspires and motivates you and creates a degree of focus and fearlessness. Example: imagining yourself crossing the finish line on marathon day. Or you could visualize the process toward your goal—this helps prepare and organize you, as well as keep you on track and help you predict and pre-empt possible obstacles. Example: mentally imagining yourself pushing through and achieving your training goals day by day. Literally picture yourself facing resistance and laziness and triumphing over it.

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Visualizing is a focused, deliberate act. Close your eyes and take your time painting a mental picture of what you want to happen. Play it out like a movie in your mind. Draw on all five of your senses—imagine how the scene looks, sounds, etc.—but most importantly, sink into how you feel in this image. This is vital. Summon up the physical sensations in your body, the emotions you feel, as well as any words, gestures or facial expressions. This is what will really help those new neural pathways cement themselves. You can play around with your visualization.

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Some people imagine the image shrinking down into a magical pill they then eat or swallow, and then visualize it going into their bodies and powering up their motivation. Others might imagine a gold frame around an imagined scene, or imbue it with a specially chosen song or mantra that transports them into just the right frame of mind. Visualization can also be done via collages or “vision boards”—collect physical pictures that capture the feeling you want to create with your goal and hang it somewhere prominent. Visualization is not just visual—you can use affirmations or specific phrases, too (for example, imagine in detail the speech you will give once you earn a coveted award, and imagine the sound of the applause). Visualization is best done regularly. Build it into your daily routine or do it after you’ve achieved a goal or had a setback—it can act like a compass, keeping you on track in both cases. Remember, the image, whatever it is, must be alive and felt in your body to have any power. Summary: •When cultivating the self-discipline needed to achieve your goals, it matters how you start.

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Forego quantum leaps and overnight successes and instead “think small” by breaking your big goal down into manageable, sustainable baby steps. What matters most is habit and consistency. •You have more chance of achieving your goal if you make a conscious “fresh start,” i.e., begin on New Year’s Day, your birthday, or the first day of the week, Monday. Deliberately and consciously mark the occasion and make it memorable, telling yourself that the past is forgiven and forgotten, and you are turning over a new leaf. •Make a promise to yourself that even though you may occasionally have setbacks, you will never skip your task for two days in a row. One day is understandable, but two days makes a habit. If you slip up, go into learning mode and ask why so you can ensure you don’t do the same the following day. •Choose a goal, set a timeframe, and then choose some appropriate metrics to track and monitor your progression.

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Keep this visible and concrete, to inspire you, give you a sense of focus and accomplishment, and help you troubleshoot and pre-empt problems. •Finally, use the power of visualization to train your brain in the right direction. Draw on all five senses to imagine the desired outcome or the process toward that outcome—or both. What matters is that you do it regularly and really delve into the feelings associated with what you’re trying to create. Chapter 2: Focus on Habits Replace Old Habits You’ve heard it all before—good habits are the foundation of a healthy, successful life. But here’s the good news: you don’t need to start from scratch. Think about it this way, you already have habits. Your brain naturally wants to do certain things on autopilot, repeatedly.

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You just have to make sure that the thing you’re doing automatically is the best possible option for you. Most of the time, bad habits are simply a way of dealing with stress and boredom. Everything from biting your nails to overspending on a shopping spree to drinking every weekend to wasting time on the internet. These are all (unhelpful) ways to regulate our emotions, manage stress, and “fill the void,” whatever it may be. But it doesn't have to be that way. You can teach yourself new and healthy ways to deal with stress and boredom, which you can then substitute in place of your bad habits. The good thing about this approach is that you already have the mental scaffolding in place, so to speak. You are merely swapping out the content of a habit you already have for something better.

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Can you “break” a bad habit by sheer force of will? Yes. But it takes enormous amounts of energy and focus. You can achieve the same result by replacing habits or upgrading them. A good example is if you're trying to stop yourself shopping online when you take a break at work. This bad habit destroys your focus and attention, because you're likely to be online for twenty to thirty minutes each time. But maybe you find that every time you’re tempted to shop, you’re simply faced with a big gaping hole in your schedule and the unfulfilled desire to browse your favorite sites. It’s an uphill battle each time.

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What now? Firstly, recognize that bad habits, as harmful as they are, are serving a purpose and have some benefit in your life—otherwise, they wouldn’t be there. The first step is to notice when you feel triggered or compelled to do the bad habit. Then, understand what that habit is doing for you. Releasing boredom? Acting as a welcome distraction from life stress? You can guess what the next step is: find a new, healthier way to satisfy that need for yourself without resorting to your bad habit. In our shopping example, perhaps you recognize that you are browsing to relieve tension and “treat” yourself.

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After some brainstorming, you realize you can do this by taking a walk outside and indulging in a healthy snack, a book you’re enjoying, or a few moments spent on a hobby. Maybe, in time, you recognize that stress levels at your job are unsustainable and that you need to make bigger changes in that area, i.e., addressing the stress or leaving the job completely. How to Use This in Your Life Immediately Answer the following questions to guide your bad habit replacement: What bad habits do you have right now? What are the where, what, who, why, and when of this habit? What is this habit costing you and what could you regain by replacing it? Was there a time before the bad habit? What were you like then? What did you do instead?

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What is the benefit/function of this habit in your life? What substitute behavior can give you the same feeling or outcome as this bad habit, but healthily? What are the benefits of switching to this behavior in place of the bad behavior? What are your bad habit triggers (think who, where, why, how ... )? Can you visualize yourself perceiving these triggers but focusing your attention on the new habit instead? What could you do immediately afterward to reward yourself for diverting to this better habit? Eat Well, Eat Regularly Chances are that healthy eating is one of the habits you intend you cultivate within yourself by finding enough self-discipline and motivation. But the truth is, it may go the other way around, that is, that self-discipline is a result of healthy eating and not a cause.

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Your blood sugar levels are directly and closely linked to your degree of self-control and energy, which impact in a big way on how disciplined you can be in your everyday choices and actions. Willpower is not an infinite resource and gets depleted just like anything else. The brain literally runs on glucose as a fuel, therefore if you’re hungry, you’re simply not going to be as focused as you possibly can be. Studies have shown that low blood sugar often weakens a person’s resolve. When you’re hungry, your ability to concentrate suffers as your brain is not functioning to its highest potential. Hunger makes it difficult to focus on the tasks at hand, not to mention making you grumpy and pessimistic. Now, a caveat here: eating a healthy diet is not about strict limitations, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it’s about feeling great, having more energy, improving your health, and boosting your mood.

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To set yourself up for success, try to keep things simple. Food really is fuel, and when you’re making changes to your life and cultivating discipline, you need that energy, and you need to eat strategically. Eating a healthier diet doesn’t have to be complicated. But you do need a few key rules to live by, to guide you. Instead of being overly concerned with counting calories, for example, think of your diet in terms of color, variety, and freshness. Focus on avoiding packaged and processed foods and opting for more fresh ingredients whenever possible. Avoid snacks, eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re full, and stay away from foods that actively harm you, like alcohol or loads of refined sugar and salt. Having food rules is not about being on a diet or adopting restrictive eating.

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It’s more about applying your own values and principles to this super important area of life and taking responsibility for what you put in your mouth. In a way, it doesn’t matter all that much what your food rules are, only that they matter to you, that they are sustainable, and that they consistently allow you to achieve the health and balance you want. Michael Pollan, food journalist and author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, has his own three-part food rule: “Eat real food (i.e., not processed rubbish), mostly plants, not too much." Simple, huh? How to Use This in Your Life Immediately What food rules will work for your life? There is a matter of trial and error, but as far as self-discipline is concerned, the best diet is one that is varied, balanced, and steady. Keep your blood sugar levels as constant as possible and eat a wide range of foods at regular intervals. Avoid bingeing or long fast periods.

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Take a look at some of these other popular food rules that have served people for centuries and see which can be slotted effectively into your life: •Eat some protein with every meal •Have at least five servings of fruit and veggies a day, all different colors •Home cook most of your meals from scratch •Drink plenty of water •Avoid anything with the fiber removed, i.e., opt for brown rice and wholewheat pasta instead of white •Replace bread, pastry, pasta, and cakes with starchy vegetables •No food is off limits—it’s all about moderation and portion control •Cut down on meat and eat more fish and veggie sources of protein •Eat less salt and sugar, and don’t add any to your meals •Eat until you’re seventy percent full, eat slowly, and chew well •A little treat now and then won’t kill you! Exercise Body ... and Mind We couldn’t mention healthy eating without also mentioning the value of regular physical movement and exercise. The two go hand in hand when it comes to creating a solid foundation onto which you can start building success and achieving your dreams. This point is all about the following maxim: how you do anything is how you do everything. How does physical exercise benefit your overall discipline? If you exercise regularly, your willpower muscle will be stronger, too. When you exercise your physical body, you are also training your strength of will and dedication. You are teaching yourself that you can and will follow through on your commitments, and training your ability to stick it out and get it done.

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Exercise is a precious cornerstone to a life filled with good and positive habits and free from bad habits. Not only is it brilliant for your physical health, but it will keep your mental health in tip-top form as well, helping you feel confident, capable, and energized as you move through your day. Instill the keystone habit of exercise into your morning routine, and you turbo charge each day with enthusiasm and focus right from the beginning. Plus, you get to tick something significant off your list and feel the sense of accomplishment that brings. Exercise reliably reduces your levels of stress and pain by releasing endorphins and neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin. Exercise improves total health by increasing blood flow and the oxygenation of the body’s cells, toning the immune system, and helping it fight off diseases. Your mood will improve, you’ll sleep better, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll look better naked! Again, regular physical exercise is the result of self-discipline, but it is also its cause.

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When you practice discipline in one area of your life, it’s inevitable that your dedication will spill over into other areas, too. How to Use This in Your Life Immediately As with so many other things in life, don’t overthink it. Start small and stay consistent. If you’re starting from zero, the most important thing is to clarify exactly what you want to achieve—not all of us can be fitness models (or want to be). Once you’re clear on what you want and why you want it, then set a single, realistic, quantifiable goal for yourself; for example, to get through a one-hour HIIT workout class. Then, assign yourself regular tasks throughout the week—it’s best if your workout happens at the same, non-negotiable time of day, every day. Naturally, you want to choose a time when you’re most wired up and ready to move. In the beginning, just focus on what’s directly in front of you: that day’s workout, that set, that rep.

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Focus on the immediate short-term gains, not the big transformations you’re hoping to ultimately achieve. Simply notice that you feel good after getting your blood flowing. Reward yourself, track your progress, and let it sink in that you’re on the path. Always have a plan. At all times, you need to know exactly what exercise is lined up for you in the future—don’t leave it up to willpower alone, but schedule it in. Eat well, sleep enough, and get the people in your life on board so they can support you. Avoid temptations and be kind to yourself—slipping up is part of the process, but don’t dwell on it. Just get back on the wagon and carry on as soon as you can.

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Finally, a note about the kind of exercise you should try. That’s simple: pick something that you can genuinely imagine yourself doing day in and day out. You don’t have to do weight training or skipping or jogging or whatever. Choose something you love and which challenges you. That could be yoga, dance, swimming, mountain climbing, or whatever else floats your boat. Just make sure that a) you’re moving your body, and b) you’re doing it every single day. Fine Tune Your Mornings You’re probably beginning to notice a theme here! Self-discipline, motivation, organization, and commitment to achieving your goals sound like vague, abstract things “out there” in the world, but the truth is, successful living starts in here, with your body and with your everyday routines.

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In other words, no goal is so ethereal and lofty that it can override a lack of sleep, a diet of junk food or a bad drinking habit. Willpower is not going to get you very far if you are not giving yourself a solid physiological foundation on which to build. With that in mind, let’s turn now to arguably one of the best routines to nail down in your mission to become the most productive, most self-disciplined version of yourself: your wake-up time. Consider it an extension of the idea that how you do anything is how you do everything. It’s not rocket science—how you start the day is usually an indication of how the rest of your day is going to pan out. It works both ways: a person who is disciplined and motivated will have no trouble getting up and on with the day ahead, and a person who can manage to wake up consistently at the right time will find that they naturally feel more motivated and disciplined with everything that follows. The key, surprise surprise, is consistency and commitment. As your first act of the day, prove to yourself that you have the self-control, agency and sense of purpose to get up and get moving.

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Rather than letting your day start without you or falling into your routine almost by accident, seize it consciously and deliberately, putting your own intention into the way that events unfold from the second you open your eyes. How to Use This in Your Life Immediately Let’s look at the facts first—human beings naturally move through a twenty-four-hour wake/sleep cycle, with rising and falling energy and concentration levels. While each of us has a different “chronotype” i.e., personal biological rhythm, the truth is that everyone needs at least seven hours of sleep (eight is better) and everyone is happier and healthier when they wake up and go to sleep at a consistent time every day—including on the weekends! If you’re like most people, you’re in the bad habit of staying up too late at night and then struggling to get up early enough in the morning. If so, your aim is two-fold—gradually inch your bedtime and your wake time earlier, and once they’re where you want them, maintain them using positive reinforcement. Making big changes to your current schedule won’t last; instead, shift your routine by fifteen minutes at a time, for as few days at a time, before shifting it again. An early bedtime goes hand in hand with an early morning. So, while you’re training yourself to wake up on time, spend equal amounts of energy on tidying up your night-time routine: Have a “wind down” routine where you take a hot bath, do yoga, journaling, reading, meditating, or listening to relaxing music for the hour before you sleep.

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Consciously release the stress and thoughts of the day and get ready to sleep, ensuring that your room is as dark, quiet, and comfortable as possible. Even if you don’t fall asleep, that’s fine. Just rest. Whatever you do, don’t stare at pixelated, glowing screens in the hour before bed. In the morning, put your alarm clock somewhere where you’ll need to get up to turn it off. The moment your alarm goes off, communicate to your body that it’s time for wakefulness: •Open the window to let in natural light and fresh air •Make your bed so you’re not tempted to get back into it •Enjoy some movement—a nice walk outside, stretching, or anything you like to wake your body up Stick to a Schedule Here’s something to get your head around: setting up a fixed daily routine and following a schedule is not hard work. It’s actually the easy way. When you stick to tried-and-true routines and get into the habit of following an organized schedule, there’s simply less to think about, and you require less willpower, not more.

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Habit and automation are the secret superpower of all successful people. Routines make the best use of our time, cut down on indecision and overwhelm, boost our confidence and feeling of achievement, get a good momentum going, and free up our minds to do more creative, novel work. Motivation and inspiration are great, but it’s consistency and discipline that will keep you on the path even when motivation is flagging. What’s the best schedule? One that is written down. The act of writing out and contemplating your routine solidifies it and makes it more likely that you’ll follow through. How to Use This in Your Life Immediately Sit down with a pen and paper. Outline the seven days of the week.

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First add in your wake and sleep times and block out enough time for sleep. Then, schedule in your morning and evening routine—say roughly and hour for each. You can include things like stretching, having a good breakfast, reading, visualization, walking, tidying your home, grooming, and so on. Go back to the goals you have identified for yourself, break them down into smaller chunks, and schedule them in. Remember to give yourself ample time for breaks, time to digest and consolidate, time to reflect on what you’ve done, and time to plan ahead. Don’t leave this up to chance—schedule it in and protect that time! Give yourself time for meals and exercise and play around with your allotted time so that you are giving every area of your life the attention it deserves. You might like to have a general schedule, but fine tune it every Sunday evening where you plan in more detail according to what’s going on in your life.

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But in this case, your morning and evening routines should still stay as consistent as humanly possible. Sounds good right? Let’s actually make it happen, though: •Make sure that everything is written down and visible to you every day. •Build your schedule around your priorities and non-negotiables. Only you can identify these for yourself. •When you have many smaller tasks like chores and admin, cluster them together. •Pay attention to your own peak energy and concentration times and schedule the most difficult or demanding task for then. •Keep in mind all the things you won’t do, and don’t allow yourself to get distracted or sidetracked.

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Don’t multitask. •Your routine is not set in stone—stay flexible so that when you review (which you should be doing at least weekly), you can make intelligent adjustments that reflect real life and have the best chance of actually working for you. The “perfect” schedule is worthless if it’s not realistically doable. I want to mention two important things here that you might not pay much attention to when you’re drawing up your schedule. The first is patience, and the second is forgiveness. The fact is, while a routine makes life easier once it’s established, habits take time to embed themselves in your life, and you will need patience until then. Secondly, you will mess up. Be realistic.

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Life is messy and seldom plays out in discrete, predictable chunks. If you can’t follow your schedule now and then, don’t beat yourself up. Mitigate the unexpected, flow around the interruption, and keep going. If you’re routinely finding that your schedule just doesn’t work, that’s not a sign to give up, but a sign that you need to make some careful adjustments. Make Room for Breaks, Treats, and Rewards When most people start out with making a schedule, they think solely of work. They block in their paid employment and then, consciously or unconsciously, allow themselves the scraps of time around those hours to somehow live the rest of their lives. Kind of depressing when you think about it, right? Living a more self-disciplined life doesn’t mean you need to live like your own drill sergeant, completely rigid and inflexible, unforgiving, punishing, and joyless.

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In fact, trying to achieve this is likely to make you less resilient and far less productive in the long run. Zero wiggle room often results in failures, disappointments, and giving in to your old ways. In other words, being too extreme is not particularly sustainable. Breaks are important. Your rest and recuperation and joy in life is important. For its own sake, but also because it will make you a more focused, whole and motivated person overall. Breaks, treats, and rewards cement and acknowledge your progress and keep your motivation up. Here’s how to make use of them: How to Use This in Your Life Immediately Make rewards appropriate.

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This is obvious—your reward should not undermine or cancel out your achievement. It should also be significant enough to actually mean something to you and should be something you genuinely like and want. Make sure you know exactly when you will be rewarded, and when you reach that milestone, pause and truly relish the joy of your success. Brag a little, honor the occasion, and share your pride. Let the good feelings sink in—they will actively rewire your brain for success and release dopamine, which is a powerful reward neurotransmitter that will make the preceding behavior more likely to be repeated. If you’ve lost some weight, don’t reward yourself with half a cake and a skipped workout—you are only reversing your progress and telling yourself that you actually prefer to eat poorly and neglect your physical health. Instead, tell yourself how good it feels to live healthily and treat yourself to a massage, a new gadget you’ve had your eye on, or an afternoon off catching up with a loved one. Rewards and treats don’t have to be material and don’t have to cost a lot of money.

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A good idea is to make a list of things that give you joy and reinvigorate your purpose and passion. Consult this list when your energy is flagging and you need a pick-me-up. Getting outdoors, socializing with others, enjoying good food and music, moving your body, having a hot bath, snuggling up a with a book or a podcast, or simply trying something new are all great ways to healthily treat and reward your progress. Get the most from your breaks. Schedule them in like they’re important appointments (they are!) and don’t be tempted to skip over them. A good rule of thumb when working is to have a full break every forty minutes to an hour for around ten minutes. Have a longer break (twenty minutes) for every four hours you work. Make sure you’re never sitting down like a lump for extended periods.

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Pepper your day with movement and keep things varied. Get up, stretch your legs, have a hot cup of tea, go outside for a while, chat to a friend, engage in a hobby, have a micro nap or have a healthy snack to replenish your blood sugar. Inject some mindfulness into every one of your breaks and check in with yourself—are your eyes getting strained and need a break? Are you slouching? Hungry? Maybe you need to switch task and come back to a problem later, after letting your unconscious mind chew on it for a while. Summary: •To become more disciplined, focus on your bad habits and work not to eliminate them but replace them with better ones. Observe your current habits, understand the purpose they serve, their triggers and their results, and take action to rework them in your favor.

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With good habits in place, you need less self-discipline, not more. •It sounds basic, but you cannot cultivate self-discipline without the foundation of a healthy lifestyle. You can fuel your willpower by considering how to fuel your body first. There are many different diet philosophies, and they all work, but one thing consistently shown to improve self-control is to maintain stable blood sugar levels. •Regular exercise will boost your self-esteem, fill your body with endorphins, keep you fit and strong, and help you exercise your resolve as you exercise your muscles. Remember: how you do anything is how you do everything. Exercise not only your body but your mind. •If you don’t have one already, establish a rock-solid morning routine that gets you started on the right foot.

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by Russell Newton. Copyright: 2021