Hey hey!
A bit late with this week’s edition. I had a late night after ages, and slept in past my usual time. Feels good though. Previously, I would’ve chided myself for doing this but for absolutely no reason. So what?
My dog decided she needed 2 walks last night after 10.30 pm as well, primarily because we left her alone to hang out with a couple of friends. Which meant I could walk around a bit and not feel sluggish after dinner. And that gave me an appetite to eat more of the delish banana bread that my wife made. So, pretty good night overall.
And finally got over my self-doubt to get on a phone call with someone much smarter than me to pick their brain. Feels wonderful, and as always, leaves me with the thought of “why did I hesitate to do this?”. I think the point of learning is that I will invariably do that again, except next time I should hesitate lesser.
Ah well, on to the 3 things for today.
on cheat codes
on making it (near) impossible to indulge in a bad habit
on forward progress
These are 3 things I’ve written about in the past week. If you’ve already read them because you are subscribed to my main newsletter, then I suggest listening to the audio.
If you prefer reading to audio, I’ve kept the links to the actual posts at the bottom of these excerpts. Rather than reproduce the actual post, I cut out most of it, add some new commentary to get the message across.
on cheat codes
I used to play video games a lot, as a kid. A whole lot. I'd wake up early to play before going to school. I'd play after my dad went to bed. I used to play until I felt nauseous and/or got a headache. Until I found FIFA '95, the game I played most of the time was Doom.
Image courtesy: moddb.com
You see, I had finished Wolfenstein 3D by then, and Doom was a crazy level up. I loved it. I kept playing it. Until I found cheat codes that makes you invincible and gives you unlimited weapons and ammo.
The first day or two after I found the cheat codes were fun coz I could play without fear, and explore the level a lot. But then, it got boring. It got so boring that I stopped playing Doom rather immediately. Yes, I could've not used the cheat code and played but somehow I just could not bring back the same interest.
. . . .
It was not until I found the iron game that things really changed in my head. When I put in the requisite effort, I got better. When I tried shortcuts, I got bit in the ass sooner or later. When I behaved stupidly and chased too many rabbits, my performance went down.
It was the perfect feedback system for me.
It also allowed me to look at my life with clarity. Do the work, and work is not just the hour in the gym but the rest of the day, and the rest of the week/month/year.
I love the iron game precisely because of my failures, because of how hard it is. And how simple it actually is and how I complicate it. Of all the mistakes I make. Because of the growth, it leads me to. Because I learn. Because of the life lessons it carries over with - when I pay enough attention.
Because there are no cheat codes.
You can read the full post here.
on making it impossible to do a bad habit
This one is inspired by this quote by James Clear.
The best way to break a bad habit is to make it impossible to do.
I realised the many successes I’ve had always have this as a kernel somewhere. For example, I used to eat sugar all the time. Seriously. ALL THE TIME. It was a reaction, a habit that I just had.
And that habit spread to junk food as well. I wrote about it in detail, over here but here are the relevant bits.
I had a single moment of clarity and strength. I threw out all my junk food. I did not literally throw it in the trash can, as my room-mates were more than happy to take care of stewardship of it.By having permanent access to junk food, I was making it hard/impossible for myself to stay off of it. Previously, when I wanted to snack on junk, all I had to do was head down to my pantry and pick something. Even with all the willpower and the dedication and commitment to a goal is not enough to sort out a moment of weakness, especially when we are new to this thing.I still repeated the same pattern. I'd get bored. I'd walk down and stare at my empty pantry, and with no choice, I'd just drink some water and go back to my room. And if I was truly hungry, well, I had real food in my fridge which I could cook.While I was not making it impossible, I made it extremely difficult to do. It required me getting into my car and making a drive to the grocery store to get something to eat. And I would still do that.But instead of snacking on junk food 20 times a week, it became 2. And instead of eating candy bars, I would tell myself that I might as well eat something amazing. So, I'd treat myself by going to Ghirardelli's and getting amazing chocolate ice-cream, rather than mindlessly eating average junk food. Driving to Ghirardelli, finding parking, walking in, waiting in line, and then coming back took at least 45 minutes.If you are looking to eat better and/or lose weight or whatever - get rid of all the junk. Seriously. Right now. You don’t even need to finish this post. Just go now and do it. Don’t overthink it.
And for those of you who cannot ‘waste’ things, ask yourself the following.
Is your stomach a better trash can than the trash can?
- yours truly
on forward progress
Why do some people make consistent long-term forward progress? And why do some people make crazy short-term progress and then slip up, and keep repeating it until they give up?
This is a question that drives me crazy and I spend a lot of time thinking about it. In working with a few students who are extremely receptive and communicative, I have devised a few methods of coaching that seem to get the job done.
Photo by Thomas Galler on Unsplash
For example, setting milestones. Let’s say you don’t have a pushup. Going from 0 to 1 is going to take a few weeks or months, depending. Instead of constantly worrying only about that 1 pushup, setting a lot of small steps is useful. For example,
30s plank
45s plank
60s plank
75s plank
90s plank
120s plank
10 wall pushups
1 … 10 elevated pushups on the third step in my house
1 …. 10 elevated pushups on the second step in my house
1 …. 10 elevated pushups on the first step in my house
Some of these might take a day i.e. you can do it in a training session. Some might need a few weeks. Doesn’t matter. The milestones help keep us interested and focused and point out the inevitable forward progress.
But this is a larger problem as well. How do I keep my students on the same track, instead of running away to a new scam, or to chase some other silly rabbits that are detrimental to them?
Generally because anything works for 6 weeks. Even most silly, nonsensical things. The jolt to your system is crazy. If you are going from eating a giant candy bar 3 times a day to once a day, we are talking 14 giant candy bars lesser a week. That's a huge change, even if one changes nothing else. Replace candy bar with your thing, and you'll see.And whatever craziness we are trying, we are able to stick to it somehow as the duration is short. The end is clear.Over the course of the past few years, I've seen people who make a long-term mindset change (even if progress is slower) and people who see incredible short-term progress but invariably lose their way. The latter are the ones who are trying to lose the same 5-10 kilos at the start of every year. The former might not have anything mind-boggling achievements but when we chart them over multiple years, especially from the context of where they started, they are unrecognisable!It is a change in mindset. I am going to leave you with this wonderful quote that can deliver the message.
Imagine sitting on a commuter train and your stop is near the end of the line. If you were certain that you were on the right track, you wouldn’t get off simply because the train stopped from time to time. You know that stops are part of the journey. You can learn a lot from them, and eventually the train will start moving again. Yet when it comes to the goals that are most important to us in life, we tend to jump tracks the second we stop perceiving forward momentum. We’re choosing the illusion of progress over what really matters.
- Shane Parrish
I wrote about this in more detail, if you’d like to read it.
And that’s it from me. You have a great day and a good week ahead!
Pip-pip!
