Day #088: Habit + Willpower = ?

Habit

Start now. Start where you are. Start with fear. Start with pain. Start with doubt. Start with hands shaking. Start with voice trembling but start. Start and don’t stop. Start where you are, with what you have. Just … start. —Ijeoma Umebinyuo

If you want results, you need to apply some action and keep momentum.

A parked car will never move – so stop sitting around procrastinating, making excuses to move and get up and start.

If you want some results, I can promise you some if you follow a small formula. Guaranteed.

But you have to be willing to take action and be willing to actually apply the formula. Let me say that again.

YOU NEED TO APPLY THE FORMULA

Your results will come from your motivation. Motivation

Motivation = Habits + Willpower

Look at it as discipline. Applying discipline each day for a long period of time is a like compound interest.

Compound Interest: Assume you have $100 invested, and you earn 5% interest in year zero (that's what it's called in finance). You now have $105, which earns 5% interest in year one. Simply stated, compound interest is where your previous interest earnings are allowed to earn interest as well. (See Image)

If you apply daily discipline and create a new habit through willpower to prove to yourself that you even can – then you will be motivated more and more by the result.

Which will surely lead to results in which I believe is success.

Forming habits can be hard or really, really simple. It is all about limits, quotas and challenges.

Setting yourself a daily quota to do something will enable you to more likely stay dedicated.

Examples: “Do 20 math exercises a day”, “Read a textbook chapter a day”, “Write 500 words a day”.

Make this a priority for each day for 365 days.

Then you need to just evaluate what this can do for you. Remember make sure you pick something realistic.

I say keep it smaller to enable consistency.

Now you want to take whatever it is and calculate the development of this daily discipline.

I see huge advantages in setting non-ambitious quotas like this: work will pile up in a good way.

  • If you do 20 math problems a day, for example, after 1 month you’re 600 problems smarter.
  • If you read a textbook chapter a day, after 2 weeks you read the entire book.
  • If you write 500 words a day, after 2 months you end up with a full novel.

But lets strip this back even more. Take a look at the image below.

It compares where you end up if you improve by 1% every day for a year instead of going worse by 1% every day for a year.

How about sticking this up on a wall or somewhere to remind you how this consistency will pay off.

1.01-37.80.99-0.031.01 = 37.80.99 = 0.03

Another way similar to the above is to increase what you do by a (x) amount each day.

So start with a baseline of 1 push up. Then increment daily by 1. The next day, do 2 and so on. So by the end of 1 year you will do 365 push ups on your final day. But think of the compounding. If you do not increment each day by 1, by the end of the year you have done 365 push ups. Those 365 might be more push ups you did than last year, so that isn’t bad.

BUT! If you increment by 1 each day for 365 days. By the end of the year you have done 66,795 push ups in a year.

Yes that’s right: 66,795 push ups

See my thinking? See my point?

  • Imagine what you can do with this when you apply it to your strengths.
  • Imagine what you can do when you apply it to your weaknesses.
  • Imagine what you can do when you apply this to your personal financing, your mental capacity, your fitness (as mentioned above) and I am sure you can think of your own!

Are you as excited as I am?

Because 66,795 of whatever it is always going to be amazing!

Did you enjoy this post? Were you challenged? Yes? Then can I ask for a favor?
– Share this with one person you know who would be challenged, encouraged or motivated by this blog. 

Will you?