HAVE YOU EVER SET ANY PLANS OR MADE COMMITMENTS FOR THE FUTURE AND HAD A HARD TIME FOLLOWING UP ON THOSE PLANS??
Imagine I told you I would give you a free snack one week from today but that you had to choose the snack right now….
Which would you like? A big juicy sweet apple or a large yummy chocolate bar?
Which would you choose?
Let me ask you another question.
If I told you could have the snack right now. That I have them here right behind the back drop. Which one would you choose?
I see more hands for the chocolate bar right now than I did some moments ago. The questions I just asked you was actually part of a real-life research study.
What the study found was…
When given the choice of a free snack one week later half of the people chose the apple however when given the immediate choice only show 2 out of 10 people chose the apple and 8 out of 10 choose the chocolate bar.
So if you changed your mind just a moment ago congratulations… you’re completely normal. Eight people out of 10 given the chance to change their minds decided to go with unhealthy snack.
Why do people change their minds away from the healthy choice and move to the fun choice?
They have little or no self-discipline!
They know what the right choice is however when given a choice of instant gratification, 8 out of 10 go for the now choice!
They could not resist the temptation of eating chocolate later but not now. This is not limited to food and exercise. It’s the same with quitting smoking…
Because people like immediate gratification! They tend to choose things that give them instant pleasure over long-term benefits.
I see this all the time. People make plans for the future.
Make plans for activities for the week.
All the best laid plans go astray.
Write down the word marshmallow
Marshmallow test…the legendary experiment on self-control that was invented nearly 50 years ago.
In the test, a succession of 5-year-olds sit at a table with a marshmallow on it.
If they resist eating the marshmallow for 15 minutes, they would get to eat 2 of them ; otherwise they just get one.
2…. out of every 3 ate the marshmallow in the 15 min.
1…. did not. One delayed the gratification and got the reward of 2 marshmallows.
Through the years the kids that were testes were interviewed.
The preschoolers who waited longest for the marshmallow went on to have higher SAT scores than the ones who couldn’t wait.
They were thinner, earned more advanced degrees, used less controlled substances and were better at dealing with stress.
As these first marshmallow kids now enter their 50s, Mr. Mischel the man who did the original experiment is investigating whether the self delayers are richer too.
So far the results are coming back in with a resounding yes.
When you delay instant gratification or learn how to delay it you tend to do better in almost every aspect of your life.
Whether you eat the marshmallow at age 5 isn’t your destiny.
Self-control can be taught.
Self-control alone doesn’t guarantee success.
“People also need a “burning goal” and desire that gives them a reason to activate these skills”, he says.
1 Set SMART Goals
When someone emails me asking how they could have more discipline and willpower, my first question to them is always, “do you have clear goals for yourself?”
90+% of the time, the answer is no. Oops.
Why is it so important to have defined goals?
Because they give you a clear direction in life and help you connect your daily actions to a greater purpose.
When you create your goals, make sure they are SMART:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Timely
For instance, don’t set a goal of “I want to lose weight” or “I want to make more money”.
Instead, it should look more like “I want to lose 10 lbs of body fat by March 1st” or “I want to increase my monthly income by $5000 by June 10”.
Once you do that, taking action and staying disciplined every day will be infinitely easier. You’ll be “pulled” towards the achievement of your goals, and you’ll feel a great sense of purpose and fulfilment.
#2 Harness the Power of Accountability
When we’re left to our own devices, it’s easy to come up with excuses not to do something.
“I’m tired, I don’t feel like it, it’s too much work, it’s too hard.”
Blah blah blah.
Let’s be real. 99% of it is just excuses our “small self” makes to stay comfortable and avoid stepping into greatness.
The solution is simple: build structures in your life that will hold you to a higher standard and that will prevent you from coming up with excuses.
There are several ways to do this. Here are a few to consider:
Get an accountabilibuddy , a workout partner, work side-by-side with a coworker (or friend), hire a coach, join (or create) a mastermind group.
#3 Remove Temptations and Distractions
All humans are subject to temptation—it’s just in our nature.
And in today’s world we’re surrounded by more temptations than ever.
Google gives us access to all the information in the world within a few seconds. YouTube is filled with funny, entertaining, and interesting videos. Our Facebook newsfeed gets updated every few seconds. Our smart phones are full of apps and other cool things.
Knowing this, it’s imperative to figure out a system to bulletproof ourselves against all these distractions.
How?
First, identify what your common distractions are.
Second, build a structure to mitigate them.
Here are a few of the particular strategies I use:
Give the front desk your phone.
Print out the list of calls to make for today and turn off the computer
-Putting my phone on Airplane mode while working.
-Keeping only healthy foods in my fridge/cupboards.
Once the temptations are removed, you can direct all your willpower to doing great things instead of fighting the urge to procrastinate yet again.
#4 Eat the Big Ugly Frog First
Another discovery Roy F. Baumeister PhD made during his research is that we only have a finite amount of willpower each day.
Our willpower is at its highest at the beginning of the day, and progressively decreases as we go about our business.
Knowing this, we want to engineer our day so as to do our most challenging tasks in the morning, when we are fresh and rested.
In his book The 4-Hour Workweek, Tim Ferriss talks at length about Pareto’s Law (also known as the 80/20 rule) which states that 20% of our input creates 80% of our output.
For more about Pareto’s Law, click here.
Every morning, get clear on what your 20% is. If you’re not sure what that 20% is, it’s generally the most uncomfortable/challenging task you have to do all day. Once you figure out what it is, roll up your sleeves and get it done.
#5 Create Powerful Habits, Rituals and Routines
Creating rituals is a great way to remove needless decision-making from your day.
Once something has been turned into a habit, you don’t even have to think about it. You do it without using any of your willpower.
Get it done at the same time.
Get up at the same time, have your work out clothes to wear and food determined the night before.
Know who you will call and where you will be set the night before. Don’t wake up in the am and then decide who to call or who to see or what scripts to work on.
Have your affirmations printed out and ready to work on.
Have the phone numbers in calendar of your accountability partners and your roleplay patners so you don’t have to look them up.
Each step of the ritual is carefully choreographed for optimal results, yet it requires no willpower on my part because it’s engrained in my ritual.
Today matters! What actions will you take today to insure more daily self discipline?
Now let’s go out and make this week one of our best.
