There was a time in my life, the majority of my youth, when I was a slacker whose primary skill was to find new ways to avoid anything worthwhile. I vividly remember one semester in school that summed up those years: I took only nine credit hours and played "Halo 3" for the whole semester. Literally, I did little else besides play that game. It was just a terrible waste to devote that much time to a video game. I justified it because I was "making progress" by being in college.
I’ve changed so much since then, and my internal change has created a very different set of results in business and in my personal life. I’m relatively young at 29 years old and I’ve written two books, one of which has become an international bestseller. My book, Mini Habits, has been the #1 selling self-help book in the United States and South Korea, and it’s being translated into a dozen languages. This bit of success means so much to me because of where I came from. And if the guy who lived to play "Halo 3" for several months straight can actually contribute something useful to the world, I believe everyone can improve!
These 7 things are the specific changes I made that created more success in my life:
1. Don’t ask what you feel like doing, plan to do things and do them.
We naturally like to do what we are motivated to do, but when our motivation is lacking, it requires willpower to overcome that and do it anyway. Everyone loves and prefers motivation. If you could have an unlimited amount of one or the other, motivation would be the choice. Wanting to scrub the toilet? Wanting to organize your tax papers? Wanting to go to the gym? Wanting to do grueling research for a project? Fantastic! But it’s not going to happen every time or even very often. You can never count on feeling like doing challenging things. I’ve seen that successful people are those who do their work even on "down" days.
The way in which you "self-talk" reveals deep-seated beliefs. Do you find yourself thinking of what to do, based on what you feel like doing? If you come into some free time, do you "float" into what’s most appealing? If so, you’re relying on motivation. If, however, you think about what tasks you plan to do without much thought given to how "ready" you feel to do them, you’re relying on willpower.
Motivation is a fantastic thing, but you shouldn’t require it of yourself to do things that matter. Do things that matter for their own sake! The best part about relying on willpower is that it’s like a muscle. Psychologist Roy Baumeister has observed this in multiple studies. Use your willpower more, and it will get stronger. With practice, you’ll develop humanity’s most important skill: being able to do what you really want to do.
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