in. And then when you finish, you feel accomplished.
accomplished.
So how could we summarize this in one image?
Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices,
hard life. Guys, before we move on, I
want to make one thing crystal clear.
The intention behind the last 5 minutes
we've spent together has not been me
trying to communicate a value judgment
as to how you should be spending your
time. No, you can do whatever you want.
You can scroll. You can still do your
bad habits. All I want you to remember
is that you cannot escape the
consequences of your actions. And the
same goes for me. I understand that I
probably will scroll. I definitely am
going to scroll more or again in the
future or I'm going to check social
media. But we have to remember that the
more we engage in fast dopamine, the
less enjoyment and motivation we will
have to do the hard things that are
important to us. That's all I wanted to communicate.
communicate.
So now moving on to principle number
two. How can you motivate yourself when
you're in the arena of discomfort to
You reappraise the discomfort. The
biggest barrier you face to doing hard
things is the discomfort you feel while
doing them. For example, the pain of
trying to focus on studying or learning
something or reading a book instead of
checking social media. The discomfort of
lactic acid in your muscles as you're
squeezing that last rep. Or the
discomfort of thinking through a concept
and what you want to write next instead
of checking Twitter. But here's a thought.
thought.
It is completely up to you how you
interpret any discomfort you feel.
In other words, it's completely up to
you whether you interpret that
discomfort as bad or beneficial. And
especially with your understanding of
the pleasure pain balance, now you can
interpret any discomfort you feel as the
necessary pain you need to go through in
order to experience experience the
longlasting rewards when you stop doing
this activity. But to make this
practical, here are three mantras for
you to keep close the next time you're
experiencing discomfort so you can persist.
Write these down. Print them out. Keep
them close. This is hard and
challenging, but that's just what I need
to find it rewarding.
Second one from Alex or Mosie. This is
what hard feels like and this is where
most people quit. Quick note on this
one. I realized this while doing a deep
work in the morning. And I usually wake
up and study or research for about 1 to
3 hours. And most of the time I find
myself wrestling with the annoyance that
this is hard. And then I realized, oh
yeah, it is hard. It's meant to be hard.
Stop trying to think it's meant to be
easy. Little note there. Final one. The
faster I do the hard things I avoid, the
quicker I get the good things I want.
But none of these will hit if you're not
Your tomorrow is created from today and
the order that you give your evenings is
the strength you feel in the mornings.
So forget about creating a perfect
morning routine just as long as you're
not engaging in fast dopamine straight
away. You can do whatever you want and
focus on creating a solid windown
evening routine. Why is this important?
Well, because you now understand you
need all the dopamine stores you can get
in order to do hard things. But if
you're spending your evenings chasing
fast dopamine, watching TV, scrolling,
doing drugs, whatever, you're then
casting the votes in favor of you waking
up the next morning in a dopamine
deficit state. So, you're playing
catchup and you're not going to feel
motivated to do hard things. So, here's
what a solid evening routine looks like
for me.
Absorb what is useful. discard what is
not. Add what is uniquely your own. All
tech off by 9:00 p.m., otherwise known
as all screens off by 9:00 p.m. No
decisions after 9:00 p.m. Yeah, no big
major life-changing decisions. Save that
for the morning. No calls after 9:00
p.m. cuz if someone's calling me,
they're probably going to mention
something that I'm then going to think
about and could potentially worry about
before bed. No, no. Turn the red light
on in my room. Red light helps with
releasing melatonin and making you feel
sleepy. Then I go for a walk in nature
and talk to myself out loud for 20 to 30
minutes. I need this. This is my
therapy. If I don't do that, I'm
screwed. Then I do my recovery. My
recovery is rolling this ball on my on
my the bottom of my foot. Then I do some
foam rolling. This is really good before
bed. Deep tissue massages help you sleep
better. And then I've been doing this
recently. This is called a shaky mat. So
you lay on it. It's got those pins on
it. It's quite painful at first. I do my
back. I do some on my arms, my face as
well, and then my feet. That is the most
painful one. That's my recovery. Takes
me about 5 to 10 minutes. Then I feel
ready to sleep. But obviously, I've
realized some things on my walk. So then
as I'm back, I write down anything I've
realized on the walk in the form of a
letter to myself.
Got all my letters here. It's just nice,
you know. And then I lay in bed and read
until I fall asleep. Sometimes I read.
Well, this is what I've got on my
bedside table at the moment. Why
Buddhism is true. The Bible. just
messed that up.
The way of the superior man in Spanish.
Cuz in order to maintain my Spanish, I
read this out loud, some of the
chapters. But I've been reading fiction
again, which is great, helping me wind
down before bed. Currently reading
Humiliated and Insulted by Fod Doski.
What would your evening routine look
like? your ideal evening routine.
Comment down below.
Speaking of structuring your day,
principle number four is
principle number four is structure your
day right. Neurochemically, you are not
the same person across the different
hours of the day. So, in order to make
doing the hard thing more likely, you
need to work with your biology and
schedule it in at the right time. This
might be helpful to conceptualize all
this. Think about the different times of
your day as running in three phases. You
have phase 1, which is 0 to 8 hours
after you wake up. Doesn't matter when
you wake up. I don't wake up with an
alarm. I wake up naturally around 7 to 8
each day. Let's imagine you wake up at
7:00. This phase will run from 7 until
3. And during this phase, this is when
your dopamine, cortisol, and
norepinephrine levels are highest.
Norepinephrine is your brain's version
of adrenaline. You can also increase
your level of these molecules by viewing
sunlight first thing in the morning, by
drinking caffeine, and remaining fasted.
During this period, you're going to be
biologically better off to do hard or
analytical work or any hard thing for
that matter. Hence, it's important to
wake up and do deep work or study or
read first thing in the morning. After
this phase, you then go into phase two,
which is 9 to 16 hours after you wake
up. This would run in our schedule from
3 until 11 at night. And this is where
your serotonin levels begin to increase,
putting you into a more relaxed state.
Now, you're going to be better off in
this phase to do things like
brainstorming, creative work, think more
outside of the box about whatever
problems you're tackling. Maybe you tap
into a creative task, or you go out in
nature and you socialize. Remember,
you're in more of a relaxed state here,
so utilize that. And then phase three
ends 17 to 24 hours after you wake up.
This would run from 11:00 again till
7:00 a.m. And this is when you should be
asleep or at least preparing to sleep.
Keep a low temperature in the
environment in which you're at. And make
sure the lights are dimmed. As the
neuroscientist Andrew Huberman says, it
isn't just about getting the most
important stuff out of the way. is about
leveraging your natural biology toward
the best type of work for the biological
state you're in. Before we move on,
there is some nuance especially to phase
one and phase two. For example, I do
wake up and do deep work first thing in
the morning for about 2 to 3 hours.
But I have found recently I'm also doing
that deep work around 4 and 6 in the
afternoon after I've been to the gym.
And I find that I can get into a flow
state quite easily. So use this as a
guide. Stick to it first and then you
might like to organize it in a way that
works with your life. But more often
than not, stick to this structure.
Okay, now let's finalize this video with
some quick fire tips to really help you
do hard things
Principle number five is identity
without evidence is just fragile
consistency. Now, you probably don't
have the identity right now of being the
type of person who can do hard things.
So, in order to create this new identity
of becoming the type of person who does
hard things, you'll need at least a week
in which every single day you do that
hard thing in order to cast the votes in
favor of you forming this new identity.
Because your identity is based on
evidence. You can try and gaslight
yourself as much as you want into
believing that you are the type of
person who does this thing even when you
don't do it. But your brain is going to
call BS on it because it just doesn't
have the evidence to back up the
identity. But why is this important?
Well, it's because all behavior change
is identity based. If you change your
identity, i.e. the beliefs that you hold
about yourself, then you can change your
behavior. So, the bottom line of this
whole point is don't focus on just doing
the hard thing as if it's something to
tick off on your to-do list. No, focus
on becoming the type of person who can
do that hard thing.
The hard thing that you want to do might
be different than everyone else. So take
that hard thing and try and extrapolate
out a desirable identity you would like
to form that will help you do that hard
thing. For example, if the hard thing
for you is going to the gym, then the
identity might be becoming an athlete,
deep work, being a top performer,
studying, being a top student. So then
you can ask yourself in moments of lack
of clarity or lack of motivation, what
would an athlete do right now?
What would a top performer do right now?
What would a top student do right now if
it's 9:00 and you're finding yourself
doing or engaging in fast dopamine?
Well, a top student would obviously
prioritize the dopamine they have in
their brain. So, they would stop this
fast dopamine now. Stop scrolling, go
for a walk in order to cast the votes in
favor of them waking up into strength
and clarity the next morning. What would
the type of person I want to be do right now?
now?
Principle number six is never miss
twice. You likely want to form doing
this hard thing into a daily habit. In
which case, if you miss a day, make sure
you get straight back to it the next
day. You're going to miss days. Life's
going to happen. You're going to need a
rest. And for whatever reason, you just
can't do this hard thing today. Just
make sure one day doesn't become two,
doesn't become three, doesn't become a
whole week, and then you're back to
square one with a depleted brain. If you
miss a day, straight back to it the next
day. Miss a day, straight back to it the
Principle number seven is when
intimidated, break it down to 5%. If for
whatever reason you do fall off the
wagon for a day or several weeks, resist
the urge to throw a load of criticism
onto yourself and demand that you get
back to your previous consistency like
that. No, take the task in its totality
that is currently intimidating you and
break it down to 5%, by asking where
does my willingness to do this task
begin. Always work with yourself. Two
examples. Let's say the task in its
totality 100%. Is you going to the gym?
Okay. Ask yourself, where does my
willingness to do this task begin after
you haven't been to the gym for a few
days or a few weeks? Okay. Boom. Make it
smaller. So, you find a task that you
can do now.
Change into
gym clothes.
And you say, I'm just going to do this
and see how I feel. Another example,
one more could be doing deep work
for two hours like you used to, but
you've fallen off the wagon. That's too
intimidating. Break it down to 5%. Where
does my willingness to begin? Well, can
I open my notes on my laptop and just
stare at them,
then see how I feel.
Easy slip backins when you fall off the
wagon are the key to consistency.
Number eight is mesmerize yourself into
ritual. The easiest way to gear yourself
up to do any habit or in particular the
hard thing is create a keystone habit.
This is a simple action you do before
the hard thing that signals to your
brain, oh, it's time to do X now. You're
priming your brain to be prepared to do
the hard thing. What this might look
like, some examples from my life, is
when I was studying at university,
before I sat down to study, I would make
a cup of tea and cut an apple into
slices. As I would drink the tea and cut
the apple, my brain would naturally get
into a flow state because it just knew
what to expect next. We was going to
study. Now I, for example, when I go to
the gym, I pour a drink of electrolytes,
drink that, and then I head to the gym.
My brain knows, oh, we're gonna work out
now. And it just feels easier to do. To
finalize with a quote from Ryan Holiday,
routine done for long enough and done
sincerely enough becomes more than
routine. It becomes ritual. It becomes
sanctified and holy. I like this because
it's a new reframe of ritual and
routine. Sometimes we think routine can
be boring, but done long enough, you
messize yourself into ritual. Few more points.
points.
On that point, ask yourself for this
hard thing you want to do, what is your
keystone habit going to be?
I completely forgot to mention that
while we was going through that, but
anyway, number nine is never set a pace
you can't keep. Why? Well, because the
consistent plan you follow is better
than the perfect plan you abandon. Would
it be better to do this thing in one
three-hour session once a week and then
spend the rest of the week recovering
because that was such a heavy lift or to
do this thing every single day but for
30inut segments? In my opinion, this is
better slow burns over heavy lifts. But
Number 10, remember the effort is the
reward. The discipline paradox.
It's very easy to differentiate between
the effort you put into something and
the reward you get out of it. For
example, when you finally achieve the
physique you want, it's easy to discount
all of those workouts you did in the gym
that felt extremely painful. or when you
finally get your results back on your
test and you graduate, it's easy to
discount all of those times you spend
studying and focusing. And finally, when
you finally release the product and you
earn decent money, it's easy to discount
all of those deep work sessions you did
late at night.
So reverse this and always remember that
in order to get any reward out of
something that is completely dependent
on the effort that you put in. So the
effort and the reward are not separate.
If you remember this,
you unlock the key to or you unlock the
door of everlasting discipline. Because
whenever you put effort into doing the
hard thing and casting votes in favor of
becoming the type of person who can do
the hard thing, that is no different
from the day when you'll receive the
reward of your actions. The effort is
the reward. Without one, you cannot have
the other.
So they are the same thing.
the final principle is self-negotiation
prevents self-termination. Now when
you're doing the hard thing, you're
going to have many moments when a voice
inside of you seemingly from the inner
depths of your soul just screams and
shouts and just wants you to do anything
but that hard thing. So, how can you
deal with this voice? Well, many people
on the internet are going to tell you to
just ignore it and push through and
conquer the inner I'm here to
tell you, no, do not ignore it because
sooner or later, it will sabotage
everything that you're doing in the form
of binging or skipping loads of days.
This part of you needs to be listened
to. So, when it's being loud, first of
all, you label what's happening out
loud. If we take the example of you're
sat down trying to focus, study or do
deep work and there's part of you that
just wants to do anything else other
than that. Label what's happening out
loud. Oh, I want to focus, but part of
me wants to scroll on social media. And
then you curiously investigate what that
rebellious part of you wants. You don't
discard it. Like a child that wants
something, you try and meet its need.
Well, what need is that? What would it
say? This is hard. I don't like doing
this. I want something that is easier to
do. Then you ask, how could I satisfy
both parts of me? The part of you that
wants to focus, but the part of you that
also wants distraction. Well, you might
then ask, how could I make doing this
hard thing easier? And then the answer
could be, well, simply play some music
while you're working. So that part of
you gets a bit of feel-good distraction,
but you're still knuckling down and
doing the deep work. Incorporate the
rebellious parts of you. Don't discard them.
them.
If you would like a further explanation
on that, check out this video we covered
on the whole process of self-negotiation.
self-negotiation.
In summary, the 11 principles were a
depleted brain will always default to
ease. Reappraise the discomfort. Win the
evening. Structure your day right.
Identity without evidence is just
fragile consistency. Never miss twice.
When intimidated, break it down to 5%.
Mesmerize yourself into ritual by
implementing keystone habits. Never set
a pace you can't keep. Remember that
effort is the reward, the discipline
paradox. And self-negotiation prevents self-termination.
self-termination.
Thank you very much for your time and
attention. I only have one thing to ask
of you just out of sheer curiosity.
Comment down below what the hard thing
that you want to do is. I would like to
see what it is. For me, it's
being more consistent with the deep work
that I'm doing. You know, I'm doing
about an hour to three. I would like to
stay more focused while I'm doing that
deep work. So, anyway, let me know what
your hard thing is. Thank you very much
for your the hard task that you want to
do is. Thank you very much for your time
and attention. Stay disciplined,
playful, and dangerous. Adios muchachos. Emojachas.
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