Test Your Might - 1/25/19

Mortal Kombat Arcade (1992)

This week's topic is how long it takes to form a new habit and cash in so it becomes a part of you. I say the words “cash in” for a reason. Words have become powerful motivators for me. Using a word like “future-self” and sure I’ll think about it, but my ass is staying in bed. Future-self can wait 30 minutes. Using the right word can get me vertical in two seconds. I'm not just talking about money. CASH! See it, smell it, feel those $100 bills. Probably not a good idea to taste it :) 

Words create images. Those images are not only visual, but can create sensations of touch and smell that create emotion. And those emotions cause action! It just so happens that stacks of cash is my motivator. It could be different for you, but I’m guessing I'm not far off. Sure, this is getting into image board territory, but touching the dream with words, images, or actual items makes it that much more real. But we’ll get more into that later.

Research in 2009 at University College London uncovered that it roughly takes 66 days to create a new habit. This is just a little more than two months. Now let’s zoom back out. 66 days is a blip in our lifetimes. Think about how many 66 day blocks we have in a year. In three years? That’s five and a half skills we can gain this year and over 16 in three years. How many years have we already let go without gaining anything? How many skills can we acquire or upgrade in our years ahead?

Deciding which skills you wish to acquire is something you will need to figure out. For me, a big one was memory. With a sharpened memory, I could remember names and facts when it came to networking, whisky notes, the market, things I've read, you name it. In my plan, memory is the skill that will make acquiring other skills easier. Force multiplier! Bang, bang!

While energy is a daily limited resource, where we release this energy each day does matter. If we bank just a little each day into our goals (1% Rule), we get to keep that ROI in the end. Once that habit is achieved, it becomes automatic.

At 25 days into the year, we still have 41 days to go to 66. You’ve already completed more than 35% of the route and it would be a shame to give up now and start from scratch who knows when. But whether adding a new habit or skill takes you 16 days or 600 days, keep smashing that button once a day until you unlock that achievement. The discomfort is temporary, but the achievement will be forever.

I believe in you.

Fuck yeah, it's Friday!