Thought

Everyone wants a shortcut:

“How can I get X quick and easy?”

I’ve got some bad news and good news for you.

The bad news: there are no shortcuts.

The good news: you wouldn’t want them if there were.

The cold truth is this,

The only things worth having are hard to get.

Full stop.

70% of lottery winners go broke in a few years. Many end up committing suicide.

If you don’t earn the place to hold something, you can’t keep it.

This is a universal law. You only get to keep what you merit.

So, what’s the price to earn the place?

Discipline.

Let’s look at the root of this word: Disciple.

A disciple is a student.

To become disciplined in something, you have to become its disciple.

For example, the perfect student of fitness must understand the theory and live the practice.

Without either or both, you cannot call yourself its student.

Every master is a student who never quit.

Fitness is one school amongst many. Each school has its trials and virtues.

Observe the masters of the school you are considering and ask yourself, “Do I want what they have?”

If so, enroll and dedicate yourself to becoming the perfect student.

Tactic

When forming a new habit, there are a few levers to pull.

Today, let’s focus on the lever of friction.

You can either add or subtract to the friction between you and the habit.

For example, if you are trying to quit eating cookies before bed, stop buying cookies.

With no cookies in the house, the amount of friction required to indulge in the bad habit is significantly increased to the point that you’ll likely not drive to the store to buy cookies to break your new no-cookie-habit.

You create just enough gap between impulse and action to interrupt the lizard brain and allow your rational faculties to take over.

It also works in reverse.

Say you want to introduce a new nightly reading habit.

In the morning, place the book you’ll read that night on your pillow.

Reduce the friction and you automatically increase your likelihood of follow through.

Building better habits is all about setting yourself up to win.

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Tool

I hope this week’s 4 T’s have your T levels surging!

If you found this newsletter valuable, share it with your friends and colleagues, and invite them to join our brotherhood.

In Victory,

Alexander