How many times have you been enthusiastic to start something new? Pick up a new hobby, design a new project, start a new diet/workout routine? And how much of those things did you see to completion? Chances are, not that many. But that’s ok, the conversion rate on my enthusiasm is next to little as well. Most of the time we find that what we are doing is not as important or essential as we imagined. In fact, sometimes they’re just too difficult to even continue.
But what about those ideas that I should have stuck by? There are moments where I don’t give up because of difficulty or importance, but because I wasn’t seeing any results. The best example was exercising. If I didn’t see some improvement in two weeks, I was pretty much back to my normal routine.
In reality, the results aren’t that complicated. Obviously if I exercise and eat right, I will improve my health and fitness. So why did I quit from a tried and true method? Why we do stop at anything when we know we are doing the right thing?
The Quick-Fix Fad
The unfortunate reality of human nature is that we think short-term. The famous Marshmallow Experiment demonstrated that quite well. I will defend this as a healthy mechanism. Reward received now is better than the promise of it tomorrow, especially for resources like food. But this mindset becomes our enemy when the rewards are necessarily distant. Unfortunately, our brain just isn’t built to repeat habits with little short-term reward.
And consumerism has taken advantage of this quite nicely. All over social media you can find 6-Minute Abs, Instant Weight Loss Pills, and Easy Ways to Make Passive Income. It’s not that these strategies don’t help. But they trick us into believing that we can get instant gratification for our efforts.
And then we get into an issue of overcomplication. I’ve gotten into many conversations with people about what the best diet or workout schedule is. And while I’m happy to provide my opinions, the truth is that those details don’t matter that much. Once you have a foundation, action is more important. Taking 1 month to research what the best protein source or chest workout is ends up being less helpful than just spending a month making sure not to eat junk and consistently working out.
Ramit Sethi puts it simply by saying, “when it comes to weight loss, 99.99 percent of us need to know only two things: Eat less and exercise more” [1]. It’s easy to believe we are working towards our goals by debating minutia when we are actually putting them off. That’s not to say you shouldn’t do any type of preparation. But you and I have the basics needed to at least start.
Getting To The Action
What I’m getting to is likely what you already saw coming. We need patience. The methods are already tried and tested for most of what we want to do. If we just work at them consistently and wait, the results will take care of itself.
But saying this obviously isn’t enough. Even with this knowledge, it’s easy to hope and search for something easier, quicker, and better. It may be simple, but I just want to share some things that I do to employ patience and take action.
- Ask Yourself: Can I Do This For 5 Years? This is a little fitness philosophy I picked up from Jeff Cavaliere on his channel AthleanX. The idea is that if what we are doing isn’t sustainable, then we will likely quit at some point. Then really all we did was achieve some short-term gains that won’t matter 5 years from now. This was the mistake I made in fitness and diet early on where I went extreme and burnt out with little to show for it. If you have something you’d like to achieve long-term, find a system that you feel capable of doing for a year straight. If it can last that long, it will likely last for a lifetime.
- Cut To The Chase It’s easy to believe we are making progress when we actually aren’t. James Clear describes this in his book as the difference between motion and action [2]. This was something I almost fell into the trap of when I decided to start reading. Before I started reading a book a week, I did all this research on when I should optimally start, what books I should begin with, which categories would be most beneficial. I did this for weeks before realizing I wasn’t actually doing anything. So I ended up just picking up one of the first books I found, started as soon as it arrived, and haven’t stopped since. Don’t overthink what you’re doing. Starting is likely to be 10 times as more important.
- Close Your Eyes This is a little line I like from GaryVee. Really our impatience arises from a lack of perspective and in comparing ourselves with others. We forget the amount of time we have to really build things up. We also don’t want to feel behind where others currently are. Admittedly, to overcome these mindsets are easier said than done. I’m planning on making a blog post on what tactics I’ve employed. Nonetheless, if you can just close your eyes to what’s going on, keep your head down, and just do you, you’ll likely succeed in the long run. Stay focused on just going through the process and ignore whatever else is coming your way. Most of all, you’ll enjoy the journey that much more when you do it for yourself and not for looking good quickly.
I hope we can all appreciate just how important patience is for our long-term goals. And I hope some of the tools I employ can help you stay focused on the long-term mindset. It’s not about where you are 30 days from now. It’s about the systems and habits you decide to keep in check for a lifetime. Whether it’s money, fitness, or learning, never underestimate the power and simplicity of time if you use it to your advantage.
[1] I Will Teach You To Be Rich – Ramit Sethi
[2] Atomic Habits – James Clear
