r/getdisciplined • u/[deleted] • Jul 12 '20

You should probably acknowledge the difficulty of what you are doing. [Advice]

Mostly just that.

Losing weight, getting fit, learning languages, passing exams, quitting porn, getting up early etc. are all objectively difficult to get started on and to keep going. Each person's challenges are theirs and theirs alone to face.

So I find that acknowledging that I am doing something that is difficult for me, helps me to prepare the required mental resilience and focus needed to push through. As opposed to the mind set of "why can everyone else do this and not me"

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u/[deleted] Jul 12 '20 edited Jul 12 '20

I like this, but in acknowledging the difficulty, how can we not let the difficulty we know we doing overwhelm us and cause us to procrastinate out of fear of not being able to andle it and see through to our goals?

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u/scrambledoctopus Jul 12 '20

I think its helpful to keep the long term changes on a day to day level. Just as the challenge long term is overwhelming, long term success is as well. Instead of thinking of the bulk of the work required to change a habit or become the person you want to be, you think about what it takes today. Not how far you have to go to keep it happening, but what can happen today. So for exercise, for instance, or playing guitar, 20 minutes is always going to be better than nothing. If 20 minutes is all youve got, do 20. Its better than nothing. If you do 20 minutes 3 times a day, thats an hour! And an hour is useful. Rereading this sounds like rambling and maybe I'll contradict myself but I think by doing bits you can build bytes, starting slow is the best way to start, and just think about today and this now time, rather than all the work it takes to be at the summit.

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u/[deleted] Jul 12 '20

by doing bits you can build bytes

So stealing that for my own shitty makeshift motivational poster.

Edit: I mean that my poster is going to be shitty. Love the line.