You can’t do something once and expect long term results from it. You need to build habits to achieve success. Habits equal results. And to develop habits, the number one thing you’ll need is discipline.
Nobody wants to tell you why discipline is so important
Discipline is the strongest form of self-love
It is ignoring current pleasures for bigger rewards to come
— The Wellness Warrior 🕊✨ (@TheWellnessWar3) October 12, 2019
Changes that seem small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if you’re willing to stick with them for years. People tend to overestimate the importance of one small moment and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis.
This is where the valley of disappointment comes into place.
I just finished James Clear’s book Atomic habits. It taught me that the valley of disappointment applies on all areas of life. Whether is relationships, business or health:
We often expect progress to be linear. At the very least, we hope it will come quickly. In reality, the results of our efforts are often delayed. It is not until months or years later that we realize the true value of the previous work we have done. This can result in a “valley of disappointment” where people feel discouraged after putting in weeks or months of hard work without experiencing any results. However, this work was not wasted. It was simply being stored. It is not until much later that the full value of previous efforts is revealed.
A lot of people start a new habit, fail to see results quickly and decide to stop. That’s due to a lack of discipline, and self-love. And because they don’t focus on the long term.
The valley of disappointment (never give up) pic.twitter.com/v8a4MIIQJ5
— Gijs Heerkens (@gijsheerkens) December 24, 2020
I’m in several valleys of disappointment at the moment. It’s quite comfortable here because I have long term plans and know I’m onto something.
The power of compound
Compound interest is everywhere. If you stick to a habit long enough and keep making progress you will eventually get out of the valley of disappoint and achieve things you would never have expected.
A lot of people don’t take action that would make their lives more comfortable in the long run because they don’t want to be uncomfortable in the short run.
— Ed Latimore (@EdLatimore) October 18, 2019
I love this concept because it works in every part of life. You won’t notice it until you pay attention to it. Let’s get into some examples:
- Friendships: meeting someone a couple of times won’t make you a good friend. In the long term the compound interactions add up and you see results.
- Investing: buying index funds today won’t make you a millionaire tomorrow. In the long term the compound interest adds up and you see results.
- Health: eating healthy today won’t make you lean tomorrow. In the long term the compound calorie deficit adds up and you’ll see results.
- Fitness: lifting weights a couple of times won’t make you muscular tomorrow. In the long term the compound progressive overload adds up and you’ll see results.
- Social media: ditching social media for one week won’t make you less addicted. In the long term the compound extra time adds up and you’ll see results.
- Coffee: cutting out caffeine today won’t make you feel less stressed tomorrow. In the long term the compound inner peace adds up and you’ll see results.
- Sleep: sleeping a lot for one night won’t make your body recover tomorrow. In the long term the compound rest adds up and you’ll see results.
- Languages: learning one lesson a day won’t make you a fluent speaker tomorrow. In the long term the compound vocabulary adds up and you’ll see results.
- SEO: writing one article every day won’t give you good rankings in Google. In the long term the compound content adds up and you’ll see results.
- Expenses: tracking expenses for a couple of months won’t give you a lot of spare money. In the long term the compound savings add up and you’ll see results.
- Alcohol: not drinking alcohol for a week won’t make you feel better. In the long term the compound fitness adds up and you’ll see results.
- Email: reading your email less often won’t give you a lot spare time. In the long term the compound extra time adds up and you’ll see results.
- Learning: reading one book won’t make you much smarter. In the long term the compound knowledge adds up and you’ll see results.
- Coding: building one web page won’t make you a good coder. In the long term the compound skills add up and you’ll see results.
- Meditation: meditating a couple of times won’t make you feel peaceful. In the long term the compound peace adds up and you’ll see results.
If there's any possibility that you'll quit something that demands long-term commitment…
Don't do it.
If you're not going to go all in, you're not ready.
— Matt Stephens (@MattSStephens) October 19, 2019
Build habits
So, for building habits you need discipline and a long term vision.
Good habits need to be obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying, where bad ones on the other hand need to be invisible, unattractive, difficult and unsatisfying.
Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits. Your net worth is a lagging measure of your financial habits. Your weight is a lagging measure of your eating habits. Your knowledge is a lagging measure of your learning habits. You get what you repeat.
— James Clear (@JamesClear) January 13, 2018
Remember: never give up.