22/ Addendum: Many people have asked me if there is a simple, concrete way to change your habits. Until my trainer gave me a book called "What to Say When You Talk to Yourself" I didn't really know of an easy way to ingrain new habits and usually followed a more circuitous
23/ route to doing so. I also have an aversion to most "self-help" books as many pile gobs of nonsense on top of a few kernels of actionable advice and are way too "you can be ANYTHING you want to be" in their copy. But since I trusted my trainer, I gave to book a chance, and
24/ I'm glad I did. It's basic premise is similar to the one I've advanced in many of the things I've written: You become what you think about most. Doctor Leonard Orr suggests the easiest way to understand this is to simplify and say the brain consists of 2 parts:
25/ the THINKER and the PROVER. The Thinker is free to think about anything it wants, but is also heavily influenced by parental, familial, peer and societal conditioning, so that even when you start to realize this, you. already have a host of beliefs that you look at as
26/ basically true. Most of us never even bother to question these beliefs, but the truth is, many of them are wrong and many are very destructive to attaining what you want. Orr points out that the Thinker can literally think about limitless topics, but once it finds one
27/ that it likes, the Prover takes over. It operates, according to Robert Anton Wilson far more simply" "It operates on one law only: whatever the Thinker thinks, the Prover proves." Regardless of the particular set of beliefs the Thinker comes up with, the Prover organizes
28/ all perceptions to fit that belief. I'll do a seperate thread to flesh this out, but for now, can we test it? Back to the book--The author claims that it makes no difference we consciously believe the new habit we're trying to implant but that through repetition of thought
29/ usually written out or spoken, our Prover or subconscious believes what you tell it most. Repetition is a hallmark in successful propaganda and brainwashing, so I was willing to accept this idea and test it out. I've always had "good intentions" about working out daily. But
30/ the honest picture of my *actual* ability to do so was spotty at best. I would always put it off throughout the day and then say "well, it's too late to do a good workout today, but I'll do an extra hard one tomorrow." Rinse and repeat. So after reading the book, I thought
31/ I would do a simple experiment: I would daily write and repeat 2 things to myself:
1. I love to exercise (first time I wrote it I laughed out loud) and
2. Every day, I do something that maintains or increases my physical strength and stamina. (I smirked at this one) That was
1. I love to exercise (first time I wrote it I laughed out loud) and
2. Every day, I do something that maintains or increases my physical strength and stamina. (I smirked at this one) That was
32/ it. Just those 2 statements written and verbally repeated out loud every day. For the first week or two, I felt like a complete tool and imagined just how wicked my stand-up comedian daughter would burn me if she ever found out. But, I did it every day, no exceptions.
33/ In the 4th week, something weird started to happen. Without even thinking about it, I found that I WAS exercising EVERY day. The key is: WITHOUT THINKING ABOUT IT. My wife noticed and remarked "man, you have great willpower." No, I said, I didn't. I simply found myself doing
34/ it without thinking about it. I didn't even realize how great a change had taken place until one day we got back from visiting with my grandchildren at around 8 pm, and I was tired and ready for some quiet and a book (or, let's be honest, some shitposting on Twitter.)
35/ but I found myself going up to my room, changing into exercise gear, and going down and working out. Now, did I do it for as long as normal? Nope. But the fact that I did anything at ALL astounded me. I honestly thought the routine repetition would have no effect right up
36/ to the time I found myself HABITUALLY doing it, every day. No effort, no thinking about it, no pep talks to psyche myself up. Nothing. I had created a habit through simply writing 2 simple statements every day. Now, I no longer write them out, but I repeat them to myself
37/ as I exercise. I'm still astonished by it, but there it is. I'm working on some other thoughts for the Prover to get to work on, but think about how many things you might want to change in any aspect of your life. Simple. Powerful, but most importantly, actually effective.
38/ I didn't believe it when I started but I do know. Give it a try, and start small at first. If you can repeat one or two new things you might want to change, you might end up as amazed as I am. Needless to say, this might be very useful to investment habits you might want to
39/ change, as well as many other things you're not entirely happy with in your life. You have absolutely nothing to lose and may laugh out loud like I did when I started, but it worked. Give it a try. Here's the book: amazon.com/What-Say-When-…
