The Discipline of Daily Habits

A man told me once — this was back in January, maybe fifteen years ago — he said, "Jim, this is my year. I can feel it."

I said, "What are you going to do differently?"

He said, "Everything."

I said, "That's a lot."

By March I ran into him again. Same coffee shop. I asked how it was going.

He said, "Well, you know how it is."

I did know. I'd been there myself.

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Here's what I've found out about January. Everybody's a philosopher in January. Everybody's got a plan. The gyms are packed. The journals are fresh. The diet starts Monday.

Then February comes.

Somebody says, "What happened? I had all this motivation."

And I say, "Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going."

See, there's a problem with relying on how you feel. Feelings don't show up for work every day. Feelings take the weekend off. Feelings call in sick when it's raining.

Discipline doesn't care about the weather.

What's Easy to Do is also Easy Not to Do

Here's a phrase I want you to remember. I got a good phrase for you. Write it down.

What's Easy to do is also easy not to do.

The things that lead to success are simple. Read ten pages of a good book — easy to do. Take a fifteen-minute walk — easy to do. Put ten percent of your paycheck aside — easy to do.

But here's the catch. They're also easy not to do.

And if they're easy not to do, guess what most people choose?

That's the great challenge of daily disciplines. Nobody's stopping you from skipping your walk today. The world doesn't fall apart. Your boss doesn't call. Nothing bad happens — today.

We call that the subtle erosion. The neglect you don't notice because it doesn't punish you immediately.

But oh, my friend, it punishes you eventually.

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A farmer doesn't skip planting season because he doesn't feel like it. He knows there's no harvest in October if there's no seed in April. The connection between cause and effect is obvious on a farm.

In our lives, it's not so obvious. We can skip the disciplines of today and still eat dinner tonight. We can neglect our health for years and still get out of bed in the morning — until the morning we can't.

The consequences are real. They're just delayed. And that delay is where most people get fooled.

Why February Wins

Somebody asked me, "Why do people quit so fast? It's only been a month."

I said, "A month is a long time when you're relying on willpower."

Here's what happens. In January, everything is new. New goal, new plan, new energy. Novelty carries you.

By February, the novelty is gone. Now it's just you and the alarm clock. You and the blank page. You and the choice you have to make again today, even though you made it yesterday, even though you'll have to make it tomorrow.

That's not exciting. That's not inspiring. That's just work.

And most people weren't ready for work. They were ready for transformation. They wanted the after picture without the middle part.

But the middle part is everything.

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I remember when Mr. Shoaff first challenged me to start reading. He said, "Jim, how many books have you read in the last ninety days?"

I said, "Well, Mr. Shoaff, I've been busy."

He said, "That's not what I asked."

Right?

So I started. One book. Then another. Not because I felt like it. Half the time I didn't feel like it. I'd spent twenty-five years not reading, and now suddenly I'm supposed to be a reader?

But here's what I discovered. The reading wasn't just giving me information. It was turning me into someone who reads. The discipline was building the person.

That's the secret most people miss. You don't just do the discipline. The discipline does something to you.

The Compounding Effect

Let me give you some numbers. If you get one percent better each day for a year, you don't end up one percent better. You end up thirty-seven times better. That's the math of compounding.

Now, one percent better today — can you even notice that? Probably not. And that's why most people quit. They can't see the progress.

But you're not supposed to see it. Not yet.

Somebody says, "I've been at this for two weeks and nothing's changed."

And I say, "Did you plant a seed two weeks ago and then dig it up to see if it's growing?"

Of course you didn't. You'd kill the seed.

The same applies here. The results are underground for a while. Your job isn't to measure them. Your job is to keep watering.

A Simple Assignment

Here's what I want you to do, my friend. Pick one thing. Not ten things. Not your whole life. One thing.

Something easy to do. Something you can do in fifteen minutes or less. Something you could do every single day for the next ninety days.

Maybe it's reading. Maybe it's writing in a journal. Maybe it's a phone call to someone you've been neglecting. Maybe it's walking around the block.

Now here's the rule. Don't miss twice.

You might miss once. Life happens. But don't miss twice. Missing twice is the beginning of a new habit — and it's not the habit you want.

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The man who told me "this is my year" — I saw him again about five years later. He'd actually done it. Changed his life. Different career, different health, different everything.

I said, "What finally worked?"

He said, "I stopped trying to change everything. I just changed one thing. Then I didn't stop."

There it is.

The February dropout happens because people try to become someone new overnight. But you don't become new. You build new. One small discipline at a time. One boring day after another. Until one day you look up and realize — you're not the same person who started.

That's not magic. That's just what happens when you show up.

Easy to do. Easy not to do. The choice, my friend, is yours.