Time is Money - Invest in Habits

Time is Money - Invest in Habits

How to reach your fullest potential by making your bed

The one thing that is priceless but is so rare and fleeting is time. There is both too much and never enough of it. As humans, we tend to reach a more pessimistic mindset that time is a depleting resource that we can never get enough of, and we become quick to blame the lack of it on our tendencies to not act or live in the way we desire.

Time is what you make of it.

A day can be as long and short as you want. If you are on your deathbed, you do not wish to be filled with regret but rather an appreciation for the fact you were able to reach your fullest potential through self-discovery, self-development, and self- realignment, as it is a beautiful journey on its own. One that costs nothing but makes time feel as abundant and as beautiful of a resource as it is.

This read will be worth your time because you will invest in understanding what it takes and the benefits of becoming your optimal self. This does not entail the extremities of having cold showers every day, jumping off cliffs, or doing a marathon

every other week. This is how we can incrementally build habits to reach our flow states, mend relationships, and fuel our bodies so that we can have the time to be our authentic, present, and creative selves.

Motivation is fake.

Honestly, the first step is trusting yourself by showing up and being consistent. This is where it gets interesting, as the misconception people relate to consistency is depending on motivation instead of discipline. There is so much media and propaganda in the world that hinges on this idea of “increasing motivation” when the two (motivation and discipline) cannot be conflated as they are drastically different and yield even more different results. Motivation is the spur of internal and external factors. It is in the form of a noun and is a fleeting emotion that is usually out of our control and thus comes and goes when it pleases (Wojtowecz). Discipline is consistency, rooted in a verb of action - and it is inherently the defining factor that stimulates motivation. There is a term coined called the Self-Determination Theory (SDT), and it breaks down the environments that cultivate motivation which are (Calmeiro):

• Competence
• Autonomy
• Relatedness

SDT has been researched in surplus regarding sports coaching and players’ success on and off the field. Joan L. Duda, and Paul R. Appleton, in Sport and Exercise Psychology Research, mention that SDT focuses on “why” people perform actions. They attribute players’ success to goal setting, saying that “goal setting has been promoted as a fundamental skill for enhancing motivation and performance in sport and has enjoyed a central position in the sport psychology literature” (Duda).

This raises the question, why does goal-setting yield the highest motivation levels? It’s because when we see results through repeated actions, we feel a sense of fulfillment, validation, and enjoyment; hence “self-determination”.

Life should be boring.

Humans are habit creatures, and though this has a negative connotation of being mundane, automation of our daily lives is an evolutionary asset. This is done so that we can selectively decide what incoming information we interpret and how we continue to manage the stimulants around us. This is called heuristic thinking, in which we follow predetermined mental scripts and patterns to reduce brain strain from over-processing and thinking (“Heuristics”). For example, you never really think about waking up, brushing your teeth, and washing your face, do you ... you kinda just ... do it. Or, do you ever zone out while driving home but somehow end up at your desired location? That, ladies and gentlemen, is not deja voo; it is heuristic thinking at play. “Recent developments in the decision literature focus on a ‘dual mode model of decision making’ distinguishing two mental systems, one fast, requiring little effort, and driven by heuristics, and one slow, effortful, and driven by conscious deliberation” (Flache). From this research, we see that the sole purpose of routines and habits is to NOT think. It is incredible how much implicit knowledge we gain from this to inform our subconscious to act in specific ways as it is insightful, raw, and our most authentic choice coming through.

We are fallible beings and need this routine in life to be efficient - we need implicit knowledge because we simply cannot constantly be in an information overload; we need to be unconscious,

trust our gut, and not let the doubt of our external environments affect what we truly want to do. That is when a habit is built - when you can do something with little to no strain, analysis, or doubt.

Why am I talking about all of this? Because patterns are good and are the basis of building habits - no matter how “boring” they sound. According to Brian King, a Ph.D. recipient from Bowling Green State University, “Habits are behaviors that our brain has learned to produce without thinking ... Habits are learned through repetition”. Humans like patterns because it provides us with much-needed structure in a noisy and unstructured world (Barkman). The neocortex part of our brain was literally made over millions of folds and neurological connectivity to make this retention of patterns easier as the neurons called pattern recognizers rewire themselves to one another as they intake more information (Barkman).

Habits have three main components; a trigger, an action, and a reward. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, a famous psychology researcher and writer, concludes that most of us fail to build habits because we cannot understand the reward system behind it - especially for beneficiary actions that require consistency for any visible effect.

Do you see how it’s all coming together?

Repetition can only be accomplished through consistency, and consistency can only come about through ... you guessed it ... discipline. We must reconfigure ourselves past the instant gratification our modern world so heavily inflicts on us and focus on long-term satisfaction.

How to start?

Small.
Start small.
Make it so small that you do it without thinking, “never miss twice,” and give yourself benchmark rewards.

You cannot change your life overnight, and if you set big unattainable goals, you will lose momentum and motivation as soon as any inconvenience arises.

 

Habits are not solvable equations with clear solutions because we are all different, and life is full of many unpredictables. Research suggests that 21 - 30 days is the time frame for a constantly repeated action to become a habit. Still, these surface-level numbers don’t account for the reward system we have in our brains. Activities that we see quicker results with, we learn faster by nature. And you guessed it, if we do not see results, it will take us longer to get accustomed to something (King). 21 - 30 days is a ballpark number and we are susceptible to arising inconveniences if motivation without discipline is our only driving force.

This is why discipline is essential; it is the form of being a “master of,
rather than a slave to, one’s thoughts and emotions” (Fern). It is the driving factor between setting goals and actually achieving them. We all want to be lazy; we all have that voice at the back of our heads, negating us from acting a certain way. Discipline is the key to investing in yourself because by controlling your inner and external self to work a certain way despite the un-wanting and uncomfortableness you feel you are:

• Staying true to your promises
• Regaining external and internal confidence
• Learning to be patient and understanding with yourself
• Becoming more controlled and intuitive with your actions

What I have been doing to build discipline (Raina):

1. Prioritizing

• Planning out my day the night before or the morning to reduce how much thinking and planning I have to do

throughout the day. If I overthink, it will deter me from actually acting. As the days go by, you’ll see yourself timeboxing better, more free time opening up, and gaining momentum from the surfeit productivity and fulfillment of utilizing your day.

2. Active goal setting

• Have short-term goals I try to reach on a weekly or monthly basis to keep me motivated, stimulated, and

excited to keep trying new things and pushing myself. This can be trying a week of being vegetarian, journaling for a month straight, taking a 10-minute walk every morning, talking to X new people at an event, or the most simple, making my bed every morning.

3. Nourishment

• Eating well is so important, and though it can be challenging with most people’s busy lifestyles, it is one of

those things that need to take priority. I try to avoid alcoholic beverages, eat protein-heavy meals, always

try new variations of making snacks in a healthier version, and drink at least three liters of water. 

4. Activity

• This can include taking the stairs when possible, hitting the gym a set number of days a week, walking to class, and stretching regularly.

5. Flow state + taking breaks

• Allocating time to be “lazy” to prevent burnout. I allocate time where I can do something, from watching Netflix to cooking, painting, and reading. A time when my mind is “off,” and I can mindlessly do something I enjoy.

By implementing these small consistencies in my life, I see the benefits to my mental and physical health. I see how strong my mind is, which THEN motivates me to continue being disciplined. So now, if I want to try something unfamiliar or push myself to new limits in any area of my life, I have the mental fortitude to do so because of my previously built keystone habits.

So, if you haven’t, go make your bed – you’ll thank yourself later.

 

Citations

Barkman, Robert C. “Why the Human Brain Is so Good at Detecting Patterns.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 19 May 2021, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/singular-perspective/202105/why-the-human-brain-is-so-good- detecting-patterns.

Calmeiro, Luis, and Margarida Gaspar de Matos. “Health Assets and Active Lifestyles during Preadolescence and Adolescence: Highlights from the HBSC/WHO Health Survey and Implications for Health Promotion.” Sport and Exercise Psychology Research, Academic Press, 24 June 2016, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128036341000200.

Duda, Joan L, and Paul R Appleton. “Sport and Exercise Psychology Research.” ScienceDirect, 2016, https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780128036341/sport-and-exercise-psychology-research.

Fern, Ashley. “Why Discipline Is Essential to Your Character.” Elite Daily, Elite Daily, 14 June 2013, https://www.elitedaily.com/life/why-discipline-is-so-important.

Flache, Andreas, and Jacob Dijkstra. “Rationality in Society.” Heuristics - an Overview | ScienceDirect Topics, Science Direct , 2015, https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/heuristics.

“Heuristics.” American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association, Nov. 2017, https://www.apa.org/pubs/highlights/peeps/issue-105.

King, Brian. “How Long Does It Take to Form a New Habit?” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 2 Jan. 2020, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/taking-it-easy/202001/how-long-does-it-take-form-new-habit.

Raina, Sanchit. “Why Self Discipline Is Better than Motivation: Statusbrew.” Statusbrew Blog, Statusbrew Blog, 4 Jan. 2021, https://statusbrew.com/insights/why-self-discipline-is-better-than-motivation/.

Wojtowecz, Allison. “Why Motivation Is Crap & Discipline Is Your Only Chance at Success.” Medium, Medium, 30 Nov. 2021, https://medium.com/@flabstofitness/why-motivation-is-crap-discipline-is-your-only-chance-at-success- 3ecd00b8b090.