Your Mind Loves Routine
We all know that a plan followed for a decade can change our lives dramatically for the better. It works for health, wealth and mental wellbeing alike. But long-term plans are easy to make and hard to keep. We are hilariously bad at sticking with anything for long, even when it would bring us good fortune. Literally.
It's not a flaw of character. It's psychology. We are not built to think that far ahead. We can only plan for the near term: the next day, the next week, the next month at most. Beyond that, every plan is open to revision. We cannot plan for a future we cannot see. It is a limitation we inherited from our ancestors, courtesy of evolution.
Yet some people keep routines for years, even decades. We all know a family member who has held to a particular diet, a particular ritual, a particular set of habits for years, and who is certain they will never give it up. Ordinary people manage it too. They work out every day, meditate every day, write every day, or work on a project every day, for decades.
The answer lies in routines and systems. We cannot follow any long-term plan unless we turn it into a routine, a system we can follow. Simplify that system until you can follow it without resistance.
We are surprisingly bad at following anything for long. But once a plan becomes a routine and a system, we are astonishingly good at keeping it. We even take pride in how long we have kept it.
If you want to stick to a plan, build a system. Then turn that system into a routine, so thoroughly that it becomes part of your personality and your daily ritual. The early days take effort, which is why you need discipline and all those motivational videos. But the sooner the plan becomes routine, the longer you will stick with it.
Remember, your mind loves routine. All you have to do is make it fall in love with the new one. So make falling in love easy.