Why it’s hard to stay consistent
…and why learning to say “No” is the best advice for personal development.
Why consistency works
Our physical world is eaten every day by entropy. The entire world of physical objects that are degrading with different speed. Snow is melting fast on a sunny spring day, but rocks can survive for centuries while people walking over them. Still degrading.
The entropy is like the gravity. Inevitable force destroying everything that we love or hate. We can’t beat it, change it, affect it. There are just 2 options: pretend to ignore it and wonder why things don’t happen my (imaginary) way or learn to live with it. And consistency is the way to live with it.
We use our muscles to overcome gravity. If we want to do it faster or for more prolonged period - we must exercise. Repetition after repetition develops our muscles and these stay strong and become even stronger.
The same approach is applicable to any semi-physical or non-physical entities. Ideas, brands, inventions, thoughts. We must put energy in to born it. Then support it. The more people are sharing their energy with the entity - more powerful it gets.
Consistently saying “No”
This is the super-skill in our world of distraction. We are bombarded with messages that builds temptation: to spend time on something new, to buy items we don’t actually need, to get into destructive relationships. From one side these messages are exploiting our weaknesses. On the other - once spotting these quirks becomes mind’s goal - it becomes a training ground. An incredible marker that highlights weak spots and the fastest possible way out.
When we are consistently refusing to chase random goals, follow weaknesses and play games we don’t own or even don’t know the rules - we stay on the own ground. In worst case scenario, which is actually pretty great, staying in a bad and having additional hour or two of sleep won’t be a disaster. Sleep deprivation, even partial, has much bigger cumulative effect than we can imagine.
Staying committed to own values is a great source of “no” and works a compass. Not knowing the destination is totally okay. We’re all wanderers here and should not pretend we’re God-like knowing everything, understanding everything. Make a decision - make a step. And then next one. That’s how the new roads are discovered.
Entropy is a saver - the bright side
Recent thought that I can’t give up thinking is - entropy is amazing. Imagine how our physical world would look like if entropy would not be here after all the physical items that ever existed? We would be living on a huge dump. With no place for anything new. Fossil fuels would not even exist and we wouldn’t learn anything better than stone weapon and tools.
The process of degradation and getting back to the void of everything that exists in this material world is a smart process. It prepares and gives space for something new to be imagined, crafted, invented, implemented. It is saying “no” to something that exists to say yes for what’s coming.
Our brains are wired to protect comfort for survival. Nowadays it often an overkill. Therefore balancing with rejecting old but new experience and items is a crucial skill. Feeling when to sprint for the cosmic PC chair and when to enjoy old grandpa’s chair can’t be replaced with any level of math and logic.