Mark Manson

We assume that motivation is required to generate the action.

No, the action is required to generate the motivation.

So then this raises the question, like, how do you get that first action?

How do you how do you start that change?

How do you start building evidence of that new identity that you want to adopt for yourself?

And the trick is to make that action as small and easy as possible.

Right.

So if you want to have a six pack, don't focus on having a six pack.

Focus on just putting your fucking shoes on and going to the gym.

or if you wanna start a meditation habit, don't think about doing a seven day retreat.

Just sit down on the pillow for one minute.

Just set a clock for 60 seconds, right?

And then what happens is you sit for 60 seconds and you're like, well, I'm already here.

I might as well do 10 minutes.

And then you do 10 minutes and you're like, well, that was nice.

Why don't I do five more, right?

And then you start building a little bit of a snowball.

The mistake that everybody makes is they try to bite off way too much.

to begin with.

And I think this is because when we imagine the change we want in our life, when we imagine the new identity we wanna have for ourselves, we imagine all of the long-term benefits and consequences of 10,000 tiny decisions, instead of thinking about the one small decision right in front of us.