Naiman Labs newsletter #34. Go the distance and become better every day

Hi everyone! Welcome to another issue of my Naiman Labs newsletter.

New week, new topic.

In productivity world today one of the most commonly mentioned principle is “Consistency is the key.” They say:

If you look at this it is not far from the truth. The probability of being the smartest or the most talented is rare and not fully within our control. Yet, becoming a better version of yourself today compared to yesterday? That's well within your grasp. Can you ensure you're the best? Not entirely. Can you ensure you've improved today from yesterday? Absolutely. This stoic approach feels right, resonating deeply with me.

Lately, I've been experiencing and embracing the power of small, consistent steps. If you're 1% better each day, the transformation within a year can be astonishing. This is why I find the "Daily Highlight" practice so impactful. Completing the one most vital task for the day means accomplishing 365 essential tasks in a year. Isn't that incredible?

But it’s not that simple

The hardest question for me is how to be consistent? How to make sure that you do something that makes you better every day?

One answer that comes to mind is willpower. However, willpower is demanding on our brains. It requires substantial effort to maintain, thanks to the resistance ingrained in our nature. You don’t need willpower for Netflix or Instagram. But you need some willpower to do morning push-ups or to read a scientific journal daily.

I’ve been experimenting and researching some ways how I can help myself become more consistent. I personally have very weak willpower and discipline. Swapping evening reading for another episode of "Suits" is all too easy for me.

My findings

This is what I have discovered so far. I don’t have the right recipe here; I am still terrible with behavioural patterns and following habits and routines, but I am learning and I want to share these learnings with you.

Finding 1. Don’t overload yourself. As I dove into the world of productivity, soaking up advice from various gurus and watching leaders share their success stories, I fell into the trap of wanting to replicate all these habits to achieve success. It's a common pitfall. I soon realized that it is close to impossible to implement daily reading, early mornings, regular sports activities, and meditation and healthy eating in life. I swiftly decided to narrow my focus to just one, maybe two, regular activities. Another mistake that I made: I didn’t check what activities I was already doing subconsciously or, in other words, what my existing habits were. My learning here: if you want to build habits helping you become better version of yourself, don’t go full scale, choose 1 habit you want to implement (or lose) and focus on it

Finding 2. 2-day rule. This happened with me multiple times. When I attempted to adopt a new habit, I often ended up skipping a day or two. Then I stopped trying because I lost the consistency and motivation. Then I found this video by Matt D’Avella with the 2-minute rule. You can skip no more than 2 days of your habit. If you skip 2 days, use your willpower to come back, then it becomes easier to follow again. For example, now I am learning to track my food. There are days too busy to sit and log all the meals. In this case, I can afford to skip a day, but I must log everything the next day.

My learning here: you can let yourself skip a day, but not more. If you skip more, you’ll have to start over again.

Finding 3. Simplify and quantify Often, productivity gurus and success leaders promote complex concepts presented in simple phrases. Take the "Morning Routine" or the "Magical Morning," a buzz a few years back. But upon closer examination, a routine is a sequence of actions.

When I decided to build a morning routine, I ended up with a set of actions from the book again:

• Exercise 🧘

• Coffee ☕

• Journaling ✍️

• Meditation 🧠

• Reading 📚

• Walking 🏃

6 different activities within a morning hour. It even sounds overwhelming; no wonder I failed to implement this. The key lesson that worked for me here is to make it simple and tangible. I narrowed down my morning routine to a very simple commitment of 15 push-ups daily. I made a tracker and marked the tickbox every day I do this. To implement this, I committed to 15 daily push-ups for 30 days. If I fail to do it daily, I start with day 1. One simple, short-time exercise. It is a good starting point to initiate the routine.

My learning here: Seek the simplest possible entry point.

Finding 4. Reward and treat yourself This is a very simple point, applicable not only for habits but also for all activities in our lives. Remember to treat yourself. I realized that if I have something nice to look forward to at the end of the week (for example, the Saturday breakfast tradition my wife and I have), it generally uplifts my mood. I am still learning. Honestly that was hard for me to make a list of “rewarding” activities. Something that brings me pure joy. I am still working on this.

ProTip: By the way, this is a great exercise: write down the activities that you consider as rewards—what brings you pure joy.

It was difficult for me, as I felt a bit selfish and uncomfortable writing down things that “spoil” me.

However, at the end of the day, it feels nice to acknowledge these activities and treat yourself occasionally. We deserve this!

My learning here: rewarding yourself will keep your motivation to go the distance

Finding 5. Make the progress visible. All the habits that I managed to implement, all the habit experiments I considered successful, were only successful when I had some progress visualization. When I say successful I mean that I managed to stau consistent over a long time. For example, food tracking—I tried this multiple times, but I wasn’t successful until I found the nice app “Lose It” with very simple visualization and low-friction data entry.

Same for push-ups—I have a note with tickboxes. What can be simpler? My learning here: find your way to show yourself the progress.

Finding 6. The reason. Every time I tried to implement some habits without understanding the "why," it was not successful. What helped me here is being honest with myself. Why do I want to undertake a 50-day challenge of no sugar? Because I have always had a sweet tooth and want to lose some weight, so I want to try this as a harmless experiment. Why do I want to establish a daily reading habit? Because I love reading, I love to learn, and I feel very uncomfortable when I have a never-ending reading list and see no progress.

My learning here: Find your why, and it will be easier to stick to the habit. Again when we understand the meaning we are motivated to go the distance.

Finding 7. Find the partners This is something I personally find very helpful. It applies not only to habits and consistency but also to work and motivation in general (I wrote about it here). I find it helpful to converse with someone who shares the same interests. For example, if you aspire to eat healthier and embrace healthy habits, exchanging progress and experiences with a friend pursuing the same path offers valuable insights. Whenever I talk to my friends and discuss habits, I'm genuinely intrigued by their progress and routines. I often get cool tips and advice to incorporate into my own journey. Perhaps some of your friends practice daily morning yoga or regular evening meditation and breathing exercises.

My learning here: exchange your ideas and approaches with your friends. When you explore something together you will feel more motivated.

I know it is a long-read, but I wanted to share my personal experience with you.

Let me know if you experienced something similar and what helped you to stay consistent.

Have a great week ahead and remember, when we become a little bit better every day, we become unrecognisable in a year.