MaxMyPodcast 008: The Cosmic Force of Habits

Welcome to Max my podcast where we help you accomplish your goals through improving personally and financially. I'm your host Max Vincent Kompany today again by germy Jedi Lynch. And this this week's topic is something that I think about often I conjecture often. I like to talk about it's the cosmic power of habits and it sounds very cryptic.

But the reality is it's really not it's just it's a fact it's kind of like gravity. Jump off a two-story building and tried to fight gravity. It's not going to work out very well very well at all. But the fact is what if I told you right now you were only living at about 40 percent of your total potential and this life.

40% it's an arbitrary number. Yes, absolutely. But the reality is you're probably not living dear hundred percent. I was in spin class yesterday and I took it to like I think 43 and a half. And damn I was tired afterward. So I'm working on each and every day getting back getting up to as high as I can but habits are pretty much the Catalyst of how you can be pursuing that Highest Potential and I use the word pursuing an ing because it's a continual Journey.

It's not like you can arrive by any means habits can be created habits can also be destroyed. And I hear watts of breaking new habits are breaking old bad habits, but there's not as much as from I can see on creating those really good functional sustainable habits, which is really important. But today is not really about the negative negative feedback.

Loops. We're talking my hair today's about how we're going to talk about solidifying new positive habits. So they become lifelong acts of freedom because yes, Even though waking up at 4:54 am suck. Sometimes I do it with a smile on my face because it's a freeing thing I get to wake up a 454 am before the roosters were even awake and I live in the country and there's a lot of roosters and I say freedom because a lot of times were stuck in negative feedback loops or habits.

We can feel rather trapped and when you feel trapped or in prison somewhere life sucks. Even if you're making a million dollars a year, but you work 89 hours a week life still is a struggle. Yet you can live a life of freedom. I wrote down what the little effort but that's a lie, right? My script lied to me Jeremy I said what kind of in life is not sweet and everything seems like it's not easy well.

It's simple but not easy like like all good things in life, right?

Yeah. And it's not easy. I want to pipe in there real quick. If I can. First of all is the person I'm saying anything. Yes, Jedi Jeremy Lynch is here, you know, that's that's the fun social media handle, so. The thing you were just saying about easy I think is such a common thing.

We always like want to make it easy. In fact, you might even wholeheartedly pray that someone else would have an easy time about something. Maybe they're undertaking a difficult Challenge and if it could just be as easy as possible then it would maybe so be so sure. Foreman so forth It's so interesting though because you see this like as if all these motivational gurus and I mean anybody is always selling their idea about what you can do by so-called making it easy.

There's a great quote from Bruce Lee though the quit contrast this pretty nicely. He says don't pray that it be easy prey for strength. I think that touches on some things that you and I have talked a lot about one of the things that we talked about in a previous podcast actually was well when you're quitting a habit if you're making this a change.

You are basically you want to be able to be in that environment that used to trigger you to smoke the cigarettes to have the fatty food right to get angry the thing that frustrated you before you want to be back in that environment again and not be triggered in the same way, right? So don't wouldn't it be nice if that were easy, but let's reframe it and say what if you just had the strength instead what if you had the power the internal?

This is then it would seem easy, but that doesn't mean the context got easier. It means you were stronger. That's so much more useful

when a child is first learning to walk. Imagine if a parent every single time they attempted to stand up just grab them grab them and walked around with them everywhere and never let them be in that imbalanced struggling.

And quite honestly Following over 20 times. I mean your daughter play a full of a few hundred hundred are walking right? It's just

a mm. Mm. I don't know –

right but she right

over it every second. I was one step in the fall and one step in the fall.

I was I was reading a quote by Jordan. Dr. Jordan be Pearson and he was saying you can either keep your kids safe or you can make them functional.

I love it

paraphrase, please don't quote me on that. But the fact of the matter is this, you know, I lived in a community where we lived one mile away from my elementary school. My mother wouldn't let us ride our bikes nor walk to school. Think about that for a second. 97 in a community where the average income is about a buck forty year.

I about $140,000 a year USD. I thought Mercedes-Benz was a normal car. I lived a very very privileged and I feel very blessed in that but the fact of the matter is you know, my mother was so soccer mom Esh that I couldn't walk to elementary school at age 10 like bloody hell. Like have we come to the point where we're so sensitive we want to keep every single.

Hurt for my children and it anyway not to digress too much. But the reality is this, you know pain is not inherently a bad thing. And it's I can imagine it sucks seeing your child fall down hurt themselves and cry can imagine that that pain I've been told from testimony that sucks. But the reality is the only way we can grow is through that pain.

The only way I hit my first 15 mile or and a spin class was because I had to go through the sucky three months of my groin killing. And feeling like my balls were going to fall off. I'll be honest sucked but it took that to really get to this place where we are. So pain is not inherently bad and that's a big reframe.

Because people think it's a terrible thing that's happened. Well, if you think that is if you can reframe it to the events of my life have happened there form the person I am today. That reframe, I feel as though is so much stronger compared. This bad thing happened in my life. But anyway, I think it's really important when we're creating a new habit that we have an authentic conversation with ourselves because the reality is Jeremy UI all of us were Master deceivers.

We think we're way better off than we are. Oh, I'm only a little overweight. Oh, I'm only a little out of shape. Oh, I have plenty of money in the bank and you know, we take we take true self inventory of that thing. And guess what? We're way more out of shape than we thought we try to go upstairs and it's like hiking Mount Everest and that self evaluation that the unbiased the true self evaluation.

I love how Jim Rohn program puts it affirmation without actions is the beginning of delusion and I promise you nobody wants you to live in delusion, and you don't want to live in delusion. It's just not get period but it's important to have that super authentic conversation. Like I asked myself this everyday do I feel vitality and excitement and anticipation for today?

And at the answers know my habits are usually not coinciding with a deeper purpose. And life is going to be automatic and mundane and I don't know if you're working a nine-to-five or a CEO somewhere. Or are playing video games at Mommy's basement right now having meaning in life is super important to having satisfaction in life.

I didn't say happiness and satisfaction that deep satisfaction that only happens from having a really important meaning in life. Vitality excitement anticipation when I get to the point when I'm excited for the next day even though. Tomorrow probably be very much similar to the day. I just had and you guys that is someplace that I wish everybody to be at one of their life.

It's never anything, but that my habits are not coinciding with that if I have that disconnect. Like although it sucks waking up at 454. It really does. I'm not going to lie. It's really dark. It's really quiet and my bed is really warm. But it's that habit of exercising in the morning that gives me the opportunity to have enough energy to see here with Jeremy that gives me enough energy to get through the day people think coffee gives them energy.

Hell no, I guess to an extent but it's a very very short term solution to a longer longer form deal. Coffee's great. Nothing. Nothing against coffee. I just don't drink.

It

sounds like you're talking about cultivating strength to so as if like a good habit is something that helps you to cultivate strength so that you have the power the energy and so forth, right and so sometimes. Oftentimes that means getting outside your comfort zone. You're obviously very comfortable lying in bed in the morning and man.

What if you just spent the next hour to an hour-and-a-half laying there instead of getting your bottom over to the gym and whatnot. Obviously, you'd be more comfortable but you wouldn't be cultivating strength and it's not just a physical strength and I just talking about bronze. You're not necessarily a professional bodybuilder.

You're not a professional athlete so you're not necessarily trying. Compete in that way, but what kind of strength is it giving you? Obviously some physical strength, but it's more than that, isn't it? My experience personally going to the gym? On a regular basis makes me a lot more clear minded.

It gives me willpower. For some reason. It seems to help me to focus and like exist in those uncomfortable areas like yoga for instance. I don't do much yoga. I like yoga, but I don't do much yoga. Can

we refrain for a second the last time Jerry went to yoga with me? I thought he was going to die.

I don't think it was having fun. But like

a hot yoga

it was a good deal

was it was pretty good. It's pretty intense more intense, obviously than I was accustomed to and I did think I was going to paint a faint at some point. I got to the point where you were get that point where you like everything seems to Echo and ring all of a sudden put no reason like you're going to fall over and faint didn't actually faint but that was like right at the edge of that.

I did get that like this is kind of weird ringing noise across the room anyway, So you hold it and uncomfortable pose you literally stretch into you hold an uncomfortable pose and what do people say about that? Who do a lot of yoga. It's very common when you talk with people who are into this thing really into yoga, especially if they're actually studying like yoga philosophy and so forth It's about holding uncomfortable feelings.

It's about being able to sit in a place or do something consistently Maybe. That is not a comfortable place so that you can learn to grow so that you can hold on to it uncomfortable ideas that you can listen to an opinion from someone else that you don't like and not. Did you can stay present and really absorb the information and and recognize the Beauty and the Wonder that's in that moment with the pain because there's also also that there's also great and deep purpose one of my favorite quotes.

Maybe you've heard this before is very interesting back story on this. They're basically if you've got a why that's strong enough the quote goes something like this. I'm trying to remember exactly but.

Strong enough to get power through any well,

yeah, that's it. If you're wise strong enough you can deal with any suffering essentially there.

There isn't any set of circumstances that would that can stop you essentially and it comes from a guy who wrote a book and actually developed a form of therapy called logotherapy wrote a book while he was in concentration camps. He was a doctor a Jewish doctor who was brought into concentration camps was asked to do sometimes, you know, well, A lot of our evaluations on on the other Soldier or not sort of excuse me, the other Germans that were in the concentration camp with them and he's put in some very difficult situations in an ongoing basis, but he had recognized that some.

Wither away right away and others even though they're not getting more food. They're definitely not getting more rest. In fact, they seem to be taking on other people's responsibilities and sometimes sharing their food some of these other people were obviously a lot more vital they were clearly stronger.

They had better mood and they actually survived better. Impart upon looking at this. He was really recognizing that the big difference is the way that these people perceived the situation. They're in the people who were thriving the under those conditions the the Jews who are in these concentration crafts who happen to be actually thriving under those conditions.

Believed that they were serving the other Jews that that was their purpose at this time. They had this great responsibility and they were that great. Joy essentially in fulfilling this responsibility even under these terrible conditions, and anybody can understand what I'm talking about here. You might be getting the chills up your spine when I think about this I get chills up my spine.

So, you know, it's true when you have a good enough. Why a strong enough meaningful enough responsibility you dive into that and you fulfill that task even though the conditions are absolutely atrocious you find great purpose in that you have energy and motivation in.

And that's just encouraging because I don't think any of us are in concentration camps currently and if you are power to you, I've been in 2019, you know that it's a different landscape obviously and it's just amazing hearing things like that Jeremy because I just can't even fathom going through like physical psychological torture and having Joy through that that's just as is.

I think that standing tree pose for 2 minutes has is you know difficult and anyway notnot that really comparison only helps there but in recently saying, you know, if someone can have joy through that situation, they're human being just like me then I can have joy during my not so hot situations as well.

Yeah. That's a that's a very very it's. It's grounding because yeah, it's a fact no matter whether you're going through we know divorce physical pain cancer. I'm have a guy at the gym. That's a good friend of mine going through. He's living in stage 4 cancer, but you would never know if you don't know his life is going in a good way status quo.

He's just living his life as he would. Normally

I've seen that with stage four cancer and other people not just one but a couple. It's like that's a whole reframe on the life there realized that now's the moment and they live in this moment moment per moment and the connect and they're open and they're suffering chemo is not pleasant.

They have severe nausea and headaches that you wouldn't believe obviously their body is growing in a way inside internally. You know taking over other organs, there's all kinds of other pain and uncomfortable feelings emotions and Sensations that go along with that. We're talking very uncomfortable.

But for some reason they come alive at this final stage in their life. For some reason the kindness comes out the compassion comes out the wisdom source to pour out of these people once they start to face their own mortality. What's that about?

Pedal have an answer for you. I wish I had an easy answer, but that what's it all about it I think it's just a life is so life and death are just so fickle things and that it's a very very delicate balance every single day.

You go in a vehicle step out your door. I mean

well attention goes where I'm sorry energy goes where attention goes. Ride, your your Consciousness is essentially composed of what you're projecting what you believe is going to be happening. And and so you make your own reality based on what you're focusing on and so these people who have these terrible conditions.

Are then more or less I think in some respects sort of forced. They hit a rock the rock bottom. So to speak emotionally, they recognize it clearly that they know they're going to die. The doctors are telling them this all the physical Sensations are having or confirming this and then it reframes things.

They it basically forces them to start looking for. Not how do I achieve or how do I get ahead or how do I invest or how do I not? How do I defend myself from the person trying to take my money or my job or whatever none of that stuff is quite as important as how do I connect with this human in front of me?

How do I. Enjoy the beauty in this moment now and since that becomes their focus then obviously their whole reality shifts around that and they end up living a more Beauty and in deeper connection with others and and the world

around like when he asked me in the morning, how are you? It's not just a how are you fine fine?

How are you situation? Like I really can. It's almost powerful. I can oh I can almost feel it. I taste it truly and I can feel the energy that's like I actually care about you as an individual. And here's the thing. You don't have to have stage four cancer to do that. This is just a good example.

You don't

I

think as we've talked about many times on and off are you know, imagining life ending is actually quite a sobering thing to do often.

Why I mean look to your left here. I mean, I know you guys can't see it from where you're at and podcast land there but there's a about a 26-inch skull hanging on the wall here and I'm not the kind of person that's really into dark stuff like that.

But I made this go with my hands that a kind of clay paper clay and stuff because I wanted to meditate on this concept Memento Mori. It's called in the stoic philosophy or tradition or whatever basically remember your mortal. It's a great story behind that but that's totally the theme of what we're talking about in some respect here when it comes to that kind of river framing.

We want to get back to Cosmic habits in just a second, but I want to just touch base has a little deeper on the thing that we're seeing here. In fact, there's just a quote. I want to share you've probably heard of Confucius before Confucius was quoted for having a lots of great quotes and I'm pretty much that all the fortune cookies are wet from have come from you.

I don't know anyway blah blah blah. He says you've got two lives. You got the life that you first get and then the second life after you realize you're going to die, which essentially everything gets reframed. When you recognize that today could be the last day you may not wake up tomorrow. You really might not you don't know what could happen.

You wouldn't expect that you'd die, but it could happen you for instance might not get through the day tomorrow. You could have a major accident in a car or some fire. Not God forbid. I don't want these things to happen. But when we start to recognize how precious it is that maybe we stop squabbling with her spouse over the stupid thing, or maybe we stop pushing so hard on our children over the little thing that they mean appreciate them.

Love them for who they are if you ask somebody, how are you it's not just a mechanical routine. It's like I want to know how are you as a person right anyway, so that's that's my friend. You got two lives one before you realize. Your mortality and the second after you recognize you will die. We wanted to get into this Cosmic Cosmic habit Force.

I was I was actually calling it here and it's actually more or less a quote from the great Napoleon Hill and one really fantastic philosophy and captured in the book Think and Grow Rich, which is I mean, if you haven't read it, it's fantastic. You don't have to believe every single idea. And this thing there's lots of good stuff in it.

And so there is some like 17 principles. I think it is said I'm not totally sure here. I know it changed at some point. I think it was 17 and I got changes 16 later. He had two books you wrote and he recanted one. Yeah. Well, he he recognized that it's summed up into the in one of the other ones well enough I didn't it was overly complicated didn't need that extra number 17 something like that.

Anyway one.

Is

he

17? There are several Divya Google

you're Googling it now. Okay, fantastic. So there are 17 and. I think it's the number 17 actually is the power of cosmic habit Force It's

the final one

the final one and maybe that's why it's the final one because maybe it is sort of sums it all up and this is the most important rubber meets the road lessened which once you've done all these other things every single day every single habit.

Basically, all this stuff is compounding. There's also another great book written by a guy. What's his name? Darren Hardy. I think I don't know. He's the editor and owner of Success magazine, which is actually run by the Napoleon Hill Foundation Zone by the Napoleon Hill Foundation. So it is literally in the lineage of Napoleon Hills when

I was small back story on Hardy for a second.

I'm reading the book

right now really compact just

read this evening.

Fantastic right? Are you just thrilled? All right

18. Yeah. He was already earning six figures. Hey here at 18 here. You

get into real estate right away. Didn't he? Is that what was that the way he went in that mind. I'll be

honest.

I don't know.

Okay, the new store in the book young. I thought it was more like 21 by the time he was in

618. Wow, six figures. So here's here's to go really quick on what his father did his father was a hard-ass to say the least single father single father, which we don't see very much of and. Had a few other siblings and his father.

He the book he writes. I did more yard work and housework than a typical made or Landscaping guy so I can only imagine what that means. I think he's being very authentic in that and he still had to go to school, you know, and I think it's like 12 13 years 11 years old. I believe he says that he started having to do these really really intense chores all the time.

And in his wake up call every morning was his dad Lily doing a clean and jerk and letting the iron hit the garage for

his bedroom is apparently right next to the garage door more or less right next to his bed. And he thinks it was even set up that way so that his dad would wake him up with the sound of this heavy iron hitting the concrete floor right next to his his room.

Yes, I think there's something about as we're talking about today get digress a little bit. You can either let your kids, you know coddle them which I think unfortunately my millennial generation bless our souls and I don't like making blanket statements, but the Boomers called us, it's just a fact thank you Boomers.

We love you cause you're my parents and you sired me, you know and reared me mother but the reality is this the like I wasn't able to freaking walk to school one mile one and a half miles away. School, it just it's amazing and I don't have an answer to solve that obviously, but I think there's something really profound that responsibility aspect the more.

Like for instance in my job friends, I work in insurance and the gal who's might quote unquote manager who handles probably 80% of the work broke both her heels this last weekend painting crazy freak accident, but the fact of matter is now I have to pick up extreme slack and it's a funny. I had a kind of a Kumbaya moment a couple days ago.

And sitting on my couch at about 6:30 to am doing my normal meditation and I think to myself. There is going to be a ton of work to do that does not sound very enjoyable when I was thinking about it, but then I reframed as well, I guess, you know. You're not going to run a billion-dollar million-dollar a hundred million dollars in Revenue company.

If you can't even get your own house in order if you can't get yourself organized amount fact like Jordan Pederson says, you know. You want to do something with your life will get your life together to

clean your room clean. Your room is now one of the 12 rules for life.

I'm only on Revenue.

I haven't read it yet.

So I'm so maybe I'll just watch them watch the videos on. Yeah, I'm pretty sure cleaner room is one of the twelve rules,

right? So just and

it's exactly what he's saying. It's an extension of that like you can organize the rest of your life, but start with the most obvious thing the place where you spend all your time and

it's not because you know, we're stickers my cleaning room, but it's the small things but I'm of the small happen right small.

Things at

the

Kauffman a hour and they compound compound Compound Effect the other bookert. I want the six-party their small steps. They may feel like they're not a big deal, but guys,

they really legitimately seem insignificant. Yeah, it's silly like there's a lot of fantastic examples throughout this book about the little habit that a person would pick up and then two years later.

Because of doing this consistently they've lost 20 pounds whereas their friends get in the way. They improved their marriage. They put a lot of money and I just read

the example. I remember it. There's so the long story short. They have two guys. Let's just say A and B guy and be so guy a doesn't really change his life very much.

This is the 18 over 18 months. They they recorded these guys this guy ate a hundred fifty calories more per day. So the equivalent of like what one beer.

I think a very good Mort certainly like a candy bar

here. It was a hundred fifty calories. I cook that small per day 150 calories per day, which is a very very

good.

Uh, so don't want one

soda, you're like so something s Paulo de one soda hundred calories and Guy be. Eight are consumed a hundred calories less per day changes died a little bit.

Okay. His intention was to cut his calories by one by 150 calories

is intentional as I want to make some change in.

This was small enough to make it, you know, it's going to happen and then there's guys see who did nothing. They just kept the same lifestyle guy a who added 250 calories a day gained 30 pounds. 30 lbs over an 18-month period which is not a lot but at the end of 18 months you can go back and say holy hell I'm a couple pins sizes bigger guy see who did nothing with the same guy be however who cut out the 150 150 150 calories per day.

We had 30 pounds less a 60-pound swing over 18 months and guy is looking to you know, be in saying what have you done over the last 18 months and what are the answers? $180 he's

right. It's like almost nothing negligible. It's easy in any given day to go. Oh, what's the difference but it's the compounding effect.

But here's the thing The Compound Effect certainly talks about that but it's also the illustration of how this trickles over into other areas of life, which is kind of how we started this right, you know, we build the strength by going to the gym. Obviously my biceps get stronger, but that's not what I'm really there to build.

I'm there to build something else. It's an internal strength, right? I have

one point was only able to read for about. 25 minutes and one setting before getting distracted

by one is Lee. I totally agree. I can totally relate to that. I think I had about a five-minute clock in me something I could not read dude.

I was it totally there and yeah, I actually had a really interesting strategy for that which I think is a good place to say a little more about habits and how to Baby build. We did a really great under job at underlying the importance of why. And that may be the first thing to start with always no matter what you do, whatever undertaking be clear about what you're doing it for.

Why do you want this right? What's the the the effect and even more? So what's the compounding effect? Where is what kind of trickle over a experiences that going to have for instance? This guy who cut the 150 calories? He lost the 30 pounds. Okay, that's pretty easy to understand. That's somewhat linear.

But here's what's happening there. Also, the guy starts to feel a little better as he's losing weight. And so maybe smiling at his wife a little more one of the things that he notices that his relationship with his wife had gotten a lot better there a lot more. Into man and comfortable and there's just it's really been rekindled and it's not so much that he looks great at 30 pounds lighter, which I'm sure has some effect here,

but this is even during the process was already and this

is

right

about this compounding thing is happening from the beginning the guy starts to feel a little better about himself and so he starts to relate to his wife a little differently in some ways may be smiling more.

Maybe it's a twinkle in his eye. I don't know this again is not hard to understand you can see how. This is probably why people believe so heavily and self-esteem stuff. You know, when you feel good you re at you act in a certain way that generally usually makes other people feel good to when self-esteem is healthy self-esteem.

That's really what happens other people feel good to you know, it's it's an honoring kind of an energy, right? Yeah anyway, so that's kind of the point there. This compounding effect is it's not just as linear thing. Of course, you lose 30 pounds and you can sort of add those calories up and see how you got.

But also this trickle over effect this like butterfly kind of an effect that moves into other areas of life and I really believe I'm certain that that's what Napoleon Hill is talking about with that final statement when he talks about Cosmic Power of Habit Force. It's not just habits Cosmic Power of Habit.

It's it's the much bigger scheme of things that butterfly effect is little thing that you do consistently which is trickling over into other areas of your own life. But is also the trickling over into other areas of other people's lives and it's bringing more positive

when I have a very small dark fact

call it what you want

the Matthew principle.

I was reading those yesterday and Peterson's book as well. Matthew 25 29 Bible verse for unto every one that hath shall be given. And he shall have abundance but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath so it's roughly says. The one who has a lot you're going to continue getting more and the one who has little you're going to continue getting less.

And that's not just monetary or financial resources. However in America at least that's definitely happening right now. Jeff Bezos is worth over a hundred billion dollars as of today. And if I going to be even bigger by the time this this podcast comes out, but the reality is, you know, as you take that little bit of responsibility more is going to come to you.

And that's what the kind of like the the cosmic force her magnetic force and it's not talking about like physical matters is talking about, you know, as you have that self-esteem had that positivity like literally I I do my best to compliment three people per day real compliments not just your hair looks cute and not just that looks nice.

But like the compliment that says Jeremy I really appreciate our friendship and how you've had an impact on my life.

Well likewise

like you see that's important like that Jeremy Jeremy just want ear to ear smile, which is I love saying and it's true. It's not flattering and up by any means. I do my best to be authentic in that because the reality is we never know what people are going through.

I mean people like the like my buddy the gym stage four cancer, you would never know. He's told his hair which is kind of cool, but you would never ever know and that magnetic force I think is so important because it can be. Both that positive and uplifting habit. We're talking about the complimenting or the positivity but can also again be that really detrimental thing.

Like I don't know actually drug addiction alcohol addiction like that person when they're deep into that. They will lie. They will deceive they'll do whatever it takes to get that substance. It doesn't have to be a substance that can be Greed for instance money. You know, I will lie cheat steal to do whatever I can to get this what I think is valuable.

and there's that magnetic force I think is really really important to understand and to apply immediately in life because. The more good you put out. It just comes back and that's not that's not like just think good and good things are gonna happen. No, no. No, I'm talking about reality like actions towards others and even towards yourself.

But also, I like that you quoted Matthew here because this is a spiritual principle, which I think for me the framing of cosmic power Abbott Force that's what is being implied there. And right now it's this trickle over effect into other areas in this butterfly effect that goes into much other big areas of life.

Wonderful illustrations we have there on. There is a whole science to habits and habit formation also, and so I'd like to share just a couple of those things. I'll reference another book here. It's a guy named James Clear who has made a career out of understanding the science and putting it into very simple terms.

It's got a great blog. I recommend anybody should follow it and he's also got a book called atomic. Again in the title. There's a lot being told about what we're really talking about Atomic means very very small. Right but it's also a building block these atoms get built together to make molecules which then compounds and of course everything is made of atoms.

Right? And so Atomic habits are like these small building blocks that basically impact everything right its enormous power. In fact, an atom being split is what makes an atomic reaction right nuclear. Anyway, there's in torment enormous power in these little tiny habits, and there's a whole science behind it.

So there are basically four major elements to what makes a person create a habit. The thing is is that habits are totally 100% natural. You don't have to try and create a habit of a good habit or a bad habit. They will happen on their own. We're hardwired for this in some respect. We learn super fast you could say at the unconscious or other than conscious level, you know, you might call it the limbic brain even.

You can have a debate about whether those are the same thing or not. I don't think they're 100% the same thing but they might as well be anyway you if you get some kind of reward from something you've done you're going to get a bit of a dopamine shot in the brain. It's going to make you feel good for a second and more importantly the dopamine is what creates The Habit it makes you crave more of this drug response when you do any drug cocaine or alcohol or smoke marijuana or whatever you do if you do.

Anything like that, the member one reaction that's happening is there's some chemistry, of course in those drugs you're taking but there's an enormous dopamine push and that's why people get addicted and that's more or less. What makes it feel good because the psychological good feeling anyway, that is your own internal reward system.

So for instance when you pluck an apple off a tree and you take a bite of it. And it tastes really sweet. Then your brain goes will I like apples? What else can I do to get more apples and you'll start to notice in subtle things The Greener ones don't taste quite as sweet the red ones maybe a that, you know, you'll find which ones you like and you'll notice certain smells these things will become cues, which will then tell you help you to sort for and sort of almost automatically.

Collect more apples. Let's say or choose the right apples, even when you walk into a room if it's dark in there, that's uncomfortable. I can't see you flip the light switch on. When you're very young you might have to think about where is that light switch on or even remember it's the summer. It's not that I need to go turn a light on later these things start to happen really unconsciously soon enough.

You can tie your shoes. You can button your shirt. You can do all kinds of things without thinking about it at all and all kinds of automatic responses will occur which can like for instance save your life. If you're driving down the road and someone serves in your way. You may automatically tap on the brake or release the accelerator or maybe even change lanes for instance to.

From the person all kinds of stuff happens automatically. There's a queue. A response and this cycle if there's a reward in that for you. Then that's like a will more or less automatically continuing in some way. Let's say so so what happens there's a queue first thing first thing first. There's a queue.

What does that mean? Well, something must have happened before you needed to respond before you created the reward for yourself, right? So, what is that? That's just the question. What's the Q if you're trying to create a new habit you need to make it obvious. Needs to be something that literally you see or notice.

It has to be something that becomes that is enters your actual conscious awareness in some respect. So that's the intention of making a habit make it obvious. First of all make a real Q for yourself and as we talked about before. You have to have some reward in mind there has to be some reason for this.

Here's the thing. You're not going to continue to do something. Habitually that leads you in a direction toward a person. You don't want to be you might even have bad habits for instance that you do carry out, but I just about guarantee. There's some kind of innate reward in it for you and there isn't yet a better way to get that same kind of reward.

That's why you continue with the so-called bad habit, right? There's actually a positive intention underneath it. Yeah,

but. It's that feedback loop positive meaning it just you know reinforces that neither, you know a good or bad. There

may be bad consequences to it, but you're getting something out.

That's why you're doing it right like eating chocolate. It tastes good and right

or just eating instead of one donut, you know 13 Donuts,

you sure because if I think I would feel sick. I don't think I would actually could do to doing that but right I'm like that. Alright good example. So the next thing is that it needs to be rewarding and this ultimately is that the identity level like who Am.

In the world, what kind of person do I want to be? Like, this is almost a moral question like you just in the spiritual level, even you know, like is this the right thing to do? You can't you're not really going to want to continue with the Habit that you feel like is morally wrong, you know, that's got to have that like deep reward in it and you've got to want to be the kind of person that would continue to go to the gym for instance and

that's difficult.

Right? This is not that that principle right there. Did

you hear about time

of Mastery

getting clear about why on any habit? Yeah can be a real challenge. It's almost like the domain of therapy for instance. You know, if a person has a hard time breaking a bad habit, maybe they need some therapy around it.

For instance. They can get clear about what their underlying motivations are and at the at the level of the limbic brain at the level of the unconscious brain not just in your mind. I can give you an answer but like I feel it inside that's. That's that internal reward system that would drive you to do it.

So it's got to be a cue for a habit there needs to be some reward or really needs to be something that is not just rewarding in the short term to but is also hurting the long run. Actually, there's four parts to this. So it goes like this there's. Make it obvious. There's make it rewarding. The next thing is that it should be more or less easy for you meaning within your Mastery you can do it and it shouldn't be a stressful hard difficult thing to do.

So if you want to make a habit out of brushing your teeth for instance, don't hide your toothbrush, right? What do you do with the toothbrush? Everybody puts the toothbrush I ran the counter Baby Bop right there next to the sink. You can't miss it. It's right there. Right? Where do you put your keys?

When you walk in your house? A lot of people have a method of hanging the keys right next to the front door on a table. We've got a little table right next to my front door. We always put the keys right there. And so again, it's easy. It's obvious and it's clearly there's a reward to that because if I lose my keys man, that can be a real pain in the neck, right?

But the final thing here is four parts here again make it obvious make it rewarding make it easy and then finally make it satisfying the actual experience itself. Like sweet chocolate for instance or why does toothpaste have to tastes minty or why is there 45 different flavors of who pays for instance that helps you to create a habit?

It tastes good. There's the process itself or brushing. Your teeth is somewhat satisfying if you're enjoying the flavor of this toothpaste, so that's why they do that. So those are the basic parts of it and if you're going to create a new habit all of these things if it when it happens naturally all these things have occurred naturally without your effort.

But if you're trying to create a new habit, you basically want to check off these boxes. It needs to be something that is going to be right out. You see it's. He's to have some kind of reward for you. And that means the deeper why in alignment with who you are and who you want to be in the world.

What you think is right and good because

that reward may not be seen in the immediate right? You may not see that

but the process itself maybe should be somewhat pleasing. So for instance. Oh, I always see girls with these smelly pens like they smell good right they have like these scented pens and.

What's that about like, you know, it's a it's a pleasurable process than to use this pen. Why do girls have better handwriting? I don't know maybe because they spend so much extra time picking cute colors and and smelly pens. It might be part of it. It's an example just to get the mind going. So anyway there.

There's these different elements in you can be really conscientious about choosing and crafting new habits around it when you're clear about what it is that you want and also, you know, if you make it so that it's something that you can really manage and do and in a somewhat easy way and then of course the process itself has to be.

Somewhat rewarding but not just in the long-term sense also satisfying in the short-term sense like you actually like the sensation or the smell the feel the taste of it that kind of

thing and sometimes I think that may take a little. Learning curve like I remember first been class. I ever wanted to spend indoor cycling.

So people don't know what's allowed music lots of jumping and all sorts of fun stuff. Dude. After that first session. My groin fit like someone need me in the groin 10,000 times K. Maybe not ten thousand ten times sucked the next day. I woke up. My groin felt like someone like sandpaper to it.

That's how much is a

great example in summary because how did you even build this habit? If it was that painful physically painful our number four here making it satisfying doesn't sound like it's applying at all. It's not like it was because

I had to reframe pain into something enjoyable. Okay.

So you actually let me spend some of my time really thinking about why this is worth the struggle right now.

Is that right? Absolutely. So you had that conversation with yourself.

Yeah. I thought well, I don't do any cardiovascular activity whatsoever. Hmm. I don't know about much heart disease in my family and I'm quite young. However. That's not an excuse to you know, 3,000 cheeseburgers a day. It's not just not a good enough excuse for me and I demand Excellence for myself and in a realistic way not unrealistic Perfection way, but just excellence and I just didn't do cardiovascular and I running sounds very unreliable.

So I thought my oh my God, I have a bicycle and they have these things that the gym so the seems doable,

okay. So tell me what that's like when you go and do it. Obviously, it was really difficult on her groin, but was it dark in there as there are lots of music. That's the way I've seen those spin classes go.

Is that how it is? Yeah,

so pretty pretty dark. There's like a few different green red kind of that strobe lights, but like a tint to the tint to it there. There's a camaraderie in there that I hadn't felt in a while and I think that was probably the most enjoyable part of the first session at least because believe me after their 45 minutes approximately and after about 15, I'm done.

I'm wasted. What do you mean? There's like 15 more circuits. I've already done three. How do you guys do 20 million miles an hour in my. And I had to really kind of and exercise. I think this is done done not so easily but once you master it can be really helpful to exit your body during these really hard cardiovascular activities or just aerobic exercises.

When you do anaerobic like weightlifting you can do, you know 30 seconds and then the rest when you're doing aerobic that you don't have that luxury you're going the whole entire time the whole 45 minutes, so I really had to exit myself and think about nothing think about. My groin is a probably and seven and a half out of 10 Pain Scale right now.

My lungs are probably about a 9 out of 10 my Waters out and it's dark so I can't even lie. I'll trip over. Like that, so I have that's

why they turned the lights off so that you can't leave so you

can't life.

I'm thinking that that actually is a part of their strategy like the toothpaste companies giving you 45 different flavors that's part of their strategy of making the the process itself actually somewhat satisfying because I think if you went in there under super bright lights and everybody's really looking ugly as they sweat like crazy and all that the girls and the guys who are concerned about that kind of thing wouldn't want to go back and look ugly in front of everybody that.

Thing I think it actually makes a more sensual environment by turning the music up like that and making that I think that actually makes it somewhat rewarding but you really touch on something that's key to you. And this is so important here for everybody to understand about this is it's very unique to you as an individual, you know, think about it like this.

If you got three different house plants if they're not the same species of house plants. What are those house plants need? What is your answer to me? Well, it depends. Okay. Yeah, some plants need more light some some need different kinds of soil. There's like right there's different things and it's their frickin plants man.

We're talking not nearly as sophisticated or complicated as people are right. So this is true for fulfillment and habit-forming being happy being successful and in every way shape or form. It's going to have to fit you as an individual and you might get some Clues by looking at the. House plants that you're related to your parents are houseplants and your cousin's your house plants and some of those other house plants in your family are probably the kind of house plants that need some of the same stuff that you do as a houseplant but chances are they're not all exactly the same, you know, so you'll have to like get to know yourself in that respect.

That's actually I think a difficult part of this whole journey,

you mean just the process of actually understanding how you operate and how habits are formed initially.

Yeah well in continuing to like yeah, like know thyself. The you're saying that the sensation essentially the feeling that you like the most thing that really kept me going was that Madhuri?

Yeah. So I'd say that actually fits under the number four make it satisfying process then becomes somewhat. Yeah, that's a good point. I personally think the music and the dark. Back to even though your grinds on fire like there's enough other things in there that like kind of make it worth make it the experience itself is satisfying and you can also say to yourself.

Well, I won't get cardiovascular disease. I'm doing the right thing right

some are longer term, but you're right.

I'm being responsible.

Yeah, you're right in the end and in the immediate Heather since I set aside satisfaction, I just run through Ben Franklin, you know, my buddy Ben from many many years ago invented a lot of things.

You know, he invented the equivalent of the first camp on pretty crazy –

no,

I'm

didn't really discover electricity. You never thought

anyway, yeah hate a lot of Renditions. He

just he just wasn't sure what lighting. So any

work

that

out buddy Benny does is he does his way of making a decision? We have it real easy way of putting it now.

It's putting the pros putting the cons and whichever one out ways to make the decision. So let's expand class Pro cardiovascular health Pro camaraderie Pro exercise in general pro meet new people Pro have the instructor yell at me and make me work even harder. So that's like five Pros cons. I can go home after work earlier and sit on my rear end

7 out of 10 pain and growing.

Yes.

I'm not trying to pin ago, and that was it. And I

was not out of 10 pain in lungs probably also

yeah, that was that was definitely a cut but I didn't hear anything. I don't know about that yet and talk to the first session. I thought I was gonna go and sweetness do this, you know half-ass a little bit.

And

remember we're talking about habit forming which doesn't happen until you've had the experience. That's so you might have had one conversation with yourself before you went, but then it'd be a different conversation on the second time you. Yeah, and it's going to have to include some of the stuff some of these things have to be answered you had has to be somewhat satisfying as to be easy enough that you can't do it.

Right?

Right, right, and I've do my best now to but you

get better at it too. So it actually gets easier which makes it you know more you do something the more habit-forming becomes we actually developed some level of unconscious Mastery more you do sell

and it's cool because we've consoles that tell us exactly how far we want RPMs are Watts generated.

It's cool to see over time the progress so that's another.

And awesome.

I'll try but up.

Yeah, I think we've done a pretty good job

with it. So long story short. Well first off I wanted to I wanted to give this example to wrap everything up. So Jeremy you fire this before but play my game for a second.

Alright, so one day I come to you and say, all right, you can either have a penny today and it's going to double every day for 31 days, or I'm going to give you four million dollars today right now. DHS will walk us through what will you think?

Well, gosh for Millions a lot. I can have it today. I don't even have to wait right now.

He days I can have fermion today. I can't wait 30 days 31 days. Give me my cue. That's it.

That's it.

Obviously. It's a lot more than any scraps.

Yeah. It's and I've probably the more normal.

Right, nothing on his mind if people

would

think right there.

They're any good at math you choose the pain, but if you're if you're

30 pages into The Compound Effect at this point, which is somewhere right in that 15 to 30 page register in the beginning.

He's given us the station you should by now start to gradual to second-guess that this is not exactly what so here's

the thing if we take a penny and double it every day for 31 days at day 25. We don't leave $167,000. So you think

we are four million not even close to four man. I'm glad I picked my formula.

Let's

fast forward to day 29. We're still only two point six million dollars say

Lisa almost by Double-Double me a lot. Yeah. I mean you only got two thoroughly got

a day 30 and then 31 at day 31, we have over 10 million dollars.

So if you got two point six, and it doubles every time you're telling me it goes to what then 2.6

goes to 5.3 which then goes the 10.6.

Ten point six million

I missed out on six million dollars by taking my money early. Wow, six, it's

actually fairly small steady. You never think of freaking penny a penny that you would have seen the ground. You don't even pick it up anymore. It's worth nothing.

Yeah. It's a pretty dramatic example of how compounding a works and your 401k is essentially doing this in some respects.

It's not compounding nearly as fast as that, but I'm a grows on its growth the more it grows and more can grow. So if you ever just look at like a just a simple line graph of the amount of money in a 401k over a 30-year period of time. It's a pretty slow climb as you maybe you're contributing and is growing a little on its own and pretty slow climb.

Not much of an angle. They're pretty pretty pretty shallow at first and then it starts to get a little steeper a little steeper. And then right as you get toward the end just before the age of retirement more or less at your 30-year 25 to 35 year mark, wherever that. For you that line starts climbing more and more upward or more upward more and more upward noticeably curving upward curving upward until wow, that thing is really growing a lot.

Well, yeah, it has grown enough now that it grows on its growth. It's a compounding growth. That's a real life example magic penny might not be a real life example. It's a great illustration. There's lots of things in life that I like this though. That's that's what the hundred and twenty arms 450 calories that that guy cause

really it's the it's the small things that seem and feel and even logically.

Are insignificant it's going to spin class for the first time and not having an expectation. There's literally going just give us something new. I'm not seven months in and I've almost fight about 40% better and cardiovascular health. My resting heart rate has gone down from about 80 to about 57.

So my heart is extremely healthy and it's not that out anything on who I'm great or anything, but it's just the reality is in a rather short amount of time, you know, seven months is not really that much time. When you put your mind to something it can really really be beneficial health wise, and I'm very very pleased and have no had more energy and no coffee needed folks.

No caffeine. No stimulus measures if I drank caffeine you guys would have to put your headphones off because I make you a crazy and Jeremy would never invite you back.

It probably would calm you down calmly around on the right

and left to make a film about five years ago didn't call me down.

Compound every single day. I'm going to talk to you guys soon.