T.T. 18: Every Single Streak Simply Starts with Two
Building On Last Week's Theme
I’m back!
(I’m baaaack in the saddle a-gaaain)
Last week’s post was about habits.
And — to be clear — my focus on this theme is NOT just pretentious pontificating.
It’s NOT just some vain attempt to become the trillionth self-improvement wannabe “guru” blogger.
Instead, I promise to circle back from the “habits” theme into a major point about the insidious power of propaganda over time.
But first, a BRIEF bullet point recap:
NEGATIVE habits SUBTRACTED:
Alcohol
Antidepressants and adderall
Nicotine
Cocai… wait nevermind. I’m not the son of President Joe “Crime Bill” Biden
POSITIVE habits ADDED:
Daily — lessons in Duolingo Español
Daily — long walks
Daily — basic strength training
Weekly — this “Thoreau Thursdays” blog
Two VERY relevant podcast clips:
Note for email subscribers:
If you’re reading this in your inbox, I highly encourage switching to the website version for this part.
Substack enables video uploads to be embedded in the page, but apparently — at least in my experience — the email version only includes their thumbnail pictures.
These two clips are less than 5 minutes combined.
And each is 100% worth every single (potentially life-enhancing) second of your valuable time.
Clip 1:
James Clear on Tim Ferriss’ podcast
The authors of “Atomic Habits” and “The 4-Hour Work Week” respectively have sold MILLIONS of book copies EACH…
…and have MILLIONS of subscribers EACH to their own weekly newsletters.
This interview that they did together might be the single best podcast episode that I’ve EVER heard — if I had to pick just one — which is saying a LOT.
I included the above clip because it articulates the profoundly powerful benefits of stacking healthy habits in self-reinforcing alignment.
Specifically, they highlighted daily exercise as a “cascading force multiplier” habit that is “upstream” from — and thus NATURALLY leads to — healthier eating and sleeping habits as well.
Clip 2:
Marcella Allison on Henry Bingaman’s “Practical Liberty” podcast
The number of millions that James Clear and Tim Ferriss have as an audience size for their books and weekly newsletters seems impressive…
…until you compare it to the number of millions in dollar terms that Marcella and Henry have brought in from their careers as “A list” direct response marketers.
(I don’t know the exact total, but it’s somewhere in the ballpark of half a BILLION dollars worth of sales closed)
This podcast episode, however, was about failures… weaknesses… the mental health battles that EVERY person, in their own way, inevitably experiences.
Specifically, the clip covers a counterintuitive-yet-crucial mindset shift:
If you beat yourself up for every slip, then you’re actually MORE likely to repeat the negative behavior.
Clip sources:
(Both full episodes are available on all major podcasting platforms, in addition to YouTube)
JeThoreau@getalby.com
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