You’re Powerless to Change Entertainment

At this time more than ever, people are facing a great weakness. Their own willpower.

There’s a common fiction that tells us prolific people are busy getting stuff done because they have amazing willpower. Even prolific people say “I must have willpower because I did all this stuff others couldn’t do. I guess I’ll tell people that willpower is the way!”

Will Power is kinda fake

The way people… the way you… step up and achieve things is by

1. reducing the friction of the task
2. making it more painful to skip the task than achieve it

Pretty simple.

Pain might be a weird way to think about some simple tasks, but feels too real for the big ones.

The Five Reasons Rule

I cannot find it at this time (Please let me know if you find it), but there’s a TED talk where the lady says she was a marriage counselor and she found that couples that stayed together had five reasons to stick together for every one reason to split up. I find this quantitative way of thinking crystalline.

When I have one reason to skip a workout (usually “I’m tired”) I can easily come up with five reasons to do a workout.

Procrastination is great for the “DO” Pressure

As we procrastinate, pressure moves from the “Skip” side to the “Do” side until the pain moves the line.

Accountability is the best pain

Accountability — having someone else expect an action from you — is one of the most powerful tools you can weaponize against your “skip” side.

Some claim that accountability can improve the chance of completing a goal by up to 95%. So, relatively, you’re powerless on your own. You need help!

I was performing pancake flipping as part of a juggling show. Paul Nathan, who owned a theater, thought it was a cooking show. He said “If you help with promotions, you can do your cooking show on Tuesdays at my theater.” I said, “Cooking show, yes! I’ll be ready in 2 weeks!” And it began. One year of weekly cooking shows because I committed. I had a start date and I was accountable to Paul, then I started selling tickets. Then, I was accountable to audience members. Then, I was accountable to the press. So much pressure in my “Do” box.

Set people up for disappointment before making the work

Sell tickets, book a venue, presell downloads, set up a pitch meeting in advance. Get the timebomb ticking right now. All your other pressures for perfection, fear, etc will get squished under the massive boot of accountability. Enjoy your pain!