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Ass-Kicking Email – How to Stick to Your Commitments

Hey,

In this email, I’m going to talk about how to make changes that
actually stick. Throughout this program you’ve been given a lot of
advice for how to improve your studying skills. From broad tactics
like weekly/daily goals, to pinpoint skills like the peg method.

The problem is that tactics aren’t what truly matters.

The truth is ANY tactic will outperform complacency. Anything that
you apply deliberately and with enthusiasm will beat sloppyness.

The real problem with achieving more isn’t using the correct method,
but sticking to a method you can apply repeatedly.

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Using the Minimum Effective Habit to Get Sustainable Results

The tactic I want to share with you today is about doing as LITTLE
as possible, in a consistent way.

When many people start 30-Day Trials, they do it with ambition. They
believe the proper goal is to do as much as possible. Of course, why
not? More is better… right?

After watching people go through this process hundreds of times,
I’ve come to realize more is often not better. In fact, sometimes
the least possible is best.

—

The Minimum Effective Habit is the process of setting your 30-Day
Trial to be the smallest change you can think of, applied
consistently, that would improve your learning or productivity.

I learned of this technique from the Stanford persuasion technology
lab founder, B.J. Fogg. Fogg claimed to use this approach in order
to get himself to start flossing regularly. How did he do it?

Well if he were like most people, he would set himself the goal of
flossing every day. Unfortunately, how often does that work? Most
people are told this advice from their dentists every six months and
still fail to follow up.

What was Fogg’s insight?

He set a minimally effective habit. Instead of flossing every day,
he simply committed to flossing AT LEAST ONE TOOTH.

Now this seems almost stupid. What’s the benefit of flossing one
tooth?

The benefit was that the hardest part was reliably following the
habit. Once you floss one tooth, you’re far more likely to floss
all the others. But if you set a really small commitment, it’s
easier to sustain.

—

Your Challenge: Set a Minimally Effective 30-Day Trial

My challenge for you is to set your own minimally effective 30-Day
Trial.

1. Pick one of the many implementation guides/habits discussed in
this program.

2. Reduce it to the easiest commitment you could perform every day.

3. Commit to performing only that minimal activity for an entire
month.

Here are a few possible examples:

Weekly/Daily Goals –> Daily Post-It

Instead of worrying about all the details of the weekly/daily goals
system, just convince yourself to write down one task you want to
accomplish tomorrow on a notepad. You’re free to add more, but only
one task is required.

Metaphors –> One metaphor per day

Commit yourself to creating just one metaphor for your classes per
day.

Anti-Procrastination –> 180 seconds on all new assignments

Whenever you’re given a new assignment, commit to working on it for
180 seconds (3-minutes). You don’t need to do more, but at least
three minutes of work.

—

Figure out your minimum effective habit and tell me it by hitting
REPLY to this message!