Day 42: On Diligent Practice
You can know how to win through strategy with the long sword, but it cannot be clearly explained in writing. You must practise diligently in order to understand how to win.
Reading hundreds of books, blog posts, articles, and watching countless videos on self-discipline isn’t going to automatically reprogram your brain so that one day you’ll wake up with the self-control of a samurai.
The intention behind this book is to offer you quick, interesting tidbits related to self-discipline that you can easily act upon. No matter how detailed my writings are, you’ll always learn more by taking one little action than by reading ten of my books or re-reading the same book over and over again.
For example, I can tell
you that the greatest amount of willpower is needed during the first few minutes of an uncomfortable task, such as taking a cold shower. Once a couple of minutes pass, your body will adapt to the challenge and it gets easier to handle.
But that’s just me talking. Go and actually take an ice-cold shower. Experience
the wild emotions, start shivering, feel
the overpowering temptation to turn on hot water, and wonder if you can last even a second longer, and then — two or three minutes later — feel your body start to relax, with the ice-cold water no longer feeling like the worst torture in the world. Then step out the shower feeling, elated that you managed to overcome your weakness of will
.
The next time you face an uncomfortable situation, tap into your real-world experience — not mere words read in a book — to realize that, just like with an ice-cold shower, you can adapt to this situation, as well.