So I didn’t believe I could have a writing career. But results in other areas of my life caused me to give the law of errors and disciplines a try in this regard, too. I wrote and wrote. I published my first book, then a second. I wasn’t breaking even. I published a third book and refined my marketing a bit. The sales grew a bit. After publishing my fourth book, my royalties reached 2 percent of my 9 to 5 job’s salary. I started to earn money. It was chicken feed compared with my payroll, but it was enough to crush my belief that I “absolutely cannot earn a dime on my own.” Royalties exceeded the cost of covers, blog hosting, and mailing list software. I was like, “Well, at this rate, I’ll be able to support myself on my retirement.”
Then I published my fifth book, Master Your Time in 10 Minutes a Day and the sky has fallen. It became an Amazon bestseller. I earned half of my yearly salary in February 2014.
This law works. I experienced it firsthand. You don’t need to believe it to make it work in your life. You don’t need to believe in the law of gravity to be grounded either. I stormed the top 80 percent ranks of bestselling indie authors within less than a year because I purposefully adjusted my actions to the law of errors and disciplines.
So, if the law of gravity is applicable in your case, embrace this truth: the universal law of errors and disciplines is applicable to you too. You are probably “using” it now in the same way you use the law of gravity to function. Where you stand in life right now is the effect of compounded errors in judgment or consistent disciplines you performed in your past.
It is very easy to confirm my claim. Take a pen and paper and do a quick five minute self-analysis session. You may check out both sides of the equation. Choose at least one area you are not satisfied with in your life and one in which you feel confident and successful. Ask yourself, “What am I doing on daily basis to deserve such output? What do I do every day that determines this effect?”
For example if you are overweight or obese, examine your eating habits. If you are fit and proud of your body shape, do the same. There are very rare individual cases where the lack of hormonal equilibrium may be blamed, but usually what you eat regulates your weight. Those who eat fast food or sweets and do it consistently over a long period of time are chubby. Those who enjoy salads and cottage cheese are fit. If you enjoy binge eating four times a week, it’s not enough to work out at the gym like crazy for four hours once a week. What you consistently do, even in tiny amounts, determine your results.
That’s the choice that now stands in front of you. It’s a choice you have to make every day. Do you choose what’s easy and comfortable right now? Then the chances are that you will be uneasy and uncomfortable in the future. And you will stay much longer in that unpleasant state than if you chose the uncomfortable way today.
Or you can choose to feel the discomfort today and enjoy the comfort in the future. It’s just the way this world of ours operates. It’s true with money, with relationships, with getting fit, with everything. You can spend money or save it. You can listen attentively or ignore somebody. You can eat a burger or a carrot. Spending money, ignoring the other person, or eating a burger may look like a good idea right now, but you will have to pay the higher price for that in the future.
There is a mind trick involved in this: you will get a bit more comfortable with the uncomfortable with time and, in contrast, you will enjoy the periods of comfort and complacency even more. I seriously encourage you to take the uncomfortable route. Amend your personal philosophy accordingly.
Knowledge Items:
- One of the laws of nature is that failure is a few errors in judgment repeated every day. Success is a few simple disciplines practiced every day
- You are probably “using” it now in the same way you use the law of gravity to function.
Action Items:
- Perform a quick 5-minute self-analysis session as described in this chapter.
The Law’s Implications
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“Eighty percent of success is showing up.”
― Woody Allen
There are plenty of implications to The Law for your life.
1. You are here for the long term and that’s how the universe is pre-programmed.
A person’s life is measured in decades, not in minutes. Thus, what really counts in your life as a whole is what you do over decades. This power is far greater than what you do from time to time.
2. Now matters.
The simple actions you perform in this exact moment in time have an enormous effect on your decades. Decades consist of the multitude of such moments. The moments compound into the decades of your life. That’s why you need to pay attention to your present. You should strive to make each action and each moment perfect. But it is very hard to be conscious every minute of your life. Here the disciplines and habits are very handy. If you develop good habits through simple disciplines, you can transfer big chunks of the control to your subconscious. It will take care of performing the disciplines and keeping you on track without much effort.
3. You matter.
You can consciously build routines and subroutines in your life. You can always step into your now and decide to choose a different path. You can consciously avoid a small error in judgment time after time until it becomes automatic. You can consciously choose to act in accordance with your higher purpose and enforce the right discipline.
What’s more, you can always change your life’s destination by changing your beliefs, thoughts, and actions right here, right now.
4. Everything matters.
You are not some kind of biological machinery. You can’t press a button and fix yourself for good. Human beings have the most complex system of anything we have discovered in the universe. And each part of your being depends on the other. When it comes to our bodies, we instinctively grasp that truth. You need all your body parts to work in unison to function to your maximum capabilities. When something hurts you physically, like a tooth, your whole body suffers. You can function or even thrive without a limb or some redundant internal organ (like a kidney). Nick Vujicic is the best example of this. But we also feel it’s wrong. It is possible to live more fully when your body is whole.
It’s the same with your mind. There is no area in your life that can be neglected without damaging your whole person. There is no improvement you can make in your life that won’t improve you as a whole.
Everything matters.
If you allow yourself to err in the case of the kind of food you eat, soon you’ll slip in the realm of relationships, productivity, or confidence. If you transform a single aspect of your life, like getting fit, you will soon transform other areas as well.
It’s unavoidable.
I didn’t believe I could earn a dime on my own. I felt beyond hopeless when dreaming about making a fortune or even making a living from my own ventures. But my level of doubt was much lower in the case of saving money. I struggled for years to keep a bigger chunk of my income, without spectacular results, but there were at least some results. When I changed my attitude and methods toward saving money and started getting results, my whole attitude towards money shifted a bit and I made an attempt to earn some money. In less than a year, my royalties exceeded $1,000, a magic ceiling in the case of indie authors.
And my transformation began with my weight loss attempt. I wanted to lose weight as part of the frustration I had at not being able to implement fully the Getting Things Done system in my life. I definitely failed at that, but this failed attempt left me with a desire to change something in my life. It was strong enough for me to take action.
Everything affects everything. Small, simple, successful disciplines that you stick with for a long time will point your whole being in the right direction. Each of the small errors in judgment may be your first step down the slippery slope of failure.
5. Everyone matters.
We don’t really understand humanity. There is always the one in a billion whose deeds surprise sci
entists. One thing we do know for sure is that we are social creatures. We are interdependent. We affect each other.
Small errors in judgment or simple disciplines repeated over time in the life of a single person will affect everyone around her. The vast majority of personal development teachers use this as an argument for associating with positive and successful people. I invite you to think about it in terms of your personal responsibility. Your errors in judgment and disciplines will certainly affect those around you. The closer someone is to you, the stronger the influence of your errors and disciplines will be.
Knowledge Items:
- What really counts in your life as a whole is what you do over decades.
- Good habits can transfer the control over your present into your future.
- You can always step into your now and decide to choose a different path.
- There is no area in your life that can be neglected without damaging your whole person. There is no improvement you can make in your life that won’t improve you as a whole.
- People are interdependent.
Develop Good Habits
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“The only way to improve yourself is to set achievable goals
and develop daily habits that move you towards these outcomes.”
― S.J. Scott
I believe that there is a single indicator that can validate if a given person’s philosophy is “good” or “bad.” It’s enough to determine if it’s abiding by the law of errors and disciplines or not.
Why is it so important? Well, unless your personal philosophy’s goal is to make you a Zen master who always goes with the flow and is content with the whole world every single minute, you need a philosophy that will lead you somewhere. We are created for the life journey. We always strive for something more; we want growth. We draw satisfaction from aiming at distant goals, coming closer to achieving them, and setting other, more challenging ones. And if your philosophy doesn’t take into account the law of errors and disciplines, it’s not likely to lead you anywhere. Rather, you will run in circles like a headless chicken.
I don’t see any other law or theory that explains why most people fail and a minority of them succeed. This one does.
Victor Frankl in his book Man’s Search for Meaning said that people who found their purpose in life at least had a chance to survive. Those who abandoned hope, didn’t. Prisoners in death camps had no influence over their circumstances; they only had power over their minds. Some of them chose to live. Some of them died anyway. But all of those who didn’t choose to live, died. The power comes from within; it’s not fate. You can face fate with your internal attitude and it will make a difference.
I heard this story in Cultivating The Unshakable Character by Jim Rohn. At the end of World War II, an American cruiser “Indianapolis” was sunk by a Japanese submarine. Many who made it through the initial attack had to spend days in the water because there were just a few lifeboats and a great shortage of lifejackets. The effort to stay alive was so overwhelming that many sailors simply gave up. Survivors reported that virtually everyone wanted to give up at least once. But whenever someone wanted to quit, the others would talk to him about the people back home who needed him. Those who survived found a reason to live—others who were dependent on them. But didn’t those who drowned also have people who needed them? Of course they did, but they chose to think differently, to forget about them. Your mind literally has the power of life or death.
We are so fond of the idea of quantum leaps, of heroic spurts. Of single events that shape our fate. But the truth is that you choose life or death every moment. Eat a burger or a salad? Watch TV or play with the kids? Browse the Internet or finish this project? Become affronted or grateful for the correction? Each of these tiny decisions adds more life or sucks the life out of you. Single outputs are microscopic. Together they are strong like a force of nature. You can’t deflect them in a single moment. You couldn’t deflect a tsunami with your bare hands either. But if you construct your personal philosophy appropriately, you will be surfing the tsunami wave. This is how the “Trickle Down Mindset” works. By making the decision to change your life and letting your choices build momentum, one act at a time.
Thus, I’ll urge you to incorporate only a single “mandatory” component into your philosophy: the emphasis on the simple consistent disciplines. Don’t try to fly by flapping your arms. Don’t try to dive 100 yards deep by just taking a deep breath and submerging yourself. There are some physical constraints in the universe that cannot be overcome by sheer willpower. You may be the one in seven billion that can stretch them, but it’s not likely! You’ll probably get hurt if you try. Don’t try to create your personal philosophy by ignoring the matter of consistent disciplines and repeated errors in judgment. If you need any hint that what you are building will lead you in the right direction, check if it abides by the law of errors and disciplines. If it doesn’t, then you are in trouble.
Why is that humans are so inclined to use that law? It’s how our brains work. The main part of the brain is our subconscious. It learns through repetition. It loves predictability, stability. It resists change. Your brain loves to keep you on autopilot. That way it takes the least effort. It spends the least amount of precious energy. Habits are the ideal tool for the brain to save energy. You don’t need to think too much. You get the cue and you do the action. No thinking involved.
The word “habit” comes from Old French abit, habit, from Latin habitus ‘condition, appearance,’ from habere ‘have, consist of.’ The term originally meant ‘dress, attire’ and the noun habit meant monks’ outfit. The habit was an external sign of a monk’s internal constitution, which defined their whole lives. Later, the meaning of this word drifted to denote physical or mental constitution.
A modern medical dictionary defines habit as:
- A settled tendency or usual manner of behavior
- A behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition or physiological exposure that shows itself in regularity or increased facility of performance
- An acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary
- Addiction
Habits are automatic or semi-automatic behaviors and that’s why your brain is so attached to them. They allow your brain to bypass the conscious mind and preserve the energy. And strangely enough, habits are in line with the law of errors and disciplines.
You may have formed a habit of smiling as soon as you see your spouse. Now, each time you see him or her, you smile. That’s a positive habit. But you can also turn some disciplines into a habit. Small and simple things like flossing your teeth or doing a consecutive series of pushups every morning. A single instance of such behavior means almost nothing. Repeated over time it provides some advantages. Repeated consistently, it becomes a habit, which conserves your willpower and energy resources. It is supervised via the minimal investment of attention and it automatically yields profits.
A vice is the reverse of a habit.
Habits work for you, vices work against you. You may fall into the trap of consistently repeating small errors, like enjoying a chocolate bar after a meal. This repetition becomes your habit; in this case even an addiction. A small error becomes the automatic behavior bypassing your consciousness. After a while, because sugar is a powerful narcotic, reaching out for a bar of chocolate after a meal is a part of your constitution; it’s in some strange way part of you.
After a couple of years, you wake up and notice that you are 40 pounds heavier. A small error repeated over time caused it. The law of errors materialized.
You are what you consistently do. And your consistent action derives from your frame of thoughts, from your personal philosophy. The right philosophy employs the law of errors and disciplines to your advantage. It also prevents you from making the small errors in judgment and the effects of addiction.
The most effective form of fighting addiction is prevention. If you don’t develop an
addiction, you won’t be forced to spend an incredible amount of energy, willpower, time, and resources on eliminating it. Instead, you’ll direct your energy into achieving your goals and tasks at hand.
For example, I’m guilty of compulsive stats and email checking. I do it involuntarily. Whenever I have a couple of minutes online to spare, my mouse cursor goes to the icon of my email program. It’s a time-wasting addiction. But I didn’t come up with a smart plan to overcome my addiction. I refused to focus my attention on it. I focus on my simple disciplines instead. I have plenty of them. This leaves me very little leeway for things like spending hours on mindless surfing on the Internet. Some of my disciplines are quite big, like writing 1000 words a day. This is my high-priority task. I focus on it every morning and it doesn’t leave much space for addictions.
The right philosophy simply starves your addictions and vices by transferring your attention to other areas.
I ramble about The Law of Errors and Disciplines because it’s so crucial. You can’t ignore it. You can’t say you don’t believe it works. You can say the same about the law of gravity, but it won’t change the fact that you are grounded to the Earth. You can choose to “ignore” the law of gravity and jump off a cliff because you want to soar. But the law of gravity won’t ignore you and you will be crushed on the rocks below.
Going further with the analogy, you can jump off the cliff by paragliding and enjoy a nice flight. But sooner or later, you will have to land. Not even birds can fly their whole life.
You can use some tools and tricks to accelerate your growth without discipline or to postpone the effects of small errors in judgment for some time. But you can’t change the basic law of the universe. You will “land” sooner or later and it may be a painful experience.
Trickle Down Mindset Page 5