Have you ever decided to do something? For example, to learn a new language, loose weight, exercise, work more or to study more. But unfortunately, as a saying goes: "Destiny is not a matter of chance. It's a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it's a thing to be achieved.".
Let's describe learning a new language. First day you will be extremely excited and proud of yourself. Learning will be a peace of cake for you. While feeling this inspiration you will make a commitment: "I will study for X minutes every morning".
So tomorrow comes. It's early in the morning and your alarm goes off. You try to open your eyes. But your bed feels so warm, so comfortable... It feels like heaven so you close your eyes again and then you remember your commitment to study a new language. Well shitt... You know you have to make a decision. To take an easy way out or to get up and do what must be done?
You decide to hit snooze. "I'll do it later." is how you explain it to yourself. Yet here we are again. It's midnight and you still haven't done what you promised yourself you would to. Fuck. What now? Being the lazy piece of shit you are you decide that you'll do double in the morning.
Day after day that's how it goes. Until eventually you forget about trying to do something more with your life and you're back to mediocrity.
“Once you have commitment, you need the discipline and hard work to get you there.” — Haile Gebrselassie
It's not just about setting a goal. You need discipline to achieve that goal. Your thoughts. Your emotions. Your behaviors. And your habits. All you must control them all. That is the real problem. Because it take tremendous amount of time and willpower to form new habits.
What if I told you that there is a shortcut? There is a way to force yourself to study a new language every day avoid the painful experience of forming new habits. "How?" - you might ask! Well, as it often is in life. The answer is: we all love our money.
I'll describe how I did this for myself. Thanks to this method I'm studying Spanish for 6 months in a row. Almost every day.
What I did is the following:
- I set up a Duolingo account. Duolingo is a free web service where you can learn a new language.
- Next I created a Beeminder account.
- When you set up your Beeminder account you can create a goal and connect Duolingo to it.
- Then in Beeminder I pledged that I will earn 20 Duolingo XP points every day.
- This is where the magic comes from. Beeminder will automatically check on you every day at midnight.
- If you haven't completed your lesson for the day they will charge you real money from you credit card.
- Every next time you fail the amount will get higher and higher. Starting from $5, then $10, then $30, etc. You get the point.
- If that doesn't motivate you I don't know what will.
You can learn more here: https://www.beeminder.com/duolingo
P.S. I'm not in any way connected with Doulingo or Beeminder companies.
Soon I'll be writing about how I use Beeminder to force myself to do other things such as studying, working, etc. So feel free to Follow me to get updates.
Thanks for reeding. Cheers.
P.P.S. Stop procrastinating. Get your ass back to work.
;)