This simple and effective mind tool will allow us to bring much needed consistency and discipline into our lives.
Motivation gets you started, discipline keeps you going
Motivation is crucial to get things started. In the [Part 1] of this series I showed how you can get motivated, and when necessary to re-motivate yourself as needed.
But motivation alone might not be enough, and it might get our mind to become hectic. As motivation without a clear general direction or good habits, can "motivate" us in a lot of directions. The result of this will be little to no progress.
The X effect
So, the 'X effect' mind tool, will make it easy for us to start building some good habits and help us bring some discipline into our lives.
This method has been proven to work time and time again. I have used it in the past with success, and I just started using it again a few days ago. I will show you proof below.
Here is how the tool works.
- You get yourself a piece of paper and a pen or marker.
- You put a title for the thing that you want to do everyday (or not do, more on that below) at the very top of the page.
- Then you make a 7x7 empty grid that will represent 49 days.
- Now, for the first day that you complete your task given in the title (#2), you make an X in the first empty cell. The rest of the days will follow.
What is this effect you are talking about?
Hmm..you are not convinced yet? Let me explain. We humans are visual creatures, we give a lot of importance to visual stimuli.
So when we see the Xes on the paper, or when we mark a new X for the day, a dose of Dopamine (one of the feel-good chemicals) gets released into our brains and we feel good.
Do that day after day, and you will start building a habit. A healthy one of that.
So the X effect is that you will not want to stop marking Xes, or see missing cells. This is how most addicting behaviours arise, but in our case you want to get 'addicted' to good things/habits.
Use the X effect to stop bad habbits/addictions
Of course we can use the X effect to stop unhelpful habbits or addictions.
As I just started to use the X effect some days ago when I stopped smoking. Image below:
It is very hard to stop smoking for a lot of persons, and the X effect is not enough to do that, but it helps immensely.
I made that grid and I use it every day. I leave it on sight always, on the table. Doing that it also motivates me to keep going.
When should I mark the X?
The short answer is: whenever you want in the day.
But, I had this conversation with friends in the past and the conclusions were that..
On the one hand, you could mark the X at the end of the day. The reason for that would be that the day is over, and you completed the task, so the X is justified.
On the other hand, you could mark the X at the beginning of the day. That way, you gave your word to yourself that you would do (or not do) the thing written down in the title. And you might not want to break your word once you marked that X, because you will feel bad about yourself.
Examples for the X effect
We can use the X effect in a lot of areas of our lives. From very small things to very hard ones. And you can have a lot of grids at the same time if you like :)
Here are a few examples:
- do 10 push-ups per day
- drink 10 glasses of water per day
- walk outsite for 20 minutes every day
- don't stay on facebook for more that 15 minutes per day
- do not eat junk food
- eat some raw vegetables/fruits in a day
...
And the list could go on forever. It actually depends on every person's needs and general direction that they want to improve in.
You can do better than those examples, right?
Well, consistency is the actual goal with this method not quantity.
I will not suddenly become fit if I worked-out 8 hours today. But I would get fit if I worked out just 10 minutes everyday for the next 49 days.
I just did the math and 10 minutes per day for 49 days is a little more than 8 hours :p
So, I would recommend to set your X effect goals small and achievable for a long time. And besides, you can always do more if you wanted to, but a minimum everyday is required to mark that X.
As requested, here are the sources:
- This post is entirely written by me, but, during they years I have acquired knowledge and information present in this article from:
- how brain chemicals work from this Simon Sinek: Why leaders eat last talk
- the X effect method from this dedicated subreddit
- my general life experiences
- all images have the sources directly below them. Those that do not, are made by me :)
This is part 2 from the "Mental tools" series. Here is [Part 1] in case you missed it. There will be at least 2 more parts, maybe more if there is interest.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave them in the comments.
Thank you for reading, I really hope some of you will try this tool and use it in your lives. I use it in mine.