Friday 1 April 2016

Basic bioengineering - Improving ourselves as we build our Iron-Man suit

We live in an instant gratification society. Basically all our problem derive from our inability to manage pleasure. Obesity, smoking, drinking, superficiality, any other major dilemma of this millennium you can think about, all of them come from our on-demand culture. We are learning very slow when is about long term gratification. Going to the gym for 12 months, learning that psychology class for the next semester, you name it, all of these are very hard to approach and finish. We want to do it, for real, but motivation slowly dissipates and we fall back to our previous habits. Bad habits, most of them. But what you need to know is that you can modify your responses, you can learn to ignore that momentary bursts of dopamine resulting from our instant gratification. We can learn to build a character, to focus and improve our self-control. Discipline will lead to extraordinary achievement. But it will not happen over night. You need to start small. To commit. And here come the third ingredient. Consistency. I will give you an example of this kind of challenge. You tried a lot of diets, you wanted to have a better body, went to gym 5 times a week for a month. And then stopped. Let me tell you how you can do it. Go to gym only 3 times a week. But instead of training blindly, make a plan. And commit to 1.5 hours of training. Do not slack, just do it and have a rest day after. In the same time, start to eat more healthy. Do not change your diet drastically, just eat in a smaller plate, and drink a lot of liquids every day. Exchange the unhealthy meals with better options. At least one every meal, for the first month. Two in the second month. Three substitutions in the third month. Have popcorn instead of crisps. Fruits instead of sweets. Boil instead of frying. Try a veggie burger. Change will come slowly. And then, after three months, the magic moment will come. Your body will be changed. Not much, you will not look like an elite athlete. But something will change, and you will be able to see it. Same as writing. If you want to write a book, the easiest way is to be consistent. Write every day. 2 pages or 10, it is entirely your choice. But do it daily. Sometimes you suck, but now and then you will have something good. Give yourself three months, and then read what you wrote. Join them together, your best texts. And here you are, the improved version of you.

Give yourself a chance! A real chance.

Good luck.
G.

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