There are moments when everything starts perfectly. There is inspiration, a clear goal, an excess of energy, and the first days are easy, the first week and even a month we can continue to act in our daily lives. But then come the monotonous days, unpleasant weather, fatigue, unexpected things and the usual excuses: “I’ll skip today and do double tomorrow”. Then the same thing happens again tomorrow and that’s exactly where the chain breaks.
This is where the deep nature of a habit is revealed. Not at the beginning of its formation process, but in the later stages. Where motivation wanes and only the decision remains whether to continue or not. As if we need special motivation or a unique effort to move forward. In fact, success is often born in silence, monotony, routine and repetition, when no one is watching us and we are not sure of ourselves.
The true power of habits is not that they prolong the good days, but that they make the bad, painful, boring days functional. We keep moving, even when we can’t see the way forward, when we’ve lost hope, and faith is gradually turning into results. There is one fundamental difference between a professional and an amateur. Professionals do systematically what amateurs do only when they feel like it. An amateur is driven by inspiration, a professional by a system. A professional writes even when they have no ideas, reads even when they’re bored.
According to the Golden-Haired Girl’s rule, people have the greatest chance of progress when the task is neither too easy nor too difficult. One that requires effort but can be overcome without too much pressure.
We never change completely in a day, but every day we can take one step closer to the person we want to be. Habits are successfully formed when we strive to grow a little each day, not in one go, but in slow but steady progress. Sustainable change can happen daily, even mechanically, and sometimes one small action is enough to keep us on track.