How to maintain long-term, continuous and stable efforts?

My persistence in doing things may surprise many people. I started writing a diary in early 2015 and have been working hard every day until now. I roughly calculated that I have written more than 5 million words. What does it mean? Roughly speaking, it is equivalent to 9 copies of Cao Xueqin’s “Dream of Red Mansions” and more than 10 copies of Sima Qian’s “Records of the Grand Historian”~

In addition, after work, I also do fitness, piano, violin and other musical instruments, reading, public speaking, etc. Even my physiological needs are arranged by date. As long as I want to do something, I will never give up halfway. My friends jokingly say that I am nailed to the clock.

How did I do it?

Because I have strong willpower?

Are you born more self-disciplined than others?

Become a monk and no longer care about worldly affairs?

Castrated?

Neither!!

I am nothing special. I am just an ordinary person with seven emotions and six desires like everyone else. All of this is just due to a scientific methodology that obeys the laws of the body. The following is Lao Chang’s own experience of many years of practice, which can be used directly., share with you, you can taste the quality

This methodology of doing things is often called the “Five-Ring Execution Method”. It is a methodology of doing things that focuses on our own perspective.

So what is this thing? Below, I will introduce it to you one by one~

1. Guide the brain, and the daily task plan must be accurate

What’s the meaning?

I don’t know if you have ever had this experience. When you have something to do and you are busy all day, you will find that your life is very fulfilling, such as the time when you are preparing for the high school entrance examination. But once this thing is completed, such as the exam is over, the time that should have been used for busy work is suddenly free, or you have nothing to do for a long time, and you feel so empty instead…

Why is this happening?

Because our brain needs guidance and inspiration, if you don’t actively assign tasks to it, it will be at a loss. In this case, people will be bored and have nothing to do, but people can’t spend their time in boredom, so in order to pass the time, they pick up their phones from time to time, check their Moments, and eventually spend the day in a daze on Douyin, Kuaishou, games, etc….

Does the scene above look familiar?

Letting your brain know what to do next is the prerequisite for doing everything. Game companies do this particularly well. They will arrange very clear and definite tasks for you and always give your brain a line.

Just think about it, what would happen if we didn’t know what to do next while playing a game?

It will immediately become boring. The same is true for the TV series we watch. The protagonist always has one thing to do. If the protagonist has nothing to do, the plot will become a running account.

Therefore, if we want to achieve our goals, accurate deployment of daily plans is the first prerequisite for execution. It is best to deploy them like game tasks, precise and clear, with moderate difficulty, and always give the brain a line. This is the prerequisite for achieving the goal.

So how do you make a plan and how do you arrange it?

There are many things to say about this topic, which is not the focus of today’s topic. I will write another article to discuss this in detail someday, so I will not discuss it here for now.

Well, if you want to achieve your goal, you need more than just a clear plan. This is only the first step. You also need some help.

2. Boost

So what does boost mean?

There are two points to boosting. The first point is to start from our own thoughts to increase the motivation to do things. The second point is to let the environment influence us to strengthen the motivation to do things. Let’s introduce them one by one~

First of all, what is thought boosting?

To put it bluntly, you are brainwashing yourself. Don’t be scared by the word brainwashing.

The brainwashing here refers to the research results of “psychology”. Cognitive psychology has long proved that attitude can change behavior, and behavior can also change attitude. Brainwashing is to use attitude to influence behavior change.

So how can we use thoughts to boost our motivation to do things?

Simply put, it means giving meaning to what you do from the positive side of doing things and the negative side of not doing things.

What does it mean?

This is how I often use it. If I am sure I want to do something, I will list the three major visions and three major pain points for doing it.

Vision is to give meaning to things from the positive side. For example, if I stick to fitness, I will imagine myself having eight-pack abs. If I practice violin, I will imagine myself standing on the stage and shining.

The opposite is true for pain point listing, which uses people’s fear to influence their consciousness and prompt them to change their attitudes. That is, fully reflect on what will happen if they don’t practice this thing or change this thing?

For example: continuing to be a loser, not being able to find a partner, being scolded, despised, etc. There are many pain points, such as poverty, loser, inferiority, etc. There are too many, too many. Everyone has a few points that are enough to make you painful. Take them out and use them~

In this way, you repeatedly indoctrinate and brainwash yourself from both positive and negative sides, strengthen the significance of doing this thing, let this goal take root in your heart, and even be unforgettable. When it reaches a certain level, your subconscious mind will naturally accept it, burst out with infinite internal driving force, and finally achieve a self-fulfilling prophecy in psychology.

When you see this, you may think of the success theory and think it is useless and empty.

Wrong, absolutely wrong. The reason why ideological boosting is useless to you is that you are not sincere and have not felt the bliss of the vision and the pain of the pain points from the bottom of your heart. You have only gone through the form of boosting but have not achieved an order of magnitude of indoctrination, so it has become empty and false chicken soup.

Moreover, the method of boosting thoughts is very particular. It is definitely not about daydreaming. Remember not to engage in some false and empty fantasies, such as getting rich quickly, marrying Fan Bingbing… etc. This is not called boosting, this is called delusion, daydreaming.

Thought boosting must be related to what you are doing at the moment, and it must be a scene that can actually touch your thoughts and emotions.

For example, when I was learning the violin, I would imagine myself standing on the stage and playing the violin, with the refreshing sound of the violin floating around along with my dancing bow. With it, I felt like I owned the whole world… So every time I could do those boring single-note exercises with full of passion~

Therefore, if you want to do something, carefully give meaning to it based on the vision and pain points. It should be a significant meaning or even multiple meanings. Inject this ideology into your soul, let your subconscious and rational consciousness influence your behavior, thereby creating a strong self-driving force.

If you don’t believe in the power of thought, think of those who have been brainwashed by pyramid schemes. The change in attitude is amazing.

The above explains what ideological boost is, but ideological boost alone is not enough, we also need to use it in conjunction with environmental boost.

So what is environmental boost?

The so-called environmental boost is to proactively design an environment that allows for long-term, stable and continuous execution.

What’s the meaning?

For example, when I first realized that I needed to read books and study, Lao Chang was still working in the factory. We shared a dormitory with the factory workers. Every time we got off work, they would chat, play games, and go to KTV together. In this environment, I found that I couldn’t read at all. I was also led by them to play games like before, and the books I bought were covered with dust.

After I realized something was wrong with me, I moved out of the dormitory and rented a house nearby. I filled the small room with books and had no electronic devices. When I returned to the room, it was like entering a library. What do you think I would do in such an environment? I started reading in minutes~

This is proactively designing your environment, away from distractions!!

Why?

A person who wants to lose weight will find it difficult to do so if he works in an environment filled with delicious food.

If your phone or computer is filled with pornographic films, and erotic advertisements and H-rated novels pop up from time to time, it will be difficult for you to control yourself from doing anything.

Conversely, if you want to remind yourself to drink more water, put the cup in front of you so you can see it at a glance.

If a person who wants to lose weight stays away from delicious food and spends all day in the gym, it will be difficult for him not to lose weight.

…….

So you should never underestimate the impact of the environment on you. The environment you are in is the key factor that affects whether you can develop good habits. A good environment design will help you develop good habits, while a bad environment may even make you develop bad habits. Based on your goals, actively design an environment that helps you achieve your goals and immerse yourself in that environment…

In addition to the example of reading books above, my life is full of scenes that are boosted by the designed environment~

I know that games like Honor of Kings are designed to make people addicted, but I have never opened an Honor of Kings account until now.

I know that my WeChat and other messages on my phone will affect my concentration, so I will block them all and handle all messages in one place.

…

There are countless examples like this…

Similarly, if you want to develop the habit of reading, it’s very simple. Just arrange your life scene into an environment that is most conducive to reading.

For example: a quiet single room, a bookshelf full of books, a warm desk, no mobile phones, no computers, in short, all the suitable environment for reading. When you are free, sit quietly at the table, looking at the books on the bookshelf, you always have to do something…

You see, this is the power of environmental boost!!!

Okay, up to here, I have introduced you to the guidance and promotion of the “Five-Ring Execution”, but this is not enough, you also need some supervision.

3. Supervision

What is supervision?

In fact, supervision is also a kind of boost, but its power is the most direct, so it is very necessary to talk about it separately.

The supervision mentioned here does not mean having someone watching you or urging you with a whip, but taking advantage of the “consistency of commitment” characteristic of human nature and actively creating a supervision-like effect for yourself.

What does it mean?

To put it simply: we are all afraid of being slapped in the face, and it is very embarrassing when we are slapped in the face!!!

From the perspective of evolution: in ancient times, if a person made a promise in public but failed to fulfill it, this person would be disliked by the tribe and considered incompetent and useless. As a result, he would most likely be abandoned by the tribe and lose the right to mate.

This phenomenon is most obvious when men face women. When men court women, they often show strong commitment and responsibility. It can be said that consistent commitment is a factor that injects a strong driving force into genes for survival and reproduction.

You see, if promises are so powerful, why not use them?

Here is an example from Lao Chang himself.

When Lao Chang first started exercising, he was afraid that he would not be able to persist and give up like he had done before….

So I used this power, made a vow on a live broadcast on QQ space, and posted a training check-in log every day. All my friends and family were there. To be honest, during the execution, I wanted to be lazy and give up several times, but in order not to lose face, or to be unable to raise my head, I gritted my teeth and persevered and fulfilled my promise.

I used this action as a starter to gradually form a habit. Now this habit has become a part of my life. I can’t eat or sleep without it. Now I have eight-pack abs.

So, if you are really determined to do something, such as training in writing, speaking, fitness, or anything else… you can use this power and use the punch-in method. If it is not something particularly private, Lao Chang recommends that you let as many people who know you as possible know about it. Once you start, I guarantee that you won’t be able to stop.

But you must pay attention to your own abilities and don’t set unrealistic goals. Otherwise, once you are in a difficult situation, it will really disrupt the order of your life and the loss will outweigh the gain.

4. Immediate Action Awareness

What is the awareness of immediate action?

That is, when we really want to do something, when you want to be lazy and the angels and demons in your mind are fighting, we need to use some guidance to let the angels gain the upper hand, so that we can actually execute the strategy and take action immediately.

This can be achieved by using the two methods that Lao Chang shared before, “Final Fantasy” and “Final Action”. If you are interested, you can read the previous article. I will not go into details here.

5. Post-event encouragement

What does encouragement afterward mean?

What this means is: when you have completed something that you think requires so-called “willpower”, you must fully enjoy the satisfaction that comes with that fulfillment and magnify this “feeling of pleasure” as much as possible.

Well, why do you say that?

The reason is simple. You can think about why we enjoy making love so much?

Because it feels good, and the source of our feeling of good comes from the sufficient secretion of dopamine. When we are hungry, it will not be secreted, but if you have a delicious meal, it will start to be secreted, making you feel good when you eat. So, next time you are hungry, you will eat again.

Pleasure is the product of evolution. Pleasure is engraved in genes and is the best motivation to motivate people to do something. This mechanism encourages survival and reproduction, so it has been preserved by natural selection. This “positive experience” will provide a powerful driving force for your next action.

Do you know why giant pandas are facing extinction?

Because they have lost interest in sex.

Many people, although happy after completing a difficult task, tend to be very indifferent. Some people are even very harsh on themselves, thinking that they have not done well enough. Of course, I agree with this kind of review awareness.

But no matter what, once you have completed something that you think is remarkable, you must reward yourself mentally and fully enjoy the sense of accomplishment of completing the task. You can even post it on your Moments to show off, to strengthen this achievement incentive loop and pave the way for the next execution. By stimulating this cycle and combining it with the above moves, you will go from being boring to enjoying, engaging, and even immersed in it…

For example, I often admire my eight-pack abs in front of the mirror after working out. Haha, it’s a bit abnormal. My self-admiration is a means, not an end.

In short, if you don’t tap into and utilize this extremely strong body instinct, you are simply wasting it!!

The game company has made good use of this. After each task is completed, you will be rewarded immediately with game coins, treasure chests, equipment, etc., so that you can fully enjoy the joy of completing the task, and then the next task will pop up immediately, allowing you to continue…

Similarly, if you want to stop something, it means that after completing it, you will weaken your sense of accomplishment and increase your sense of self-blame, such as masturbation addiction. After the task is completed, you will experience emptiness, loneliness and coldness with your heart, which will leave a psychological shadow for you to do it again next time.

Of course, this is just an example, a little play for fun, don’t be too hard on yourself~

The above is the essence of the “Five-Ring Execution”, which is the product of Lao Chang’s own practice and summary. I never believe in such empty words as willpower. All excellent executions are the result of obeying the laws of the body, rather than relying on so-called willpower.

The way has been pointed out to you. What you need to do is to think through these five methods, and then combine them with your own life to design according to the above five principles. Activate it and it will be invincible!!!

Some people say that you are too tired and what is the meaning of life?

In fact, I tell you, when you really do it, you will not feel tired, but you will enjoy it. To borrow a sentence from KEPP: Self-discipline gives you freedom~

When you can freely manipulate your consciousness and go in any direction you want, instead of letting it manipulate you, it means that you truly control and dominate it, and you are free.

I can’t resonate without experiencing it. That feeling can only be understood by heart. It’s hard to describe the beauty to you.

Okay, the article ends here. Next, let’s summarize the above content~

Summary

Five-ring enforcement

1. Bootstrapping

The brain needs to be guided and needs to know what to do next, otherwise it will be bored.

2. There are two types of boosting. Ideological boosting is to give great meaning to the things to be done and strengthen the internal driving force, while environmental boosting is to actively design an environment that is conducive to doing things, so that the environment can boost execution.

3. Take immediate action to take minimal actions and final fantasy strategies to let the angels defeat the demons.

4. Supervision

Leverage consensus and mobilize social forces to strengthen momentum.

5. Encouragement

After finishing a task, fully enjoy the sense of accomplishment and pave the way for the next time.

This article review map

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