Practice Always Works. Always.

Practice always works. Always. What you practice gets easier because your brain is becoming more efficient. Is that what you want? The answer to that, of course, depends on what you're practicing.

Hey there. It's me, Kore. And you're listening to Exercising Self-Control: From Fitness To Flourishing.

The efficiency of the neural pathways in your brain can be thought of as the paths developed through an overgrown field. At first, it's difficult to even walk any single path repeatedly. But it becomes easier over time because each step along the same path tramples the vegetation.

In terms of the brain, this is referred to as Hebb's Law. This is a principle in neuroscience that describes how neural pathways are reinforced through repeated firing of the neurons. This is commonly phrased as "neurons that fire together, wire together."

You can think about that initial walking through that grassy field as the conscious thinking when you are establishing a new routine, a new habit, or a new set of behaviours. That takes a lot of work, and you have to put effort into it. Exercising self-control always takes effort. What's easy is what's already habit. These are the conditioned behaviours that we have already established. They're non-conscious. We don't have to think about them. They're second nature.

Walking is now something that is a habit - it's easy, you just pick a direction and you just start moving. But initially, watch any toddler working on their walking skills. That takes a lot of effort.

So when you want to exercise self-control, you have to start with behaviours that you can actually get yourself to do. If you want to get yourself to exercise, you might sign up for a gym membership. The first steps on this path then, the first behaviour that you want to work on, is just going to the gym. Showing up there. Consider that the victory. That's all you really need to exert your effort toward in the beginning.

You've probably heard the saying "80% of success is just showing up." This is why. You are putting yourself in the circumstances that will contribute to you realizing the goal of an established exercise practice. Because chances are, if you can get yourself through the door of a gym repeatedly at the times that you choose and that you plan to be there, then you're probably going to do something. You're not just going to walk in and then walk out.

Although that could be something that you work on. Just walking to the gym, stepping inside, waving to the attendant there and then saying, "Alright, I'll see you in a couple of days. I'm going to do this again." That's perfectly valid. If that is what it takes, if that small of a step is what it takes to get you moving down that path, perfect. But I would say you can probably go a little bit further than that.

Maybe set a goal of experimenting with the equipment for 15 minutes, and that's it. That's what you practice. And when that becomes something that starts to feel more automatic that's when you can ask of yourself a little bit more. You will raise your standard and then you focus your conscious, deliberate choice on a slightly more elaborate practice.

There is a principle in fitness called the SAID principle, and this is Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands. And what that means in a nutshell is that if you're doing, again, a very simple exercise, bicep curls, your biceps will get stronger. Not your quads; not your triceps. The body is going to adapt specifically to the exercise that you are imposing on it. In this case, you're developing your biceps.

The SAID principle clearly answers the question: “What should I do to become better at exercise?” And the simple and obvious answer: Practice exercise.

And you do that in the environment in which you are able to practice well. Show up in that environment, the gym in this case, and you'll start to feel comfortable, natural. It'll become part of a routine. Then that part of the process, showing up at the gym, can be trusted to get you in your environment consistently. Now you step up your standard, and instead of putting in 15 minutes experimenting, you might do 15 minutes of a simple workout routine.

As Epictetus, my favourite Stoic, put it, "Every habit and capacity is supported and strengthened by the corresponding actions. That of walking, by walking. That of running, by running. If you want to be a good reader, read. Or a good writer, write." (Epictetus. Discourses, Fragments, Handbook, trans. Robin Hard)

So the question is: “What are you practicing? Do you want to get really good at that?” If so, keep going; make it even better. If not, choose to do something different.

That's it for today. Catch you next time.

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