I got my excel sheet going for Monk Mode from the Manifesto. Any have any suggestions on how to improve it?

semondemon24 · 2014-11-24T23:49:46+00:00

Your list is good, however there's a few things you're likely to run into.

TL;DR: of what’s ahead

You only have so much willpower to expend in any given day, you probably can't pursue everything at once. To maximize your goal fulfillment, remember the following:

Cut unnecessary drains out of your life.
Figure out which goals are most important. You don’t have to pursue them all at once
Figure out which goals (once reached) will make the others easier.
Look for smart investments that will make your goals easier to fulfill (ie cost less willpower)

In a nutshell, humans have a finite amount of willpower that we can expend in one day. There are only so many conscious decisions that you can make in one 24-hour period, only so many things you can force yourself to do.

And that’s fine, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. We’re all human, that’s how we are.

Think of as being like money, where you only have a finite supply at any given time. If you suddenly start expending more on one part of your life, one of two things will happen:

You'll eventually peter out. You're spending extra willpower (or money) that you don't really have, and you can only do that for so long before you go back to doing what you were before. OR
You'll keep at it, but you'll find yourself dropping the ball elsewhere...you have enough willpower (or money) to go after your new pursuits, but not enough to also keep at it with your old ones.

So you might take on new fitness goals but find yourself dropping the ball on your diet goals, similar to how you might start making payments on a car only to find yourself unable to pay the electric bill. Make sense?

That's the bad news. The good news is, there's a few strategies that you can use to stretch your willpower a lot further, adapted from the financial advice world.

1. "If you're in a hole, stop digging."

In other words, be prepared to make significant lifestyle changes.

For example, suppose you're using all your willpower just to get through the day without punching your boss in the face. Guess what, you need a different job ASAP...as long as you stay there, you will be so sapped of willpower/energy that you'll never accomplish your other goals.

Make sense? Look for the unnecessary willpower drains that you can cut out of your life. Your friends, your church, your job, your girlfriend. All are fair game, if they're only sapping your strength.

2. Some goals are more important right now than others. There is nothing wrong with choosing to focus on a few and letting the others go for now.

Financial example: I have credit card debt at 20% APR, and student loan debt at 8% APR. Do I try to pursue both equally, at the same time?

Answer: no. Obviously I heavily pursue the credit card debt first, and worry about the student debt later.

Similarly, I might decide to only worry about diet and sleep for now, and take on my porn addiction and lack of fitness later.

And remember: once you've established a good habit, the amount of willpower you spend on it will be significantly less than what you spend on it right now.

For example, right now you might be spending all your willpower on eating correctly. But a year from now, it will come naturally to you...at that point, eating correctly will be so easy that it doesn’t cost you any willpower whatsoever.

Then you’re free to start pursuing your fitness goals...now you easily have enough willpower to pursue both diet and exercise, because you didn’t try to do them all at once.

3. In addition to #2, some goals (once they’ve become second nature) will actually make it easier (ie cost less willpower) to accomplish other goals. I call them “enabling goals.”

Sleep is the best example…if you are able to get the appropriate amount of sleep every night, suddenly your other goals all become easier and cost less willpower because you’re not so damn tired all the time.

So if you can’t do all your goals at once, focus on sleep (or other enabling goals) first. You get those down, the others will follow.

Make sense?

4. A smart investment up front will save money (or willpower) down the road

Financial example: you ditch the junker and spend extra money on a car that is highly reliable and gets good gas mileage, saving you mechanic’s bills and gas money down the road.

Personal goals examples:

I have a lot of nutritional supplements that I take every morning and evening. At first, I was unscrewing every bottle, every morning and evening. I was a dumbass who wasn't putting any thought into it, and surprise surprise, I was failing. I just wouldn't get around to it.

Eventually, I bought four of these weekly pill organizers on Amazon. Now, I just go and fill them up once a month (not difficult), and pop one slot open and take the supplements every morning and evening (also not difficult).
I used to try to eat greens...but by the time I was done, I looked like a cow chewing its cud and my jaw was literally tired. And again, I was failing at it.

Until I went and bought a used juicer...now, I juice once a week, and getting my vegetable intake is as easy as drinking it.
One of the supplements I take in the evening (per #3) is a small amount of melatonin...this in turn makes getting adequate sleep much easier, which makes all my other goals a lot easier.

You get the idea? A smart investment can mean a far smaller willpower expenditure in pursuit of your goal. Figure out what’s holding you up, and if there’s something worth investing in to make it easier.

Easier = less willpower expended = greater chance of success & more willpower for your other goals.

Now go start fulfilling your goals, TL;DR is at the top. Questions?

ThirdLegGuy · 2014-11-24T19:28:11+00:00

Just reposting my old comment since I find it relevant here.

Over the course of a few years I've developed my own approach - Awesome Life Plan template: http://i.imgur.com/wppSNrV.png

Basically it consists of a few global todo lists (columns) - Money, Looks, Personality, Status + Personal Accomplishments + Purchases, within a certain timeframe (1 year is good). Items currently in work are typically orange, items completed are green. In the grand scheme of things money is the most important fuel driving my self-improvement, so they come first. Certain amount of funds per month open certain doors and possibilities, and that's how items in other columns get completed. For example, making X amount per month you can afford living in desired apartment, invest in your looks and hobbies and travel to certain places.

Its a nice example of gamification of your life and can be really fun - especially once you start achieving things, 'unlocking' new lifestyles and get sucked into self-improvement.

Boozt · 2014-11-24T19:30:10+00:00

I found that doing it through excel I constantly would skip days when I was busy. I use chains.cc so I can quickly just pop them off real quick each day. Just faster for me personally.

2014-11-24T19:34:23+00:00

Everybody, OP got laid last night! Seriously though, I like this template and I think I will adopt it for tracking progress on some of my health/fitness/vice reduction related goals.

WaynesCotting · 2014-11-24T20:26:08+00:00

Eating healthfully and eating sugar are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, a large percentage of healthy foods naturally contain sugar, and it'd be needlessly prohibitive to avoid them solely for that reason. Perhaps you mean "no added sugar", such as packets in your coffee or a very sugary snack. One can still eat these things and live healthfully, however, as long as you do it in moderation and meet your macronutrient goals. One doesn't have to be an ascetic to be a monk.

It's also perfectly beneficial to have rest days from vigorous exercise, but with your scoring system a rest day would detract from a perfect score.

Perhaps instead your exercise row should be "adhered to exercise regimen", so that only if you deviate would you penalize yourself.

crispy3 · 2014-11-28T03:37:26+00:00

butter coffee!! haha i saw a speech from that same guy.

tag2man · 2014-11-24T18:57:39+00:00

I like the idea of using a binary/score system. Currently, I'm assuming you'd look at this and go about your day. Perhaps implement a timetable version of this as well so as to have more structure. I find it useful to have a loose routine as it limits the chance of ever having a zero day.

Alfie_Zeb · 2014-11-24T22:20:50+00:00

What is this manifesto you speak of?

I've ran a life excel spreadsheet and always find they're more useful when they're narrowed down to five or six things you're really focusing on changing or are extremely critical, like sleep.

alphbux · 2014-11-25T08:24:11+00:00

I really like /u/lordofthejelly response.

I found that reading a book called making habits, breaking habits really helped me understand how bad habits work and how to beat them and replace them with good habits. It is really important to understand that we are human and have limitations on how much habit changing/building we can do at one point in time.

However I do like your list in that it's a simple checklist in a way. You can glance at it and just try and do some of things without too much thought/resistance. I have a morning checklist which I can just look at when I'm hazy from waking up and just starting doing the basics.

somerandomguy376 · 2014-11-25T12:47:26+00:00

I use a templete like yours as well but I also include a sheet for tracking my goals. I find it helps me to stay focused if I get all these things out of my mind. Just about every book I've read about being successfull has taught me to break down my goals into smaller more obtainable tasks. So I created this sheet to help define what it is I need to do in order to accomplish my goals and prioritize them on a daily/weekly/monthly schedule.

Title	I got my excel sheet going for Monk Mode from the Manifesto. Any have any suggestions on how to improve it?
Author	semondemon24
Upvotes	11
Comments	21
Date	November 24, 2014 6:44 PM UTC (11 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/TheRedPill
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/2nac4g/i_got_my_excel_sheet_going_for_monk_mode_from_the/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/TheRedPill/i-got-my-excel-sheet-going-for-monk-mode-from-the.25352 https://theredarchive.com/post/25352

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