Diwali (the festival of lights, if you're interested in the culture) celebrations here in India. Gyms are shut for 3 days. What do you do when you 1) Need to get a workout in 2) Want to get as much stimulus as weights would give your muscles 3) Need an actual challenge?

You don't train your body. You train your mind.

Not just physically but mentally exhausting workouts.

I'm talking 1000 pushups 500 pullups An hour of jump rope 1000 bodyweight squats

Basically anaerobic marathons where your body can not take it. It's just you and your mind...which is where your brain becomes your enemy.

Be it anything- cold approaching, working out, cutting calories- your brain wants comfort. Familiarity. Sloth. Complacency.

This is where the idea of the self comes in. Who are you? Someone who'll do a hundred pushups and stop because 'buh....muh chezt is sore...muh tryceps...' or someone who'll keep pushing and stop when YOU'RE DONE and not when your brain tells you you're done?

Habit and identity formation- Research into this topic shows that building a habit requires FORCE. You struggle to push yourself up a peak and then your habit becomes a part of your identity. You just BECOME the guy who cold approaches fearlessly. You just BECOME the guy who can handle social situations. Your brain has now succumbed to the desires of the self.

A good way to do this is the kind of workouts I mentioned. Experience it for yourself.

All throughout the lockdown I regularly did 500 (weighted) pushups and workouts like those.

Did a 1000 pushups the first day gyms were closed for Diwali celebrations. The next day I did 800 squats. The next day I decided I'd do an hour of jump rope. (60 sets of 60 seconds each)

That morning, as you could imagine, my legs trembled. I could barely walk. Halfway through I wanted to give up. Legs were fried. After mustering the willpower to push through, I noticed something weird. As I approached the 40th set, my soreness seemed to go away. My brain eventually knew 'this guy isn't going to stop....might as well stop sending 'soreness' signals'

Such are moments where the self will triumph over your comfort- seeking brain - only and ONLY after you've pushed the boulder up the peak. Smooth sailing from here on out because your brain now acts according to your idea of your self.

So you wanna build a habit that lasts? Acknowledge that your brain will work against you. Acknowledge that a true, concrete self takes time to form. Fight. Stay on the grind.