Summary: A thorough discussion on the philosophy of Crutch™ removal; the idea that anything that brings instant gratification has a two-pronged negative long term effect: 1. A lack of the development of the will-power to withstand delayed gratification activities / 2. Creating life patterns designed to err on the side of ease and comfort.

Body:

”Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.” --Arnold Schwarzenegger

We as males have a choice to make individually about the lifestyle and ideals we choose to exist by. Oftentimes we fall prey to the easy addictions life has to offer. I call these Crutches™.

A Crutch™ is an activity used primarily as a source of instant gratification.

For clarity sake, it is important to list these sort of activities to identify them within your own life:

  • Facebook - (For that matter, any social media)
  • Porn / Masturbation
  • Binge eating / junk food
  • Binge drinking / alcohol
  • Smoking - (Weed / Cigs)
  • Drugs
  • Gambling
  • Television - (Especially sports)
  • Video games

There is most definitely Crutches™ not listed here, but this is a collection of the most prevalent within my generation specifically, the Millennials.

The average Millennial male spends most days involved in a combination of the things listed above. Few have advanced level hobbies, even fewer are truly proficient at any part of their life. This is a direct result of the rewiring of the brain through the effects of instant gratification.

Scientific studies have shown the economic, physical, and social effects of a society based on instant gratification, and it’s not good.

The attention span of humans has dropped to shorter than a goldfish. Source

Marketing strategies are being built around being instantly gratifying. Source

The US Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis found that Americans’ personal saving rates — the percentage of disposable income saved — averaged 3.6 percent in December 2012. In December 1982, Americans saved 9.7 percent. Source

We are allowing Crutches™ to not only control us individually, but the future of our world.

Instant gratification also has the effect of reducing will-power. Since I haven’t been able to find a study that was able to accurately measure will-power in relation to extended exposure to instant gratification, this point is debatable. However, I think most of us will agree that when we’re Facebooking, playing video games, and eating hot Cheetos, not too many wanna get up and go to gym right after they stop by the bank and deposit some money into their Roth IRA.

Instant Will-Power Degradation™: The reduction of will-power to engage in delayed gratification activities, developed after constant exposure to low-effort, instantly gratifying activities.

The idea of Instant Will-Power Degradation™ will be plainly obvious to most. But the result of extended periods of time spent in this mode will also have a secondary effect on the mental wiring of the brain.

Insta-Life Mode™: Creating a life centered utterly around a constant stream of instant gratification. Removing any activity which does not provide an immediate surge of dopamine.

These two concepts are interrelated on both a psychological and physiological level. As you engage in low effort, high-reward activities (Crutches™), your brain will undergo Instant Will-Power Degradation™; enough time spent only seeking out low effort, high-reward activities and your life will go into Insta-Life Mode™. This affects your brain on a physical level, by actually creating new neural pathways that can only be activated through your Crutches™. Source

Solution: The Removal of Crutches™ from Your Life

Crutches™ are habits, habits are learned, and habits can be unlearned. Luckily, there is a simple strategy to both the removal and implementation of habits. I call it the 7-30-90 Habit Reformation System™

It takes 7 days to install or remove a habit, 30 days to make that habit cobwebs, and 90 days to make that habit chains.

The principle is simple and has been talked about at length before, by much more qualified experts than myself. Source

Goal: Any habit change. A positive goal is the introduction of a new habit (i.e. waking up at 5:30 A.M to go for a run). A negative goal is the removal of a negative life habit (i.e. avoiding social media until its eventual removal)

7 Days: Take a single week, and a single goal (positive or negative goal). Focus all intention and determination for change on that single goal. Allow all other Crutches™ to exist comfortably.

30 Days: The first seven days focused on a single goal. The second seven days focused on another goal while still maintaining the first goal, and so on with the third and fourth week. By the 30 days you have effectively started implementing 4 separate goals. This snowballing effect is very gradual, and as momentum of change is picked up, goals are more easily attained and maintained.

90 Days: By this point, the very first goal set the first week can finally be considered reached. It takes 90 days to consider any goal a habit. Feel proud.

Final Discussion: Advanced Level Monk Mode Theory

The purpose of this post is to provide the terminology, mentality, and solution for the reformation of habits.

Monk Mode is an important time in the development of any Red Pill Man. Many soon to be Alphas spend an inordinate amount of time doing nothing except reading. This point has been brought up several times in the last week so I won’t go over it much more. But it does bear to say that habit manipulation is the core of what monk mode is.

Monk mode is best done with little outside social influence or support. Friends will often be a detriment to your development, usually in two ways. -- 1. The distraction / 2. The envy -- Your friends will be the center of your Insta-Life Mode™, and like prisoners in a prison, they will be upset if you escape without them; which leads to the envy. Envy is a dangerous slope, and when others see you succeed in ways they can’t, they will attempt to sabotage you through usually obvious, but effective, Machiavellian manipulation. I am not suggesting removing yourself completely from your social life, simply to be wary of its effects on your monk mode.

We forge ourselves out of our habits, only you know which habits in your own life need to be changed. And while the task might seem daunting, the reality is not so. Imagine by following the 7-30-90 Habit Reformation System™, in 3 months you will have worked on 12 goals, and accomplished 1 of them. That is powerful. That is change, real life change made over a short period of time. You can accomplish that change, you can become the vision of yourself that you want to be. Become that vision.