I am fascinated by the concept of energy.
Some people seem to have endless amounts of energy, from the time they wake up till the time they lay in bed.
Others, on the other hand, look like they're ready to go to sleep right after breakfast.
Then there's the vast majority in the middle.
For the most part, I feel like one of those in the middle.
As it gets closer to the end of the day, my energy starts to wane, and by bedtime my tank is definitely at empty.
There is one exception to this, however.
Whenever I start a new project, I feel like I have endless energy from morning till night.
This may last from days to weeks, but eventually that novelty and excitement fades.
Not surprisingly, there's even a term for this fading of enthusiasm over time.
Arambushura.
Yep, that's a mouthful.
So why is it that our excitement and enthusiasm for the thing that kept us awake at night suddenly vanishes?
Is something wrong with our brains?
Or is it something more subtle and perhaps controllable?
In today's episode, I'm going to explore the Aram Bashoora effect and show you some ways to keep that excitement going for much longer than a few days or weeks.
I'm Amin Ahmed, and welcome to Be Well, Do Well.
All around the world on January 1st, gym owners get very excited.
They know that business is going to pick up from all of those that made exercising their New Year's resolution.
Without fail, these excited men and women lace up their runners and make their way to the gym, some as early as 5am.
It actually makes me really happy to see so many people taking charge of their health, but at the same time, it also makes me sad to know that most of them are going to give up after only a week or two.
You see, the thing that happens is that in their eagerness to uncover their six pack abs, they do more exercise in 10 days than they did in the past 365 days.
They get sore and stiff and they decide that perhaps they need a little bit of time off, or perhaps that working out is just not their thing.
This is where most will get stuck.
Rather than slowing it down, but still continuing to go to the gym, they instead stay home.
Eventually, something else urgent comes up and fills that slot that, on January 1st, was reserved for working out.
I know, because this has been me many, many times.
I distinctly remember saying things like, I just need a week off, or I'm getting too old for weights, or I'll get back to the gym when I finish this important project that just came up.
Before 1st enthusiasm is gone.
shocking 80 percent of new gym goers won't make it past the end of January.
Yep.
But yet, some people are there day after day, regardless of how they feel, the weather, or what time they went to bed the night before.
So how do we non superhumans maintain or rekindle that excitement to keep going on the project, or the goal, or the workout that we started?
Before I share a simple framework for beating Arambushura, let me tell you a story about Jerry Seinfeld.
A comedian once asked Jerry how to be a better comedian.
He said, and I'm definitely paraphrasing here, write better jokes.
The way to write better jokes was to write every day without missing a single day.
His tip was to get a large wall calendar and put a big X through all the days that he wrote.
After a while this would result in a chain of X's.
His only job was to not break that chain.
So here's a simple framework to help you avoid the trap of the Arambushura effect.
The first is to recommit to the thing that you wanted to achieve.
This could be starting a new podcast or YouTube channel, exercising more or spending more time meditating.
Recommit to that thing regardless of how far from January 1st this is.
Next, block off a short amount of time in the morning before you start anything else.
Before you check your email, before you look at your calendar, start with a small block of time first thing in the morning.
Then, mark an X on your calendar for every time that you complete this thing that you started to do.
So if you decided to start a new podcast, you might spend the first hour of your morning researching, or writing, or scripting.
Then, mark that X on your calendar.
And lastly, and probably the most important, is for every week that you don't break the chain, reward yourself.
This could be a meal at your favorite restaurant, or buying yourself something small and fun from Amazon.
Now, this all sounds like a lot to do, but I'm gonna give you one small step right now to get started.
This step will take you less than two minutes to complete, so make sure you do it right away.
Pull up your calendar app or grab your daily planner and block off ten minutes every morning to work on this one thing.
I like to call it my most important project, my MIP in the morning.
If you find that you're rushing in the morning and you just don't feel like you have enough time, set your alarm for 10 minutes earlier.
If it's really important to you, you will find that 10 minutes to do this.
But at the same time, the resistance will also build up.
You'll find new excuses of why you can't do it.
But remember, those are just excuses.
Nothing more.
So get on your calendar and block off 10 minutes every day.
Do it now.
If you wanna go deeper on this and other things I've mentioned in this episode in the show notes, I've included a video on YouTube that you can watch and a book if you have a little bit more time to read.
I hope you enjoyed today's topic as much as I enjoyed creating it for you.
Join me tomorrow where I'll share some ways of getting back to your best self through the fundamentals of sleeping, eating, and moving.
Thanks again for joining me today and I'll catch you tomorrow.