- I used to think that life was made up
of really big moments,
graduating college, landing the job,
getting married and shaving your beard.
But what I've learned over the past decade is that
what really makes the biggest difference in your life
are the simple actions you take each day.
Now, I'm not trying to take away anything
from your 30th birthday party.
Although Kim, that was a shit birthday party
and you should be embarrassed with yourself.
But as you begin to take a step back,
as you get a bird's eye view of your life,
what you'll realize is,
that it's actually made up of these automatic actions
you take every day called habits.
From what time you wake up in the morning
to what you eat for breakfast,
how often you check your phone,
and whether you're getting
enough physical activity each day.
These habits define your life.
They determine what you think about,
what you spend your day focused on,
and inevitably, how satisfied you are with your life.
Whether you find yourself content
at the end of the day, or longing for more.
These simple moments each day are the difference
between a sedentary lifestyle and an active one,
a clear mind, and one that races nonstop.
The difference between a successful business
and an idea that's just waiting to happen.
You either take control of your habits
or they take control of you.
And if there's one thing I've learned over the past decade
it's that it really doesn't take much to change your life.
And for me, it all started with just one habit.
So I was always one of the smallest kids
in my class from preschool through adolescence.
I entered high school, barely weighing 100 pounds
and six years later, halfway through college,
I still didn't weigh much more than that.
By the time I turned 20 years old,
I was scrawny, terrible at talking to girls.
I had no confidence, and I was on my way
to accumulating six figures of student debt.
I felt stuck and I didn't know what to do.
If there's one word that could define
those years of my life, it'd be frustration.
The frustration that I felt inside,
it didn't just come from my circumstances.
It wasn't just because I was the skinniest kid in school
or I was afraid to talk to girls.
It was because I kept trying to improve.
I made so many attempts
and I kept finding myself right back where I started.
It seemed that every attempt to build a new habit
followed the same exact trajectory.
I'd get super excited about making a big change in my life.
I'd grab my keys, lace up my sneakers
and I'd begin that new workout routine.
I'd get through day one just fine.
Day two, no problem.
Day three, check it off.
And then at some point in the first week or two, I'd stop.
My attempt was cut off short by a big exam,
a bigger party and even bigger hangover.
There was always some kind of obstacle
or distraction that got in my way.
It's a strange feeling to have,
to know exactly what you want in life,
to begin to take action towards that goal,
to have so much hope for the future,
and to find yourself coming short each and every time.
Now, if there's some advice that I wish I could go back
and give myself, it's that,
"Hey, that's just part of the process."
We are always going to be failing.
We're always going to be falling short
when we're attempting to do things
that are a little bit ambitious
and also as elusive and difficult as behavior change can be.
And so, as soon as you get used to the fact
that you're going to fail and you're gonna have slipups,
the quicker you can move forward
and find the right way to approach that change.
The one thing that I had going
for me was that I was relentless.
I didn't let my failures discourage me.
I'd grit my teeth and say, "Okay, that didn't work out.
Let me try this again."
I never lost faith that I'd be able to figure it out.
And then one day became day one.
I filled up my water bottle, laced up my running sneakers
and made my way to the gym.
That first day at the gym turned into a week.
A month later, and I started to see some results.
Three months in and nothing could stop me.
My strength was increasing.
I could visibly see muscle definition
and I felt better than I ever had in my entire life.
At the time, I definitely had no idea
why I was able to make it stick this time.
I think certainly one part of it
was just the fact that I needed to keep experimenting
and trying different things.
And like I said, keep pushing through those failures
to finally find the win I was looking for.
But there were also some tactics
that I accidentally came across
that really helped me to cement this change.
For one, my roommate at the time
was really into fitness
and acted as an accountability partner.
His encouragement and advice along the way really helped.
Second, I created reminders in my environment
that nudged me to go to the gym,
adding little Post-it Notes in my bedroom
and preparing my gym clothes the day before a workout.
This is around the time
when I also started the two-day rule.
I wouldn't allow myself to take off
more than two days in a row from going to the gym.
This became a helpful guardrail to keep me going
and to make sure that I didn't slip up
too many days in a row.
The real reason that this one habit made such a huge impact
in my life wasn't because I could now crush soda cans
with my biceps.
That was a nice side effect,
but really, the big changes were yet to come.
It was the momentum the weeks and months that followed,
because it turned out that that one habit
was just the tip of the iceberg,
because one habit turned into many more.
After building that daily workout routine,
I felt inspired to start eating better.
And then I began to drink more water.
In less than a year, I gained over 20 pounds of muscle
and my confidence and self-esteem skyrocketed.
This gave me the nudge that I needed
to start connecting with others, to help grow my business,
and eventually, to even start talking to girls.
From there, I started to tear through books
on self-development and personal finance,
which helped to motivate me to grow my filmmaking business
and pay off over $97,000 of student debt
in less than four years.
And yes, every time that I mention my student debt
on this channel, you're supposed to take a shot.
So if you're keeping track,
that's two shots that you owe me.
Hey, did I ever mention
that I had $97,000 in student debt?
Three.
This of course, isn't the full story.
There were many moments of doubt and fear
and overwhelm that threatened
to still my progress at every turn.
But the person that I've become today
can truly be linked back to that one change
that I made in my life over a decade ago.
It's so simple.
Doing it one time
doesn't make much of a difference in your life.
But the compound effect of repeatedly showing up
day after day, that's what leads
to really big changes in your life in the long run.
You're probably not gonna meet
the love of your life on your first date.
And it's probably gonna take you
more than 30 days to train for a marathon.
And if you start working out today,
tomorrow, you're not gonna be able
to bench press 200 pounds.
Real progress takes time.
It takes consistency, patience, persistence.
These are the keys to success in the long run.
I do appreciate ambition though.
I love big goals.
And so, if you dream big, that's a good thing
but you also need to start thinking small.
What's one small, simple change that you could make today
that if you stick through with it
for the course of the year,
would completely change your life?
Focus on the big areas of your life
that will give you the greatest return on your investment
of time and energy.
Flossing your teeth and drinking eight glasses of water
is definitely something that we should all be doing.
But it might not be what gives you the momentum
towards greater change in your life.
But if you look to your mental and physical health,
your finances and relationships,
there might be something there
that you can dial in on
that will give you the return you're looking for.
Just as your retirement accounts
compound in the stock market, so too, do your habits.
You just need to find the right one to invest in.
The exciting thing and what you can look forward to
is that it doesn't take long to start seeing those results.
If you find something that you truly find fulfilling,
it will only take a month or two of consistency
to see the benefits from doing 20 minutes of yoga a day,
meditating 10 minutes each morning,
or journaling before bed each night.
And those little changes in your life
could be the spark of momentum
for so many other positive changes in your life.
You just need to take the first step.
My early fascination with self development
and habit change never really ended.
And that's one of the big reasons
why I started this YouTube channel,
to continue to explore these topics even further.
And just a few months ago, I took that to the next level
when I created one of the most ambitious projects
of my life, combining everything that I've learned
about habit change into one course called Simple Habits.
Now I've gotten so many questions over the past couple weeks
about what the course is about,
what comes with it,
if they should take it or not.
And so over the next minute or so,
I wanted to talk a little bit about that.
And so if you're not interested in the course,
if you don't wanna get it,
now is when you stop watching this video.
Oh, you're still there.
Okay. So, oh God, I should have prepared for this.
So I created the Simple Habits course
for anyone who has struggled to make their habits stick.
Whether you're looking to begin an exercise program,
eat healthier, read more, or wake up early,
you pick the habit you wanna build
and the course will be your guide to make that change last.
Through over 100 minutes of cinematic content
and a guided workbook,
I'll teach you all the habit tactics that I use.
You'll learn how to stay motivated
and you'll create a plan to help you get
through the first 30 days and beyond.
If you want to talk about true motivation,
the kind of motivation
that gets you out of bed each morning,
you need to dig a little bit deeper
than your favorite Eminem playlist.
Since accountability is so vital,
I've included a 30-day text message
or email accountability series.
You'll also get access to our private slack community
to get support from your peers.
I've received so much amazing feedback
from students since the course first launched.
People who've tried just about everything,
but have said that this course
was the first thing that truly helped.
You can learn more about the course
and enroll at slowgrowth.com/simplehabits.
So if you're somebody that can relate
to young frustrated Matt,
who kept trying and kept failing and didn't know why,
I truly believe that this course could be the catalyst
for change in your own life.
If you wanna check it out,
there's a link in the description below
or go to slow growth.com/simplehabits.
But whether you buy a course or not,
I absolutely appreciate you watching my videos.
Thank you so much for your support.
And I'll see you next time.