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107: Why You Keep Falling Off Track: 3 Keys to Discipline That Lasts · The Everyday Awesome Project

• 0:27
  Polly Mertens: Hey superstars, welcome back.
• 0:28
  Polly Mertens: Polly here and now Samantha Pruitt.
• 0:31
  Polly Mertens: So um a little bit of news.
• 0:33
  Polly Mertens: Samantha is um grieving the loss of her brother this week.
• 0:38
  Polly Mertens: So just wanted to share that news.
• 0:40
  Polly Mertens: I'm sure she'll have it on social by the time this goes live.
• 0:43
  Polly Mertens: Sending out much love to her.
• 0:45
  Polly Mertens: Um, it wasn't a surprise.
• 0:46
  Polly Mertens: Her brother had been fighting cancer for the last couple years of his life, and uh he went, he passed peacefully just before Christmas.
• 0:54
  Polly Mertens: So much love to you.
• 0:55
  Polly Mertens: This episode is going live though, uh, after the new year in 2026.
• 1:00
  Polly Mertens: So this is our first episode in the new year.
• 1:03
  Polly Mertens: And I wanted to bring you something that was very present for me because as I was coming out of December, I had created a 75 hard challenge, but my own style.
• 1:13
  Polly Mertens: And so I want to share a little bit of what I've learned as a habit coach, success coach, um, having done many challenges in the past, you know, whether it's training or just breaking out of an eating disorder, a lot of things, and helping a lot of people.
• 1:26
  Polly Mertens: And that was a lot of the work that I did for many years with eating disorder recovery.
• 1:31
  Polly Mertens: So I've got a toolbox to share with you of ideas, and I'm calling this one, you know, why we slack off.
• 1:38
  Polly Mertens: You know, perfect um talk, I would say.
• 1:40
  Polly Mertens: Yeah, I'm not saying that people slack off in the first week of the new year, but I think this is a timely post and an episode to share with you anytime that you are facing something that you're trying to get up to, whether it's an identity work, creating, or breaking a habit, um, and just help you figure out like what's causing it.
• 1:58
  Polly Mertens: Like what are some of the things that are getting in my way and how to um overcome them, how to really work with what's going on in your brain.
• 2:05
  Polly Mertens: So, why we slack off in three keys to unshakable discipline is what we're talking about today.
• 2:10
  Polly Mertens: But we're gonna go into more.
• 2:12
  Polly Mertens: So, three I just thought was a nice round number, but I'm gonna give you more.
• 2:15
  Polly Mertens: So let me just set the stage.
• 2:17
  Polly Mertens: So, um, you know, most people think that failing a challenge or, you know, not being in integrity or something they said they were gonna get up to if they were gonna lose weight or, you know, stop smoking or drinking or eating disorder or whatever it is, you know, it's like a moral thing, like, oh, I'm such a bad person, I can't keep my word, and whatever.
• 2:37
  Polly Mertens: There is definitely an element of self-trust that goes into this, right?
• 2:41
  Polly Mertens: So we do um, you know, either when we're our word and we do keep our word to ourself, it builds self-trust and it does begin to erode self-trust.
• 2:51
  Polly Mertens: But I can tell you there's a lot more going on in your mind and that brain of yours, that the neuroassociations, the you know, the um brain, the way the brain works and the thing ways that it's designed, you know, it it works against us what we want to change, right?
• 3:07
  Polly Mertens: It likes, you know, the brain is an energy conserving mechanism.
• 3:12
  Polly Mertens: So if there's anything that it does to repeat things and not have to think about, so it's a lot of energy, calories, right?
• 3:18
  Polly Mertens: So um brain power, if you will, is very high caloric output.
• 3:25
  Polly Mertens: So you think that, like, oh, working out and doing all these things, but I can tell you actually is more calories in thought, like powerful thinking or working on problem solving or whatnot.
• 3:35
  Polly Mertens: People forget about that.
• 3:36
  Polly Mertens: So when the brain can conserve energy, that's what it likes to do, whether it's putting it in the subconscious and just doing it over and over and over, it wants to do that.
• 3:44
  Polly Mertens: So getting out of these old grooves, patterns, you know, change making change isn't something the brain's gonna be on board for right away.
• 3:52
  Polly Mertens: So some of it is working with that and finding the ways to not fault yourself like, oh, I'm a horrible person, you know, when we don't do what we intend to do.
• 4:04
  Polly Mertens: And so I'm just gonna put it out there.
• 4:07
  Polly Mertens: This episode, like I said, is going live in the new year.
• 4:10
  Polly Mertens: Um, but again, this is timely for anything and anytime that you're getting up to a challenge.
• 4:14
  Polly Mertens: So I'm sitting in the midst of I had created a 75 hard challenge and just give you a little context.
• 4:18
  Polly Mertens: 75 hard is a specific challenge.
• 4:20
  Polly Mertens: You can look that up online.
• 4:22
  Polly Mertens: It was great.
• 4:23
  Polly Mertens: I've done it a few times successfully.
• 4:25
  Polly Mertens: Um, I think it has like an 80% not success rate, and I'll probably go into like why I think that is.
• 4:31
  Polly Mertens: But you don't have to do 75 hard, you don't have to do what I'm doing in order to create change in your life.
• 4:38
  Polly Mertens: But let's set you up for success and like why we slack off and what's getting in the way so that you can prevent that in your own life.
• 4:44
  Polly Mertens: So I created a 75 hard challenge with my own set of stipulations, like the things that I wanted to get up to, basically moving the business forward, getting into what I call a high vibe life, right?
• 4:55
  Polly Mertens: So I wanted to create that high energy state.
• 4:58
  Polly Mertens: And it was right around the finishing of a program that I had launched, my return to the light, the end of the year, a lot going on.
• 5:05
  Polly Mertens: And then I went on vacation for five days.
• 5:07
  Polly Mertens: Like, and the purpose of the vacation was like, you know, I felt like I'd been in a marathon for about six months, and it was like, ha.
• 5:15
  Polly Mertens: So that's one of the things, just be aware of like, do you have days coming in this, you know, that you might be on vacation?
• 5:21
  Polly Mertens: Like, is this the right time to take on this, you know, new challenge?
• 5:24
  Polly Mertens: Or you got a lot going on in your life?
• 5:27
  Polly Mertens: Maybe, you know, just knowing the timing of things.
• 5:29
  Polly Mertens: So, you know, the they think people think that failing a challenge um is because you lack willpower, right?
• 5:35
  Polly Mertens: That's very common.
• 5:36
  Polly Mertens: It's like, I just can't get myself to do it.
• 5:39
  Polly Mertens: But it's often because you have a loophole or your brain is working against you, you haven't created compelling vision.
• 5:44
  Polly Mertens: Lots of different things we're going to go into today.
• 5:47
  Polly Mertens: So just know that it's not just because you lack willpower.
• 5:51
  Polly Mertens: Like in all my days of doing this, willpower is a muscle and you can strengthen it.
• 5:56
  Polly Mertens: You can get more willpower, you can grow willpower through, you know, little challenges and self-trust moves and stuff like that.
• 6:02
  Polly Mertens: But relying just on willpower is going to fail you.
• 6:06
  Polly Mertens: Like that's just classic addiction or you know, habit change or you know, recovery protocol is willpower is not enough, right?
• 6:14
  Polly Mertens: So we rely on systems, we rely on promises, we rely on, you know, setting yourself up to win, right?
• 6:22
  Polly Mertens: And yes, there will be challenges and things will be hard, but set yourself up to win.
• 6:26
  Polly Mertens: And there's some things that we're going to talk about today for for do that.
• 6:29
  Polly Mertens: So for me, so I started my 75-day challenge.
• 6:33
  Polly Mertens: It was random on a Saturday.
• 6:35
  Polly Mertens: I was in a slump and I was like, okay, I want to be feeling my high vibe life.
• 6:38
  Polly Mertens: So on that day, I created this, and it was good and I was feeling good.
• 6:43
  Polly Mertens: And I was, you know, one of my things was posting on social media every day because that is like a muscle I'm developing.
• 6:49
  Polly Mertens: And then went on vacation and I was like, blah la.
• 6:53
  Polly Mertens: Don't feel like, you know, don't feel like doing this.
• 6:56
  Polly Mertens: Um, I just want to be on vacation, you know, but I didn't set it up in advance so that I could be, right?
• 7:03
  Polly Mertens: So a lot of things that, and you know, when you are creating new habits, often it is every day that consistency.
• 7:10
  Polly Mertens: And I do want that muscle of posting every day.
• 7:12
  Polly Mertens: So that's where I am, you know.
• 7:15
  Polly Mertens: So I'm I'm out of integrity with myself.
• 7:17
  Polly Mertens: What I said I was gonna do is post every day, and I had some other things, and I actually could read what those are.
• 7:22
  Polly Mertens: But as I went back and I looked at them, you know, and being a habit coach, I was like, wow, I didn't set that up super well, did I?
• 7:29
  Polly Mertens: You know, some things were vague, there was loopholes.
• 7:32
  Polly Mertens: I didn't say, am I doing this for sure, for sure every day, or is it like when I feel like it for the next 75 days?
• 7:37
  Polly Mertens: And if I go on vacation, then I'm not because it's not convenient.
• 7:41
  Polly Mertens: You know, a lot of reasons there was slacking off going on.
• 7:44
  Polly Mertens: So I'm just calling it on myself.
• 7:46
  Polly Mertens: So, you know, I would say that um, you know, something that, you know, just to be aware of, and this is where I want you guys to win and not be a part of this statistic, is that 80% of people abandon their New Year's resolutions by the second week of February, which is actually better than I've heard.
• 8:04
  Polly Mertens: I've heard it's like more like 21 days, or you know, in the first couple weeks.
• 8:07
  Polly Mertens: Um, but hearing it's you know the first week of February, that's not too bad, you know, after 30 days, but we want you guys to win.
• 8:14
  Polly Mertens: And, you know, just something maybe you want to know, a little tidbit, Polly's perspective.
• 8:18
  Polly Mertens: Having done 75 Hard and having coached a lot of people, having looked at 21-day challenges, 30-day challenges, 60, 90, whatever.
• 8:27
  Polly Mertens: I don't think habits necessarily um are change or can be put in place in 21 days.
• 8:33
  Polly Mertens: I think it's longer than that.
• 8:35
  Polly Mertens: I do think the 30 days is a good start.
• 8:38
  Polly Mertens: 60, it's like becomes a muscle.
• 8:40
  Polly Mertens: 75 is great because it's actually like you've stopped to stop thinking about it, like you've done it enough time.
• 8:47
  Polly Mertens: So I would say 60 to 90 is a good sweet spot if you're really wanting to put yourself into something because you really want that change.
• 8:54
  Polly Mertens: 21 is not enough, 30 is barely enough.
• 8:58
  Polly Mertens: Um, and it depends on how complex it is or how big of a shift it is for you.
• 9:02
  Polly Mertens: So just know that too.
• 9:03
  Polly Mertens: So just keep in mind, falling off, slacking off is not failure.
• 9:09
  Polly Mertens: It's just data, you know.
• 9:10
  Polly Mertens: And the way I look at it is like, okay, what was not working?
• 9:14
  Polly Mertens: Like, what didn't I set up?
• 9:15
  Polly Mertens: So I'm gonna go through some of those.
• 9:17
  Polly Mertens: So um, what what happened in my 75-day challenge that I'm re-upping um as a as a part of today, so I'll share that with you.
• 9:25
  Polly Mertens: So, you know, your brain follows the path of least resistance, right?
• 9:30
  Polly Mertens: So it's all about like energy efficiency.
• 9:33
  Polly Mertens: I just want you to think about that in anything that we're talking about, is the brain wants to be energy efficient.
• 9:37
  Polly Mertens: Conserving calories is what it's up to.
• 9:39
  Polly Mertens: So if it has to make decisions, if it has to do something different, if it has to learn, if it's growing, if it's creating new synapses in the brain, if it's like, uh, what is it you're saying?
• 9:51
  Polly Mertens: You know, or like, what do I have to do?
• 9:52
  Polly Mertens: Or if it has to remember something that it's it's not done before, like that's a lot of energy output, right?
• 9:58
  Polly Mertens: And it's like patholase resistance.
• 10:00
  Polly Mertens: Like, can't we just do this?
• 10:01
  Polly Mertens: Like, look, we've done this for 20 years, you know, like let's just keep doing this.
• 10:04
  Polly Mertens: So that's just the way that your brain is operating, right?
• 10:08
  Polly Mertens: So decision fatigue is one is is a real thing for the brain, right?
• 10:14
  Polly Mertens: So, you know, especially I'm guessing you've had this, you know, they say we get like bombarded by like 60,000 marketing messages each day, right?
• 10:23
  Polly Mertens: And we have, you know, some of us sometimes hundreds, if not thousands, of decisions left or right, wear this, wear that, eat this, dry that.
• 10:31
  Polly Mertens: Do you want it warmer, colder in here?
• 10:33
  Polly Mertens: Do the kids want to go here?
• 10:34
  Polly Mertens: Whatever, like all the things.
• 10:35
  Polly Mertens: So decision fatigue is a real thing.
• 10:37
  Polly Mertens: We're talking about energy conservation.
• 10:39
  Polly Mertens: So one of the things I I note that I did not set up clearly in my challenge is I gave myself loopholes, right?
• 10:47
  Polly Mertens: It was like I didn't say that I'm doing this hell or high water.
• 10:50
  Polly Mertens: When I did 75 hard, I created the criteria of what I was gonna do.
• 10:54
  Polly Mertens: And what was what I recognize also with the original 75 hard that I did.
• 10:59
  Polly Mertens: Well, so that one, some of them what they are is like exercise for 45 minutes, take a picture of yourself every day.
• 11:06
  Polly Mertens: Um, I think it had a gratitude component.
• 11:08
  Polly Mertens: I, you know, anyway, so there was like six or seven things, and you had an app to track it.
• 11:13
  Polly Mertens: That's key.
• 11:14
  Polly Mertens: We'll talk about that in a minute.
• 11:15
  Polly Mertens: Um but I wasn't in my 75 hard challenge.
• 11:19
  Polly Mertens: This that's what I'm calling 75 day challenge.
• 11:22
  Polly Mertens: I wasn't specific enough.
• 11:23
  Polly Mertens: I was like posting on social.
• 11:26
  Polly Mertens: I was like, well, am I sharing?
• 11:28
  Polly Mertens: Am I making a post?
• 11:30
  Polly Mertens: Am I making a reel?
• 11:31
  Polly Mertens: Am I you know?
• 11:32
  Polly Mertens: Just wasn't clear.
• 11:33
  Polly Mertens: And there was another one with regard to like um one, you know, activities in my business each day, which won't like super vague, right?
• 11:42
  Polly Mertens: That's that's not good.
• 11:44
  Polly Mertens: So just like one reel a day, one post a day, um, make a phone call a day to call a lead or whatever it is, right?
• 11:54
  Polly Mertens: So the more specific, the more time-bound, finite, and I would say things that are like super complex.
• 12:02
  Polly Mertens: Like I started rethinking of like what could these be?
• 12:05
  Polly Mertens: And I, you know, so I was thinking of like my business.
• 12:07
  Polly Mertens: I'm like, okay, well, let's say I'm not gonna do a every single day.
• 12:11
  Polly Mertens: Like if it's a Sunday, I'm not gonna, you know, cold calling people, or if it's you know, a holiday, what you know.
• 12:16
  Polly Mertens: So it's like, what can I do and what can I commit to doing everyday hell or high water?
• 12:20
  Polly Mertens: And then I started to get into things that like, oh, that would be really complex, and like to have that occur, that could be like a lot.
• 12:28
  Polly Mertens: So one of the things is if you're doing first off with habits, start small and take baby steps working into it.
• 12:36
  Polly Mertens: So, you know, one of my big points that I've spoken on this podcast before is if you want to meditate for an hour a day, and not even say that you need to, or that's a good goal, but let's just say, or exercise for an hour a day, or get sunshine for an hour a day, or walk in nature for an hour a day, start small and work up to it, right?
• 12:53
  Polly Mertens: Especially if you're doing that 75 or 90 days, that's great, you know, building that momentum.
• 12:59
  Polly Mertens: But just going from cold not doing something to like doing it for an hour, carving that out every single day, that's a big shift, you know.
• 13:08
  Polly Mertens: And I would say in 75 Heart and challenges that have multiple things going on, that's why 75 Heart has such a high dropout rate, I think, is you're not just doing one new thing, you're doing like six for most people, right?
• 13:21
  Polly Mertens: Some people are like, well, I already kind of work out every day, so just shouldn't much more.
• 13:26
  Polly Mertens: It's like, yeah, 75 Heart has like one indoor workout and one outside workout.
• 13:31
  Polly Mertens: It's like, who's doing that right now?
• 13:33
  Polly Mertens: Probably zero people are doing that just every day, right?
• 13:37
  Polly Mertens: So you may need to start with just one habit.
• 13:40
  Polly Mertens: So I have this list, my 75 Heart is lots of new and you know, and being very specific about them, right?
• 13:48
  Polly Mertens: And making them as simple as possible to start, right?
• 13:51
  Polly Mertens: So, you know, it could be five minutes a day of meditation, especially if you're taking on multiple things, or if if carving out five minutes, like carving out an hour in your day seems utterly impossible.
• 14:02
  Polly Mertens: Like, I don't know how I'll ever get there.
• 14:04
  Polly Mertens: Okay, start up small, start with a five-minute one, right?
• 14:07
  Polly Mertens: Make it easy, make it achievable.
• 14:09
  Polly Mertens: So just, you know, we want to get you over that 21-day, 30-day into the 60, 90-day window.
• 14:15
  Polly Mertens: So then it becomes a habit, right?
• 14:18
  Polly Mertens: Um, so falling off, like I said, it's just data.
• 14:21
  Polly Mertens: We're working with the past, path of least resistance in this brain of ours.
• 14:26
  Polly Mertens: Um, and I would say something that I didn't do, and I did this in 75 heart.
• 14:31
  Polly Mertens: So my commitment to myself, and it's the commitment if you take on 75 heart as a challenge, was you do it every day.
• 14:38
  Polly Mertens: And the way they have it is if you if you miss a day, you start over.
• 14:43
  Polly Mertens: So like 75 turns into 85 or 105 or 300 or whatever, you know.
• 14:49
  Polly Mertens: And some people I know like finish 75 heart and then they re-up.
• 14:52
  Polly Mertens: It's like, God bless you, you know.
• 14:53
  Polly Mertens: That's cool.
• 14:54
  Polly Mertens: If that's totally working for you.
• 14:56
  Polly Mertens: So I would say having zero options or zero backs, or out, you know, like, oh yeah, well, I'll do it unless this happens, or I'll do it, and if it's raining, I won't.
• 15:08
  Polly Mertens: Like, no, that's a decision.
• 15:11
  Polly Mertens: No, there's every day.
• 15:14
  Polly Mertens: Like, don't commit to it.
• 15:15
  Polly Mertens: And you may need to look at your calendar over whatever period, 30 days or whatever you're doing, and just like get a glimpse of like what's ahead.
• 15:22
  Polly Mertens: Like, I love just throwing in, like, throwing down the hammer, like, I'm doing this, you know.
• 15:26
  Polly Mertens: But then what I what occurred for me is like on vacation for five days, and I didn't keep that do it no matter what, right?
• 15:33
  Polly Mertens: So, like, I just was like, I'm on vacation, and I like totally was like, I'm getting off screens, I'm getting off, you know, doing, I've just got to slow down.
• 15:42
  Polly Mertens: Cause like I was at the end of the marathon after my program, I was like, uh, I'm I'm done for a little while.
• 15:46
  Polly Mertens: Like, probably doesn't have any doing or wants to.
• 15:50
  Polly Mertens: So I was like, funny that I put myself into this challenge right when you know that was like seven days into it, and then here I am wanting like a real break.
• 15:59
  Polly Mertens: So the timing wasn't so good.
• 16:01
  Polly Mertens: So that's why I am re-upping to mine.
• 16:04
  Polly Mertens: So, you know, there is a thing out there called the what the heck effect.
• 16:08
  Polly Mertens: So it's actual psychological term, and once you break a rule, um, the brain decides the whole system is broken, leading to total collapse, right?
• 16:16
  Polly Mertens: So it's like, ah, screw it, not gonna do it.
• 16:19
  Polly Mertens: Like, I missed a day, whatever.
• 16:21
  Polly Mertens: I would say one day, well, in 75R, you don't miss or you re-up, right?
• 16:25
  Polly Mertens: So, like, I think like sticking to that, hell or high water is actually a good thing if you're really gonna like if there's something like a smoking habit, right?
• 16:34
  Polly Mertens: Or something like you really don't want to do, or you really do want to do.
• 16:38
  Polly Mertens: No, do you need to be exercising seven days a week, you know, 365?
• 16:42
  Polly Mertens: No, no.
• 16:43
  Polly Mertens: But I do think that all or nothing removes that decision fatigue.
• 16:48
  Polly Mertens: It's like, I don't get so like I'm starting this, and and I'm actually starting this.
• 16:52
  Polly Mertens: I'll just tell you a little story.
• 16:53
  Polly Mertens: We're about to get some severe flooding here.
• 16:56
  Polly Mertens: As I'm recording this, it's coming today, and it'll be for the next three days.
• 16:59
  Polly Mertens: And I'm like, okay, I'm committing because I really enjoyed that getting outside 45 minutes.
• 17:05
  Polly Mertens: And I know that doing things that are hard trains your nervous system, trains your body.
• 17:12
  Polly Mertens: Like we do things that are hard, right?
• 17:13
  Polly Mertens: Like it, like it, it like elevates you, you know, that high vibe life.
• 17:17
  Polly Mertens: It's like I do things even when they're hard, right?
• 17:20
  Polly Mertens: So I was like, whoo, I know, right?
• 17:22
  Polly Mertens: Like, you know, like in the winter, yeah, it's gonna rain or snow, right?
• 17:27
  Polly Mertens: Um, and there was actually one time I think when I did it, I had to go out in the snow now that I think about it, because I was traveling.
• 17:33
  Polly Mertens: Anyway, so neither here nor there.
• 17:36
  Polly Mertens: So let's talk about something else that was missing for me.
• 17:40
  Polly Mertens: So the I would, I would call I like the word a compelling future or a compelling vision.
• 17:47
  Polly Mertens: So a lot of people that talk about creating habits and why do these challenges is focus on the system, focus on the habit that you're doing, focus on the daily, don't focus on the outcome.
• 17:57
  Polly Mertens: I found that when I was disconnected, like I created all these, like I want a high vibe life, but I really wasn't connected to any outcome.
• 18:06
  Polly Mertens: Like I was like, oh, that just sounds good.
• 18:08
  Polly Mertens: And it's like, why bother?
• 18:11
  Polly Mertens: You know, 75 hard.
• 18:12
  Polly Mertens: I would say I didn't have a specific outcome, but I but the outcome was I wanted to commit to something for myself.
• 18:19
  Polly Mertens: Did I want to be exercising more?
• 18:21
  Polly Mertens: Yeah, actually, at the time I did.
• 18:23
  Polly Mertens: I think it had no sugar and no caffeine.
• 18:28
  Polly Mertens: Yeah, there was a couple others, and I was like, you know what?
• 18:30
  Polly Mertens: That sounds good for me right now.
• 18:32
  Polly Mertens: So that the outcome, sometimes it's like this growth arc that you're on, and you want to grow into something or become something.
• 18:39
  Polly Mertens: Um, knowing what that is, just having a connection to it.
• 18:43
  Polly Mertens: Like, especially when you have those weak moments, you're like, I'm sorry, why am I doing this again?
• 18:48
  Polly Mertens: Besides, I said I was gonna do it, like, why am I doing this?
• 18:51
  Polly Mertens: So, knowing that there is something in there that's your why.
• 18:55
  Polly Mertens: Like, why is it meaningful to you that you do a challenge, that you put yourself through these things, that you walk in the rain, that you whatever, do something that's hard.
• 19:04
  Polly Mertens: You get up and you meditate, and oh, it's so hard to meditate, you know.
• 19:08
  Polly Mertens: But like it is harder to get up early, to make time for those things, right?
• 19:12
  Polly Mertens: To prioritize yourself.
• 19:14
  Polly Mertens: Um, so I would say having a connection to a compelling future.
• 19:18
  Polly Mertens: Now, some say, you know, from the book, The Atomic Habits, and I'll give you some of the um, that's a great book, James Clear.
• 19:25
  Polly Mertens: So James Clear says, focus on the habit, not the goal.
• 19:28
  Polly Mertens: I would say, yes, but also have an outcome.
• 19:32
  Polly Mertens: Like have a goal.
• 19:33
  Polly Mertens: Don't just be like, I don't know why I'm doing all this.
• 19:37
  Polly Mertens: I don't know why I'm doing these habits.
• 19:38
  Polly Mertens: Like I said, other than I wanted the the rigor of the 75 days in a row of whatever those things that I was doing, that could be the goal is I want to have that rigor.
• 19:50
  Polly Mertens: I want to set up these structures, I you know, and see what something I'm gonna discover about myself.
• 19:55
  Polly Mertens: Or it may be because I want to have something in the future, whether it's a physical ailment that you want to improve or, you know, nervous system reset, financial, it could be whatever, relationship.
• 20:06
  Polly Mertens: I want to be dating, you know, things like that, right?
• 20:10
  Polly Mertens: So I'd say have a compelling future, and I agree with him, focus on the habits, focus on the daily.
• 20:15
  Polly Mertens: Um, and part of mine though is also I do like.
• 20:19
  Polly Mertens: Visualizing, you know, that is part of mine is visualizing that future fulfilled on the daily.
• 20:23
  Polly Mertens: So maybe that works for you, maybe it doesn't.
• 20:26
  Polly Mertens: Um, and I would say that you know, as we get into the keys, so when I said there was three keys to unshakable discipline, I think one of the three keys, and and James Clear in his book says like this is one of them, but it's making your um your habit obvious, easy, visible.
• 20:48
  Polly Mertens: Okay, so you know, one of the stories, well, something that's you know, the way this looks is um people who want to floss at night, right?
• 20:58
  Polly Mertens: Put it, don't put your floss like up in the medicine cabinet or put it like tucked away or something, or like don't have floss in the house, but like put it right next to your toothbrush, like leave it out on the counter or leave it wherever you leave your toothbrush so those two be it becomes visible and obvious and and easy.
• 21:14
  Polly Mertens: It's like, oh, I'm right here, you know.
• 21:16
  Polly Mertens: Um, and some habits I would say that is a little harder to do than that one is.
• 21:23
  Polly Mertens: Um, and maybe the obvious could be like I have this um tracker sheet, right?
• 21:30
  Polly Mertens: So having a habit tracker sheet, if the habit itself or the thing or the task, it's like meditating isn't like a visible thing, but maybe like you have a certain area that you're gonna meditate in, right?
• 21:43
  Polly Mertens: So you you walk by it or you see it, or um you have a reminder, post-its, stickies, reminders on your phone, um, something that you look at every day, like a habit tracker.
• 21:53
  Polly Mertens: So you it reminds you of it.
• 21:55
  Polly Mertens: So make it obvious, make it easy, and make it visible, whatever that looks like for you.
• 22:00
  Polly Mertens: So that's a really good one.
• 22:01
  Polly Mertens: So there's your three keys, and I'll give you more, but um I just want to throw that in.
• 22:06
  Polly Mertens: Something that I think is important to mention right now that you know, in the study of habits and why do them, and definitely a lot of the work that I do with people is at the level of identity shifting, not just a habit.
• 22:21
  Polly Mertens: Like, oh, I you know, I want to um I don't know, not drink caffeine, right?
• 22:28
  Polly Mertens: Let's say, for example, like you're like, oh, I want to wean myself off caffeine.
• 22:32
  Polly Mertens: Um, that maybe or maybe not is a tie tied to an identity, but there are definitely some that are like smoking and non-smoking, like I identify as a non-smoker, right?
• 22:42
  Polly Mertens: Or do you identify as a smoker, right?
• 22:44
  Polly Mertens: And which which do you want to have?
• 22:45
  Polly Mertens: So the level of identity, the habit, and the this these challenges are actually you signaling to yourself your daily commitment to that new identity.
• 23:00
  Polly Mertens: So the disciplines, the actions, the steps that you take, the you know, the tracking of your little mini moments that you're putting in towards who you're becoming, or it's a vote, you would say, for who you want to be.
• 23:15
  Polly Mertens: Right now I have on my vision board, I don't think I have it handy, I'd share it with you, but I have this quote and it says, be her, right?
• 23:22
  Polly Mertens: And it's all about be that woman, god damn it, that you see yourself be like I talked about the goal, like in 90 days, who you want to be, or maybe it's a little bit longer, you know.
• 23:32
  Polly Mertens: Like I have a dear friend who's going through therapist training right now.
• 23:36
  Polly Mertens: That's a three-year thing.
• 23:37
  Polly Mertens: Like she's not that, you know, she's being that now because she's daily committing to the study of it, right?
• 23:43
  Polly Mertens: So she's committing to what it takes to be her, to be a therapist, to be him, whatever, you know.
• 23:50
  Polly Mertens: But my little thing is be her.
• 23:52
  Polly Mertens: I actually woke up this morning and it was amazing.
• 23:54
  Polly Mertens: Like my mind just woke up and said, Oh, today's the identity shift.
• 23:58
  Polly Mertens: And I didn't know that this was necessarily going to be the topic for today's podcast, but it was like, wow, like reminding myself, like I am stepping into a new identity.
• 24:08
  Polly Mertens: And for me, it's all around being a world-class, worldwide international speaker, like being on stages all over the world.
• 24:16
  Polly Mertens: Like that is my who I'm living into and becoming, right?
• 24:19
  Polly Mertens: So part of this with the podcast is part of it.
• 24:22
  Polly Mertens: But what are the daily actions?
• 24:24
  Polly Mertens: What does she do?
• 24:25
  Polly Mertens: Like my daily votes for her, for who I say I am, we're either doing them or not doing them, right?
• 24:33
  Polly Mertens: Like, am I taking steps?
• 24:34
  Polly Mertens: If I was already her, how would she be living today?
• 24:39
  Polly Mertens: What would she be up to today?
• 24:40
  Polly Mertens: What are the actions she would absolutely do today, right?
• 24:43
  Polly Mertens: Or absolutely not do today.
• 24:45
  Polly Mertens: So that's like one framing of it is from an identity shift perspective, these daily small disciplines, goals, you know, habits, rituals that we're doing, they are a vote for or against who you say you are.
• 24:58
  Polly Mertens: What's the identity, right?
• 25:00
  Polly Mertens: So, you know, for example, when I became vegetarian, it was like, it was, no, I don't eat chicken, right?
• 25:06
  Polly Mertens: Like it was A, it was a hard no.
• 25:08
  Polly Mertens: It was like hard no, never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever.
• 25:12
  Polly Mertens: No, I am now vegetarian, right?
• 25:15
  Polly Mertens: And so not eating chicken was like a hard no.
• 25:18
  Polly Mertens: And what would she do now?
• 25:20
  Polly Mertens: And now, you know, if I'm offered it, well, maybe I will today, or oh, that looks really yummy.
• 25:27
  Polly Mertens: No, I don't do it.
• 25:29
  Polly Mertens: It's like, and for various reasons, but like that's a yes or no for you, right?
• 25:34
  Polly Mertens: Like, is that a vote for that identity that you say you are?
• 25:37
  Polly Mertens: I am, whatever.
• 25:38
  Polly Mertens: And and like I said, the habit may be I'm just not drinking coffee, not taking caffeine.
• 25:44
  Polly Mertens: I don't know if that's at the identity level, and that maybe some way we could say I'm like, I'm not a coffee drinker or something like that.
• 25:50
  Polly Mertens: But there are definitely people and practices, and I would say something like a 75 heart or 75-day challenge, you're often getting up to because there's an identity level shift that you're out to explore, right?
• 26:02
  Polly Mertens: Which I wholeheartedly believe in.
• 26:04
  Polly Mertens: I love that kind of habit change, right?
• 26:07
  Polly Mertens: Little ones, yes, like, oh, you know, do these little things, but like when you're at the level of identity, man, that shifts the direction, the trajectory of your life.
• 26:17
  Polly Mertens: Like you're going in one direction and then you make a shift.
• 26:20
  Polly Mertens: It may be gradual, it may be pretty abrupt.
• 26:23
  Polly Mertens: Your life is on a different course.
• 26:25
  Polly Mertens: The outcome of where you're gonna end up in one year, five years, ten years could be and will be radically different than if you stayed on that old course, right?
• 26:34
  Polly Mertens: You voted for the direction that you're going in.
• 26:36
  Polly Mertens: So wanted to add that.
• 26:38
  Polly Mertens: Um, you know, I wanted to share a couple of things for you know, rebuilding the system.
• 26:43
  Polly Mertens: So, one of the couple of things that I've mentioned already with my 75 hard challenge was I hadn't created a compelling future.
• 26:50
  Polly Mertens: Like, why do this, right?
• 26:52
  Polly Mertens: Um, not just because I need another 75 days of challenging shit in my life, right?
• 26:56
  Polly Mertens: But like, why do it?
• 26:57
  Polly Mertens: Um, and the clarity around each of my things, as I went back and looked at them, I was like, these are clear as mud.
• 27:04
  Polly Mertens: Good grief, right?
• 27:06
  Polly Mertens: No wonder I'm not taking action.
• 27:08
  Polly Mertens: Third, they weren't visible to me.
• 27:10
  Polly Mertens: Like I didn't have it like always right.
• 27:12
  Polly Mertens: Like I didn't like have like one habit is going and looking at it, right?
• 27:16
  Polly Mertens: Like having it all laid out.
• 27:17
  Polly Mertens: I posted it on social and then it was like, it's out there.
• 27:21
  Polly Mertens: And it's like I kind of was related to it, like I kind of knew what they were, but uh-uh, like, no, no, no, no.
• 27:26
  Polly Mertens: And then they weren't specific enough, right?
• 27:28
  Polly Mertens: Like are and actionable enough, like they were just way too vague.
• 27:32
  Polly Mertens: So definitely, you know, our discipline loves visibility, right?
• 27:37
  Polly Mertens: I said it earlier make it easy, make it obvious, make it visible.
• 27:40
  Polly Mertens: If your habit, if your habit or your actions aren't on a whiteboard or a tracker or in your phone, calendar, wherever you want to put them, fridge, I don't care, somewhere you go to, and you're likely to see, not likely, you are gonna see every day.
• 27:55
  Polly Mertens: The more often the better, especially if it's something that's like 75 hard, you could have like six things and you're not doing them all at the same time.
• 28:01
  Polly Mertens: You need to like be present to it throughout the day or have it built into your calendar or your schedule or something.
• 28:07
  Polly Mertens: So if your habit isn't on a whiteboard and you're not tracking it, your mind, just so you know, like I have found this for many, many times, and that's why I like little paper habit trackers or a whiteboard.
• 28:17
  Polly Mertens: You're putting those little X's or the little check marks on your your whiteboard or your tracker, it's pure dopamine.
• 28:26
  Polly Mertens: I swear to God, it is like especially as a woman, I think, but I think men too.
• 28:31
  Polly Mertens: It's like, oh, look at me.
• 28:32
  Polly Mertens: Oh yeah, I did that, like I did that.
• 28:34
  Polly Mertens: So having it, and I noticed on mine when I was tracking from the beginning, I was like, it was more erratic than I thought.
• 28:41
  Polly Mertens: I was like, I thought it was a really good, you know, at doing things.
• 28:45
  Polly Mertens: And I see here, I was like, I'm hitting about some of them.
• 28:49
  Polly Mertens: I'm hitting 90, some of them I'm hitting 95.
• 28:53
  Polly Mertens: Some of them not doing, like, I'm resisting.
• 28:55
  Polly Mertens: There's one that I well, and here's the thing like, so I um created this habit, or like I had like way too many.
• 29:04
  Polly Mertens: I look at this when I was tracking these from December, and I had 75 heart, and there's other ones.
• 29:08
  Polly Mertens: I was like, there's too much, right?
• 29:10
  Polly Mertens: I need to make it succinct, and ones that actually matter, and why?
• 29:14
  Polly Mertens: So I have this one it's like less than 15 minutes of window at bed.
• 29:18
  Polly Mertens: So I want to when I get in bed, I want to be like lights out within 15 minutes.
• 29:22
  Polly Mertens: And I was like, that wasn't helpful, that wasn't serving me.
• 29:26
  Polly Mertens: Like I actually enjoy being in bed and you know, just kind of listening to the things I like to listen to, or drawing, or reading something in 15 minutes, while it has a good intention, um, it wasn't enough time.
• 29:41
  Polly Mertens: So that's why I was like, So I can revisit that.
• 29:45
  Polly Mertens: I can keep it or I can change it.
• 29:48
  Polly Mertens: Should I make it 30 minutes or like max 30 minutes?
• 29:50
  Polly Mertens: Okay, that sounds like that should be enough.
• 29:52
  Polly Mertens: So, do I want to keep tracking that or am I doing okay?
• 29:55
  Polly Mertens: Like, do I even need to be worried about this?
• 29:58
  Polly Mertens: Like, is it a thing?
• 29:59
  Polly Mertens: Right?
• 30:00
  Polly Mertens: Another one I put on here, um, love letters and gratitude each night.
• 30:04
  Polly Mertens: I was doing it.
• 30:05
  Polly Mertens: I was like, after like 10 days, I was like, um, I mean, I enjoyed it some, but it was like, wasn't moving the needle for the for what it was taking.
• 30:14
  Polly Mertens: I was like, no.
• 30:15
  Polly Mertens: Now you have to be careful.
• 30:16
  Polly Mertens: That is a fine line.
• 30:17
  Polly Mertens: So like I don't feel like it, right?
• 30:20
  Polly Mertens: When you commit to something, I do think it's important that you decide what is the purpose of this?
• 30:25
  Polly Mertens: Like, is this meaningful to you?
• 30:28
  Polly Mertens: Is this um like I do think so?
• 30:30
  Polly Mertens: There was a you know, like the taking the picture of yourself in 75 Heart, I get why they do it in the outward expression, like if you're sharing that on social and you're like trying to lose weight or something like that.
• 30:40
  Polly Mertens: For me, it was just like another thing, but it only took me like 30 seconds to do, right?
• 30:45
  Polly Mertens: So it wasn't a big thing.
• 30:46
  Polly Mertens: But this love letter and the gratitude was taking me like 10 minutes every night.
• 30:50
  Polly Mertens: And I started to go, I just don't care.
• 30:52
  Polly Mertens: Like I do um gratitude prayers in the morning, you know, send out you know, great gratitude energy in the morning.
• 31:00
  Polly Mertens: So at night, and then the love letter just wasn't necessary.
• 31:04
  Polly Mertens: I was like, Yeah, why am I doing this?
• 31:06
  Polly Mertens: Right.
• 31:07
  Polly Mertens: So it is okay to evaluate those things, and like I would definitely say like having too many going on at the same time, like a 75 heart is a big challenge because it's a lot going on at the same time.
• 31:18
  Polly Mertens: So maybe do one or two or three at the most.
• 31:22
  Polly Mertens: Start with the one, get that sucker on board, especially if it's one you've been putting off or haven't been able to be successful with, or whatever, whatever.
• 31:30
  Polly Mertens: Stick to the one.
• 31:32
  Polly Mertens: And then if you feel like you've got like disciplined muscles, you know, not just rolling on willpower, but disciplined muscles, you're getting good at these, then start to stack them, right?
• 31:41
  Polly Mertens: Like I've been doing challenges and stuff for many, many years.
• 31:44
  Polly Mertens: So when 75 heart came around, it was a good challenge.
• 31:47
  Polly Mertens: I it was, and I did it twice and really enjoyed it, and I got a lot out of it.
• 31:51
  Polly Mertens: So there you go.
• 31:53
  Polly Mertens: So, and I will say, you know, I am adding in the for my 75-day challenge, 45 minutes of outside time.
• 32:01
  Polly Mertens: And as I said a little bit earlier, it's because of that.
• 32:06
  Polly Mertens: A, I know it's beneficial.
• 32:07
  Polly Mertens: A, I've just listened to a new podcast and so much about how beauty and creativity, whether we're engaging in it, like we're singing or we're creating art or we're admiring art, we're beholding it, right?
• 32:21
  Polly Mertens: And nature is like a natural artistry canvas for us.
• 32:25
  Polly Mertens: Like that's where we came from, right?
• 32:27
  Polly Mertens: We're a part of nature.
• 32:28
  Polly Mertens: And it's like beholding that, whether it's small ways, you know, like looking at flowers and walking on the sidewalk, maybe a little urban jungle, if you will.
• 32:38
  Polly Mertens: But being outside, hey, the movement, I know it's really good for my digestion, for sunshine on my face, lots of good benefits.
• 32:47
  Polly Mertens: Yeah, when it's raining, it sucks.
• 32:49
  Polly Mertens: And that's also good for me.
• 32:50
  Polly Mertens: You know, I don't do cold plunges.
• 32:52
  Polly Mertens: I'm not doing saunas, you know, things like that right now.
• 32:55
  Polly Mertens: So it's like, okay, this is this is my hard challenge, right?
• 32:59
  Polly Mertens: Things to overcome to you know, create that.
• 33:02
  Polly Mertens: It's called um hormetic stress, right?
• 33:05
  Polly Mertens: Where it actually like short bursts of voluntary discomfort.
• 33:09
  Polly Mertens: It can be cold or rain or hard exercise or things like that.
• 33:13
  Polly Mertens: Um, they actually strengthen your nervous system, right?
• 33:17
  Polly Mertens: You're not just getting fit, it's like biologically upgrading resilience, right?
• 33:23
  Polly Mertens: Like I can withstand 45 minutes.
• 33:25
  Polly Mertens: Like I remember one time I did this boot camp in the uh uh country area of New York, upstate New York.
• 33:33
  Polly Mertens: It was in the middle of summer, and I was like, oh, that's gonna be some humidity.
• 33:38
  Polly Mertens: Boy, was I right.
• 33:39
  Polly Mertens: And they would have us stand out there just in the beating down sun for like an hour, and I was just literally dripping, and and I got through that pain point in my mind of like, this fucking sucks, you know, like this, and then at some point I was like, I'm just standing in the sun and it's hot and I'm sweating.
• 33:59
  Polly Mertens: I'm like, I'll go take a shower, I won't be here forever, you know.
• 34:03
  Polly Mertens: Like, like I burst through an old paradigm I had that like being in humid weather is so hard.
• 34:10
  Polly Mertens: It's like not anymore.
• 34:12
  Polly Mertens: It's not, you know, not that I want it, but like bring it on.
• 34:16
  Polly Mertens: I can take it, right?
• 34:17
  Polly Mertens: Like I learned that about myself now.
• 34:18
  Polly Mertens: I'm like, sure, I can be in hot weather, I can be in hot, sticky weather, I can sweat my ass off.
• 34:23
  Polly Mertens: Okay, no problem, right?
• 34:25
  Polly Mertens: I have that resilience, I have that memory now.
• 34:29
  Polly Mertens: Like, okay, I can do this, right?
• 34:30
  Polly Mertens: And then it's like, well, if I can do that, what else?
• 34:33
  Polly Mertens: Right?
• 34:33
  Polly Mertens: Like, that's part of what resilience creates in us is people are so, especially with their children, they're trying to protect them and make their world so soft and easy and no upsets.
• 34:45
  Polly Mertens: And it's like, hold up.
• 34:47
  Polly Mertens: How are they gonna get stronger?
• 34:49
  Polly Mertens: How what you know, life ain't always easy, people.
• 34:51
  Polly Mertens: It's not always going to be sunshine and rainbows when you want to, you know, get up to something bigger in your life.
• 34:57
  Polly Mertens: You want to create something, you want to like explore, you want to go outside of your safety zone.
• 35:02
  Polly Mertens: And if you don't have it inside of you to be like, yeah, this is nothing, like, yeah, you know, I think people that get up to the biggest stuff have faced such hard, have put themselves into, or life has put them into such big challenges that they have that resilience, right?
• 35:18
  Polly Mertens: So that's why I'm adding it in for mine.
• 35:21
  Polly Mertens: So, you know, remember habits don't live in your head, they live in your environment.
• 35:26
  Polly Mertens: Okay, so like with sticky notes and trackers and put it in your calendar.
• 35:32
  Polly Mertens: If you don't have a visual like command center, a checklist or a board you're relying on, you you're probably setting yourself up for failure, right?
• 35:40
  Polly Mertens: So that's a must-have, right?
• 35:41
  Polly Mertens: Um, something else to note, um, just how your brain works, and this is neuroscience, is your brain automatically, you, your brain, automatically moves towards pleasure and moves away from pain.
• 35:55
  Polly Mertens: Sounds simple, right?
• 35:57
  Polly Mertens: So just know that like the brain is gonna do things to avoid pain, right?
• 36:01
  Polly Mertens: So it's going to be not wanting to for me to go outside.
• 36:06
  Polly Mertens: It's gonna like give me all sorts of reasons and all sorts of things, but that's where you have that no excuses, like that that like zero, you know, zero outs effect, right?
• 36:15
  Polly Mertens: When I did 75 hours, like you do these six or seven things every day.
• 36:20
  Polly Mertens: There's no except when there is none of that.
• 36:24
  Polly Mertens: It's always every single day.
• 36:27
  Polly Mertens: And so be mindful of the things that you commit to.
• 36:32
  Polly Mertens: Is it plausible?
• 36:33
  Polly Mertens: Is it feasible?
• 36:34
  Polly Mertens: Even if it's gonna be hard and on days it's gonna be challenging, is it can you do those things every day?
• 36:40
  Polly Mertens: So you don't have to miss or you don't have to whatever, like, oh shoot, and planning ahead.
• 36:46
  Polly Mertens: Like for my social posting while I was on vacation, I could have worked ahead of time to have my posts go live.
• 36:53
  Polly Mertens: Like that could have been something that I've done.
• 36:55
  Polly Mertens: That's not the design of like a 75-hard program, is like you're actually doing something every day, but just know that you may need to create something so that if you physically can't, or just be mindful.
• 37:07
  Polly Mertens: Like there was a time, um, well, it's like, and sometimes you'll just like forget.
• 37:11
  Polly Mertens: I remember one time I had gone to bed, uh, I had got in bed, and I think I was like mentally thinking about my list uh for 75 heart, and one of them was taking a picture.
• 37:21
  Polly Mertens: I don't I literally had to, I mean, I was like all in bed and cozy, and I had to like jump up and get out of bed and take a picture and then get back in bed, right?
• 37:29
  Polly Mertens: That wasn't like go out for 45 minutes, but I did have to do that one time.
• 37:32
  Polly Mertens: I remember being like, oh crap, I didn't get that in and walking late at night.
• 37:37
  Polly Mertens: Like, oh man, this ain't so fun, but whatever.
• 37:40
  Polly Mertens: Like, that's the commitment.
• 37:41
  Polly Mertens: All right.
• 37:42
  Polly Mertens: So actionable steps.
• 37:44
  Polly Mertens: So the clean recommitment.
• 37:47
  Polly Mertens: I am committing to mine.
• 37:49
  Polly Mertens: I'm re-upping.
• 37:50
  Polly Mertens: I'm 75 begins today.
• 37:53
  Polly Mertens: Nah, it's gonna begin tomorrow because like today's like nearly over.
• 37:56
  Polly Mertens: So I will commit to 75 hearts starting tomorrow with my 75-day challenge for my commitments, right?
• 38:04
  Polly Mertens: That's it.
• 38:04
  Polly Mertens: Um, making them super clean.
• 38:06
  Polly Mertens: I've got them already identified here.
• 38:08
  Polly Mertens: 45 minutes of outdoor exercise, daily posting or sharing on Instagram and Facebook, like specific posting or sharing, um, which means like a story instead of like creating it every single time because I know that there's gonna be times where you know, generating that.
• 38:23
  Polly Mertens: Um, and I do want to be, and and part of what's not here, but I am doing in the background is studying those things, right?
• 38:29
  Polly Mertens: Like, so some things you might need to like study, like flossing your teeth, you don't need to study, but like some things may require, like if you want to grow in that area, like I want to grow as a content creator.
• 38:38
  Polly Mertens: It's like, okay, and I'm also studying so that my posts are more effective.
• 38:42
  Polly Mertens: I'm not just the blah blah blah, you know, like hit post on you know things that don't matter.
• 38:47
  Polly Mertens: I want to get better at that.
• 38:49
  Polly Mertens: Kill the loopholes.
• 38:50
  Polly Mertens: So, you know, the rain or shine rule is like rain or shine doing that thing, right?
• 38:55
  Polly Mertens: No loopholes, no loopholes.
• 38:57
  Polly Mertens: Create a physical display, put it somewhere out, make it visible, easy, and obvious.
• 39:02
  Polly Mertens: Um, this is a good example.
• 39:03
  Polly Mertens: I just want to mention this.
• 39:05
  Polly Mertens: So one of the stories in Atomic Habits was about he wanted to be a guitar player.
• 39:12
  Polly Mertens: He wanted to practice his guitar.
• 39:13
  Polly Mertens: Well, his guitar would sit in his, you know, he had an apartment and it was uh in the closet, right?
• 39:19
  Polly Mertens: And he wasn't, he wouldn't play.
• 39:21
  Polly Mertens: He'd come home from work and like sit and sit down in a chair, but he wouldn't play his guitar.
• 39:26
  Polly Mertens: And he's like, damn.
• 39:27
  Polly Mertens: So what he did is he put a stand and he put the stand right by the chair.
• 39:31
  Polly Mertens: It was obvious.
• 39:32
  Polly Mertens: It was easy.
• 39:33
  Polly Mertens: He didn't like even that little bit of work, like get up and go.
• 39:36
  Polly Mertens: Some things are gonna be more work, like go to the gym or get all dressed for outside gear or whatever, but like making it obvious, easy, and visible.
• 39:46
  Polly Mertens: So just a reminder on that.
• 39:48
  Polly Mertens: Okay.
• 39:49
  Polly Mertens: And I would say, you know, create that compelling future, right?
• 39:52
  Polly Mertens: So when we have something we're living into, or like what is it you most want about this?
• 39:57
  Polly Mertens: Really is powerful and effective to pull you towards that result, right?
• 40:02
  Polly Mertens: Whatever that is.
• 40:03
  Polly Mertens: So so that could be yours.
• 40:04
  Polly Mertens: Um, and now your your daily actions compound.
• 40:08
  Polly Mertens: Your daily actions compound.
• 40:10
  Polly Mertens: It's a vote for who you're becoming.
• 40:12
  Polly Mertens: If it's an identity level shift that you're out to create, I am X, right?
• 40:18
  Polly Mertens: You're voting with everything.
• 40:19
  Polly Mertens: Every single day that you do this.
• 40:21
  Polly Mertens: So, like I said, I would encourage you at the identity level to do 60 or more days, 60 or 90, I think is a sweet spot.
• 40:28
  Polly Mertens: All right.
• 40:30
  Polly Mertens: I hope this has been beneficial.
• 40:32
  Polly Mertens: Why we slack off?
• 40:33
  Polly Mertens: Lots of reasons, right?
• 40:34
  Polly Mertens: We got a damn brain that's all about energy efficiency.
• 40:37
  Polly Mertens: It's not 100%, you know, aligned with our goals all the time.
• 40:40
  Polly Mertens: It's aligned with efficiency and comfort and sameness, right?
• 40:46
  Polly Mertens: It just wants to keep you safe and sane and alive.
• 40:50
  Polly Mertens: It doesn't want you necessarily going for big dreams.
• 40:52
  Polly Mertens: So you gotta work with it.
• 40:54
  Polly Mertens: You gotta train it, you know, and just I hope these three keys and more have been helpful to you in seeing what traps we fall into and how to get yourself out of them.
• 41:04
  Polly Mertens: So if there was a one thing I would say, I'd say the one thing takeaway for today is really don't have to take on the 75-day and the format of that, like multiple things at the same time.
• 41:18
  Polly Mertens: I would say always with habits, it's start small and build.
• 41:22
  Polly Mertens: So like the one thing is like, what is something you either are or want to, or something you've been putting off in the background?
• 41:29
  Polly Mertens: Or it's like this is the year for like a big ass identity, like my favorite book right now, the pivot year.
• 41:35
  Polly Mertens: Like, if this is a pivot year for you, what is what is what are the habits, what are the ways of being, what are the doing, not doing, being, not being that you're out to create that would have you in six months, a year, five years be the person that you're living into.
• 41:54
  Polly Mertens: So I hope that was helpful to you.
• 41:55
  Polly Mertens: Much love to my co-host, Samantha Pruitt.
• 41:59
  Polly Mertens: Hearts are with you, of course, to all of you guys wishing you an amazing year, amazing start to your year.
• 42:05
  Polly Mertens: Go get it big and remember how your life feels is not as important as how it looks.
• 42:10
  Polly Mertens: No, that's not it.
• 42:13
  Polly Mertens: And remember, how your life feels is not as important.
• 42:19
  Polly Mertens: And remember, how your life looks isn't as important as how it feels.
• 42:24
  Polly Mertens: And every day is your opportunity to find your awesome.