3 Behaviours That Can Make You Limitless

Maximize your potential with the help of science and ancient rituals

Photo by Jarritos Mexican Soda on Unsplash

In the current world where we live, there is a ton of information overload from every side. We are hooked to our screen and mostly always in a search of great content that can charge our dopamine levels.

Also, the new algorithms are designed in such a way that they keep us hooked on our devices. This habit of spending much time on devices creates much havoc in our lives and the outcome of our work.

However, there are several things science has proven that can make our actions productive in order to achieve more while spending less time.

An Action That Motivates Your Habit

A habit is a more or less established style of thinking, willing, or experiencing developed via consistent mental practice, according to psychology.

There is always some expectation of outcome whenever we decide to pursue some ritual, habit, work, etc. Human minds get excited when we discuss rewards.

James Clear mentioned four stages of the human mind when we decide to pursue a habit, they are cue, craving, and response (in the same order).

After reading this I always sit back a little before starting any new habit, I tend to ask and write a few answers to the question that I ask myself before doing it.

Why I am doing this? What are the results I want to obtain? How this habit will help me in the long term?

These kinds of questions I try to write in my journal. Yes, this practice feels very basic but it becomes very effective when you do it deliberately and honestly.

In addition to this, just like you eat a bucket of popcorn every time you watch a movie, I try to add one micro action before doing the main habit. For instance, every time before writing a one-paragraph, I tend to do 5–10 pushups.

It sounds really cheesy and weird but yeah it is just the way it is. I find it really pumped up and it boosts my speed of writing. The main reason for doing this is to stop my procrastination.

I’ve been following this practice for the last 6 months and it really boosts my speed of writing and also my pushups skill.

It's Not In Your Genes

“A man’s worth is no greater than his ambitions. – Marcus Aurelius”

There are often many arguments we heard on the internet about how genes define you and your chances of getting successful.

This deep-seated belief in natural ability, which many of us have held dear since childhood, was entirely debunked by many types of research and experiments around.

One of the most widely known pieces of research mentioned in Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers is that to achieve a world-class performance you need ten thousand hours of deliberate practice.

And I feel in order to achieve this kind of human potential along with practice you also need motivation and a proper system. There are many things that we do knowingly or unknowingly that make us different from others.

These different doing are the set of practices we tend to follow often made done by from our parents from the childhood are we have developed based on our experience.

But there is certainly one thing that we all have in common that works as ignition in our life. Goal

It is certainly true that when you do something that you are called to, make your life a paradise. That drive never lets you stop because it is the process that makes you happy not the end goal or reward.

Having an ambition that serves you on a path of good virtue will not fulfill your goal but also it will inspire others around you. Just like Marcus Aurelius, he himself has an ambition of becoming a great emperor, he wanted to solve the issues of corruption and wanted peace.

However, with the enormous power of technology in our hands, we have the ability to change the world, and simultaneously we are also beefed up with so much garbage and misinformation that it is hard to trust someone's advice.

This is where the ancient culture came to the rescue, their ideologies and advice can only not cultivate our minds but also gives us direction.

“Throw out your conceited opinions, for it is impossible for a person to begin to learn what he thinks he already knows.” — Epictetus

To be able to learn, you need to throw your ego in the trash can. In the current world, every human has the ability to carve their own path in order to become successful. The only key ingredient is Deliberate Practice.

Building A Growth Mindset Using NeuroPlasticity

The average human brain weighs around 1400 grams and is considered to be the most complex yet sophisticated machine in the universe.

The brain consists of several nerves in which there are nerve cells known as Neurons, these neurons act as a core component through which humans develop the ability to learn and adapt to new things and environments.

Along with neurons, there is one other thing that also plays a very important role that helping humans to become greater than others. Myelin

Myelin’s essential function is to wrap nerve fibers in the same way that rubber insulation wraps a copper wire.

“Myelin is important for several reasons. It’s universal: everyone can grow it, most swiftly during childhood but also throughout life. It’s indiscriminate: its growth enables all manner of skills, mental and physical. It’s imperceptible: we can’t see it or feel it, and we can sense its increase only by its magical-seeming effects” — Daniel Coyle. (The Talent Code)

In the same manner, we learn new habits, adapt to new environments, experience new emotions, bear stress and pain. With the help of a few techniques and neuroplasticity, we can also improve our creativity.

Talking about creativity, it can be described further expanded into two different types of thinking processes.

Cognitive Thinking
Divergent Thinking

Divergent thinking can be described as generating ideas. Convergent thinking occurs when people evaluate their ideas to reach appropriate conclusions.

There are several types of exercise that you can do but in this article, I am going to list one particular exercise which I am doing for the past 2 years.

Consider what you want to accomplish rather than what you want to avoid.

As we have discussed above, that ambition is what drives human beings. This ambition or goal can help also induce more creativity.

In late 2017, I started one practice to write my goals in a small journal after getting motivated to read a few popular self-help books like The Secret, Think and Grow Rich, etc.

I now hate those kinds of books anyhow but that is the topic to discuss for some other day. So, when I started writing my goals I primarily focused on what I wanted rather than what I wanted to neglect.

For instance, I vowed to not drink sugary fizzy drinks in order to become healthy, not to avoid diabetes. There is a difference in both types of thinking patterns. One is approach-driven while the other is avoidance.

Here is the simplest way to do this exercise

Allocate some time in the early morning and before sleep to write.
Think and write about your goals. Divide them into three parts short, mid and long-term.
Focus on the approach and avoid the negatives.

I personally benefited from this exercise and have achieved almost all the goals that I have written so far. I am hundred percent sure that this works.

To sleep at night, train your mind to write off two third of what you have — Nassim Nicholas Taleb

To summarize this long article in short here are some key takeaways;

Perform a reward-type habit that acts as a boost to your main habit.
Focus on the system and be ambition-driven.
Deliberate Practice is the only thing we can rely on.
Science has proven that it is not your genes that make you successful.
Develop a growth mindset with the help of an approach thinking exercise.
Lastly, build a regular habit of writing down your goals.

Finally, all I can say is that these are the some of best life lessons that I have learned and implemented in my life from an early age. A habit of reading and a bit of curiosity drives me to pursue the path of excellence.

I hope you have also benefited from this post.

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Thank you for reading.