Henry Stanley was a famous 19th century explorer who mapped out the Congo River
now this was by no means an easy task he and his team were plagued by malaria and
dysentery many of them starved to death they were attacked by the natives of
poison arrows and Spears and many of them drowned. his most famous expedition
which mapped out the entirety of the Congo River took 999 days he started
with 228 men and ended with only 114 so only half of them made it he was
considered to be one of the most self-discipline individuals in the world
because he could've stopped that expedition at any time but he persisted
beyond all odds the natives were so impressed by his willpower that they
called him the boola Mathari the breaker of rocks now Stanley had an interesting
routine that he would do every single day he would wake up and shave first
thing in the morning now if you think about it it's quite odd for someone
stuck in the middle of the jungle with lack of supplies men dying left and
right to spend every single morning making sure that he was clean-shaven but
this little habit was actually the key to Stanley success today we're gonna
look at how you can cultivate tremendous amounts of willpower make sure you get
tons of things done throughout the day all by using a little trick like shaving
to your advantage now have you been a prescriber of the channel for a long
enough time you've probably heard me talk about cues to refresh your memory
cues can be anything that triggers a routine for a habit it can be a sound a
smell a time of day an event or even a location it tells your brain that you
should start your habit however cues also do something that's
very interesting see we tend to associate certain cues
with certain mindsets and feelings for example if you've ever gotten a new
haircut from your favorite barber you probably know the great feeling
afterwards you feel confident and excited ready to take on the world but
all that's really changed with some hair off the top of your head and that's why
shaving was so effective for Stanley see although he was surrounded by despair
and suffering in the middle of a jungle he was able to get himself into the
right mindset every single day by shaving see he associated clean shaving
with being proper it's something that a lot of people do before they head
out to work when you're clean-shaven you feel organized you feel prepared to
start the day shaving took him away from the whirlpool of negativity that
surrounded him and put him into the mindset of discipline this is a concept
that I used quite often to my advantage in the past from the age of 18 to 21 I
was a door-to-door salesman who had to wear a suit every single day
to work and now this meant I spent more than 300 days per year in a suit working
my ass off knocking on doors whether it was rain or shine so I started to
associate wearing a suit with hard work and perseverance now when I quit my job
and decided to build my own business online I was faced with a major issue I
no longer had my boss looking over my shoulder making sure that I was working
hard every single day I no longer had my co-workers who could reignite my
motivation after two or three days of closing no sales I needed something that
could bring discipline and strength back into my life so I decided to start
wearing my suit every day to Starbucks where I would work on my computer and it
actually worked every time I put on a suit I was instantly transported back to
the mindset I had at my old job I felt motivated and ready to tackle on
the world building a business online was no easy task
because I really didn't know anything I would spend a month building up a
business just to see it falling crumble this happened multiple times but
eventually I found success wearing that suit gave me the discipline and strength
I needed to persist even though I was only met with failure after failure we
all have things that we can do that can trigger these positive mindsets think
back to your life what is something that you tend to do on days where you get a
whole lot done it could be a shower it could be doing your hair properly it
could be putting on makeup it could be shaving just like Stanley it
could be wearing your best clothes it could be making your bed honestly it
could be anything it differs from person to person figure out what it is and use
it to your advantage try to stick to it every single day
because by actively trying to stick to this little habit you will also build up
the levels of willpower that you have this is a concept that we dive into
deeply in the tamed course which I will link to in the description box below but
basically our will hower is sort of like a muscle the more
you actively go out of your way to use it to do something that isn't already a
habit the stronger your willpower muscle becomes this means that you'll have more
willpower more strength over the long run to use for other hard tasks try it
out the next time you're feeling lazy in the morning get up take a shower shave
and put on your best clothes or whatever you think is something you do on your
best days and you'll instantly feel better and I'm telling you you're gonna
get a whole lot more accomplished throughout the day speaking of Shaving
this episode was brought to you with the help of the guys at Dollar Shave Club
to be honest I've actually been using them for quite some time now it's almost
been a year I started to use Dollar Shave Club because I was sick of having
to go to the pharmacy every couple of weeks to pick up new razors not only was
it hard to find high-quality razors that gave me a good shave I also felt like it
was a huge waste of time if you're like me and you want to optimize your life
focus your time and energy on the things that really matter then I think you
should try them out go to dollarshaveclub.com
improvement pill to get their shower shave starter set for only $5 that's way
cheaper than what you can find at the pharmacy this set is going to include
their executive razor and three trial versions of their most popular products
that will help you stay fresh and clean and above all get you into the same
mindset that our friend Stanley had during his expedition in the jungle oh
and I almost forgot to mention shipping is also completely free so act fast guys
and stay tuned