The simple secret to meditating (or doing anything) every day

by | Apr 3, 2014 | Meditation/Mindfulness

Takeaway: To meditate (or do anything) every day, shrink the length of a session until you no longer feel a mental resistance to it, and then meditate (or do that thing) for that long.

Estimated Reading Time: 1 minute, 8s.

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Several months back, my buddy Jon shared on reddit the simple secret he uses to meditate every single day:

“I just shrink the length of the session in my head until I hit a level I don’t feel resistance to. Like, “Could I do 15 minutes? No, I feel resistance, I’m not gonna do it. Okay, what about 10? Still too long, the thought puts me off. Okay, 5? Huh, I don’t feel resistance to that. I feel like I can sit for 5.” Boom.”

Then, if you feel like meditating for longer, you meditate for longer.

This idea is so simple, and I think it’s also the perfect way to take it easy on yourself as you integrate new habits into your life. Whether you want to meditate, work out, write, or study every day, forming new daily habits it hard. I think the more honest you are with yourself as you adopt new habits, the more likely they are to stick, and the less likely you are to procrastinate with them. Sure, there are huge benefits to breaking out of your comfort zone, but I think that by being aware of how much mental resistance you have to a new habit, and by respecting those limits, you’ll get a lot more accomplished at the end of the day.

Photo credit: Jenny Downing

Written by Chris Bailey

Chris Bailey has written hundreds of articles on the subject of productivity and is the author of three books: How to Calm Your Mind, Hyperfocus, and The Productivity Project. His books have been published in more than 40 languages. Chris writes about productivity on this site and speaks to organizations around the globe on how they can become more productive without hating the process.

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