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This article was first published on Inc.com | Photo credit : Getty Images
What tweak has made all the difference in your life? originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.
Answer by Todd Brison, blogger at toddbrison.com, on Quora:
All of society is set up to make you think real change can occur within the weekdays alone.
It doesn't.
The clearest example I can think of is my recent switch to becoming a morning person. (yeah, yeah, I know - dead horse).
No matter what time I went to bed, I would have trouble getting up in the morning. I would do a couple of days at 5:30 just fine, but on other days, I would snooze the alarm five or six times.
Then one weekend I accidentally left my alarm on for the same time I get up for work.
"Huh, well, I guess I'll get up."
I did it again on Sunday.
By the time Monday rolled back around, I noticed something very strange - I woke up at 5:28, two minutes before my alarm.
Same thing on Tuesday. In bed around 10:00, wide awake with no alarm at 5:28.
That Thursday was a late night - I didn't get under the covers until midnight.
"Well, there goes my streak."
Nope. I was up right before my alarm again.
As I'm writing this, thousands of people are going through a program called NaNoWriMo - a challenge to write a complete novel in 30 days. In order to get through it, you have to write every day. If you skip the weekends, it's all but impossible to get back on track.
For the ones who succeed it will be harder for them to not write in the future than it will be to write.
Same with fitness, right? If you eat clean 5 days and then cheat for the weekend, you reverse much of the progress.
Consistency is power.
I don't know if it's biology. I don't know if it's a habit thing. I don't know if it's the universe testing you or some strange thing like that.
I do know this:
The weekends, like every other day, are a chance to grow, a chance to move forward, a chance to be happy, and a chance to change your life.
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