Make a hard decision once
John Zeratsky
Supporting startups with capital and sprints! General Partner @ Character and Co-Author of Sprint
The other day I was hanging out with my friend Nikki Will (formerly of Pocket) and she mentioned my post on Infinity Pools:
“Hey, I saw your new Medium post. You must have amazing self-control!”
I was a little surprised. “Me? No, not at all. That’s why I had to remove all that stuff from my phone!”
“No, I mean when you uninstalled all those apps,” she replied. “It must have taken a ton of willpower to delete Twitter and everything… and Instagram, oh my god.”
“Well, that’s true,” I said, “but it only takes one strong moment. You make a hard decision once, and then you don’t have to think about it again. You don’t have to find the willpower to avoid distractions and not check your phone throughout the day.”
Day after day, it’s my habits and routines that make a difference: getting up early, setting One Big Thing, blocking my calendar, walking to work, etc. But hard decisions — like removing all the distracting apps from my phone — are my way of giving my future self a hand in sticking to those essential habits.
