Get Those Reps In

No, this isn’t a fitness article. But repetitions have broader applications than just exercise.

Repetitions have dramatic power to influence a lot about your behavior and hitting your goals.

When you want to start a new habit, learn something new, or become successful in something you’ve always wanted to succeed in, the more “reps” you get in, the stronger you’ll get at performing the action. It will become simpler for you to perform the more you do it.

As described in this Wired article, experienced jugglers use only the important muscles and nothing else. Inexperienced jugglers use a lot more (and unnecessary) muscles since they are still learning the motor skills needed to juggle.

You get more efficient over time…while also getting better over time as you do it.

Reps Lead to More Reps

Reps also lead to the desire to do more reps.

• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fck, by Mark Manson, describes this as “Action -> Inspiration -> Motivation”.
• Atomic Habits, by James Clear, discusses this as the “The Three Layers of Habit Change”, where the third layer is changing your identity.
• In Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill, the use of Autosuggestion, (repeating a mantra over and over again) is used to change your mindset towards achieving a goal.
  

Each of these books argues that your subsequent actions reinforce your mindset, forming a feedback loop. You perform actions, those actions influence your identity (ex: “I’m a juggler”), so you perform additional similar actions to confirm the identity you’ve now assumed.

So whether you are learning how to juggle, code, eat healthily, sell something online, whatever. Get those repetitions in. Make it a habit. Your mind and body will do the rest and adapt the more you take it on. Stay persistent, and you’ll eventually hit critical mass and gain mastery over the thing you are looking to learn.