Overcoming Adversity: The Transformation of Lucas

Lucas overcame adversity by finding a strong reason, focusing on singular activities, and pre-planning for temptations, which increased his self-discipline.

### The Inspiring Story of Lucas: Overcoming Adversity Through Self-Discipline
* 👨 Lucas, a young man about to enter college, faced a difficult life growing up with his **only parent, his mother, and his younger sister**.
* 🍻 Due to his adversities, he lived an unhealthy life, indulging in **partying, drinking, and smoking**.
* 🏋 After his mother passed away and he became the man of the house, Lucas took on a **full-time job as a janitor** to provide for himself and his sister.
* 🍳 He developed a routine of **working and cooking healthy meals every day**, which he maintained throughout college.
* 🎓 Lucas graduated with honors, landed a **good-paying job**, and eventually put his younger sister through college.
* 🌟 The key factors that helped Lucas become more disciplined were having a **strong reason why**, focusing on **singular activities to form habits**, and pre-planning for temptations using the **if-then technique**.
* 💪 "Practicing self-discipline increases **self-discipline in subsequent acts**, like a muscle."

oh, Meet Lucas. He's a young man about to enter college. He's at a difficult life growing up with his only parent, his mother, and his younger sister. Due to his difficulties in facing his adversities, he's lived a fairly unhealthy life and constantly indulges in partying, drinking, and smoking. One day, his mother got quite sick and was rushed to the emergency. The most important person in his life, has rocked through all the difficult times, was on the verge of death. She put up a good fight, but unfortunately passed, and Lucas became the man of the house. Not only did he have to take care of himself, but a sister as well. It was summer break, and so Lucas immediately took on a full-time job as janitor. He had to provide for himself and his younger sister. His only goal was to go to work each day and clean. Day in and day out, he went. He took on every opportunity at extra shifts. His discipline and working was unwavering. He used the money to buy himself and his sister some food for dinner every night.

He didn't want to tell his friends. He was working as a janitor. So when they asked if you wanted to go out in the evenings and party, he decided that he would tell them that he had to tutor his little sister and cook her dinner. Lucas fell into the flow of going to work every day and eventually got used to it. It wasn't the chore for him anymore. He decided to stop buying junk food for himself and his sister and decided he would cook them a healthy dinner after work each day and then prepare breakfast for the next day. He kept this routine up. Working and then cooking, working and then cooking. Finally, school time rolled around and Lucas had to attend classes. He was juggling a lot at once, so now he rolled his hours back to part-time and had to make sure he attended class every single day, so he didn't fall behind. Regardless of how he felt, he always went. He went to class, came home and worked and then cooked dinner and breakfast.

Lucas kept this up for the whole time in college. He was able to put himself through college and graduate with honors. He landed a good-paying job upon graduation and maintained his good habits. Eventually, he was able to put his younger sister to college as well. He got married and eventually so did his sister. They remain best friends throughout life, and they reminisced on how happy their mother would have been of Lucas. How he turned his life around and went from lazy and out of control to in control of his destiny and the true king of his fate. He became disciplined, but how did he do it? The first big thing for Lucas was a strong reason why. When his mother passed, he had a north star to become the man of the house and take care of his younger sister. It was literally do or die. Studies showed that a strong motivating reason why allows people to tap into willpower reserves that they might otherwise not have been able to. This reminds me of those movies where you see the boxer down to his last bits of energy in the final round.

but then he has a flashback, a powerful memory of why he's doing this. Perhaps winning against all odds in memory of someone close to him who passed away. Studies also show that a strong motivating reason why may only act as a buffer or a temporary solution to increase willpower, and that willpower still does have a finite limit. In our example, Lucas had a strong motivating reason for why he was trying to become more responsible, but that doesn't mean that reason can motivate him to do an infinite amount of things for an infinite amount of time. So he tried to work at a part-time job, take care of his sister, try to get a perfect 4.0 GPA, and learn to play the guitar all at once. It would be difficult if not impossible, regardless of how strong his motivating reason why was. But in our case, Lucas started by focusing on one task only, which was work. You want to work every day. Once that became a habit, he directed his willpower and self-discipline onto another

singular activity, which was cooking, followed by school. And that's the key to be wise with how we spend our self-discipline and to use it on singular activities and turn them into habits before moving on to another activity. The first habit could have been as simple as drinking water every day or making his bed every morning. When an activity becomes a habit, it drains a lot less willpower. Lucas also faced a dilemma that many people trying to be disciplined encounter: peer pressure. His friends represented a temptation into his old life, an easier life requiring a lot less responsibility. There were two reasons Lucas was able to overcome this dilemma. He had a strong reason why, and he planned for temptation, in fact, he used the very specific technique known as the if-then technique. He had planned that if his friends asked him to go out and party, then he would tell them that he had to tutor his sister and cook dinner. This is a pre-planned decision of self-control and avoided him having to exercise willpower to resist the temptation.

This is a great strategy to use when we anticipate that there will be times when temptations will arise and our willpower might be low. It's an automatic and pre-planned response to temptation. Studies show that practicing self-discipline increases self-discipline in subsequent acts. It's like a muscle. By finding his strong reason why, developing his discipline through singular activities, and pre-planning for temptations, Lucas was able to become more disciplined and overcome his adversities.

How to be more disciplined (animated short story)

Freedom in Thought

Lucas's Inspiring Journey from Adversity to Responsibility

Lucas's life is transformed when his mother passes away, and he takes on the responsibility of caring for his younger sister by working full-time as a janitor.

He sacrifices partying to cook healthy meals for his sister and himself, showing unwavering dedication.

Despite the challenges, he transitions to attending college, juggling part-time work and studies while continuing to provide for his family.

Lucas's Transformation: From College Struggles to Success

Lucas's strong "reason why" after his mother's passing drove his transformation from a struggling college student to a responsible adult.

Studies show that a strong motivating reason can tap into willpower reserves, but it has its limits.

Lucas's focus on one task at a time and building habits gradually was key to his success in turning his life around.

Building Self-Discipline through Habit Formation

Cooking was Lucas's initial singular activity, followed by school, demonstrating the importance of focusing self-discipline on one activity at a time.

By turning activities into habits, less willpower is required.

Lucas successfully overcame peer pressure through a strong reason for his actions and using the "if-then" technique to plan for temptation, ultimately avoiding the need to rely on willpower.

Building Self-Discipline: A Key to Overcoming Adversity

Having a strong reason why is crucial for developing self-discipline in the face of temptation.

Practicing self-discipline can actually strengthen one's ability to stay disciplined in the future, similar to a muscle.

Pre-planning and having automatic responses to temptation is a helpful strategy in building self-discipline.