역경 극복하기: 루카스의 변화

### 루카스의 감동적인 이야기: 자기 훈련을 통한 역경 극복하기
* 👨 대학 입학을 앞둔 청년 루카스는 하나뿐인 부모님과 어머니, 여동생과 함께 **어려운 환경**에서 자랐습니다.
* 🍻 역경으로 인해 그는 **파티와 음주, 흡연에 빠지는 등 건강하지 못한 삶**을 살았습니다.
* 🏋 어머니가 돌아가시고 집안의 가장이 된 후 루카스는 자신과 여동생을 부양하기 위해 **청소부로 정규직**으로 취직했습니다.
* 🍳 그는 **매일 일하고 건강한 식사를 요리하는 루틴**을 개발했고, 대학 생활 내내 이를 유지했습니다.
* 🎓 루카스는 **우등으로 졸업**하고 보수가 좋은 직장에 취직했으며 결국 **여동생을 대학에 진학**시켰습니다.
* 🌟 루카스가 절제력을 키우는 데 도움이 된 핵심 요소는 **강력한 이유를 세우고, 습관을 형성하기 위해 특정 활동에 집중**하고, **if-then 기법을 사용하여 유혹에 대한 사전 계획**을 세우는 것이었습니다.
* 💪 "자제력을 연습하면 근육이 단련되듯 **이후 행동에서도 자제력이 향상**됩니다."

루카스는 강력한 이유를 찾고, 한 가지 활동에 집중하고, 유혹에 대한 사전 계획을 세우는 등 자기 훈련으로 역경을 이겨냈습니다.

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

역경에서 책임감으로 나아가는 루카스의 감동적인 여정

루카스의 삶은 어머니가 돌아가시고 청소부로 풀타임으로 일하며 여동생을 돌보는 책임을 맡게 되면서 변화합니다.

그는 파티를 포기하고 여동생과 자신을 위해 건강한 식사를 요리하며 흔들림 없는 헌신을 보여줍니다.

어려운 상황에서도 그는 대학에 진학하여 아르바이트와 학업을 병행하며 가족을 부양하고 있습니다.

루카스의 변화: 대학 생활의 어려움에서 성공으로

루카스는 어머니가 돌아가신 후 강력한 '이유'가 있었기에 힘들어하던 대학생에서 책임감 있는 성인으로 변화할 수 있었습니다.

연구에 따르면 강력한 동기를 부여하는 이유는 의지력을 끌어올릴 수 있지만 한계가 있습니다.

루카스는 한 번에 한 가지 일에 집중하고 점진적으로 습관을 쌓은 것이 인생의 전환에 성공할 수 있었던 열쇠였습니다.

습관 형성을 통한 자제력 키우기

루카스의 첫 번째 활동은 요리였고, 그다음은 공부였는데, 이는 한 번에 한 가지 활동에 집중하는 자기 훈련의 중요성을 보여줍니다.

활동을 습관으로 만들면 의지력이 덜 필요합니다.

루카스는 자신의 행동에 대한 강력한 이유와 유혹에 대한 계획을 세우는 '만약-그렇다면' 기법을 통해 또래의 압력을 성공적으로 극복하여 궁극적으로 의지력에 의존할 필요를 없앴습니다.

자제력 키우기: 역경을 극복하는 열쇠

유혹에 맞서 자제력을 키우려면 강력한 이유를 갖는 것이 중요합니다.

자제력을 연습하면 근육을 단련하는 것처럼 앞으로도 자제력을 유지할 수 있는 능력이 강화될 수 있습니다.

미리 계획을 세우고 유혹에 자동적으로 대응하는 것은 자제력을 키우는 데 도움이 되는 전략입니다.