We humans have stupid monkey brains with lots of bizarre mental quirks, not the least of which is our desire to be consistent.

If I’ve been a republican my whole life, I probably won’t vote democrat. The longer I’ve been a republican, the truer this is.

No matter how elegant the argument, the fact of the matter is I’d be… well… embarrassed to change my mind after this long. It just wouldn’t feel right. And besides, what would everyone say?!

That internal drive to appear consistent can make us do some pretty stupid things.

Or…

We can hijack it to make smart, hard, things easier to do.

Eating a pound of vegetables every day is hard. But if you went around for a month, telling absolutely everyone you knew, that you were going to eat a pound of vegetables every day, because eating a pound of vegetables every day is a really intelligent thing to do, and you’re a really intelligent person, so that’s what you’re going to do, and they should do it too because you’re really sure it will make them happier and healthier and better in bed — now NOT eating a pound of vegetables every day is a really hard thing to do.

Congratulations – you’re now eating a pound of vegetables every day. Or you’re eating crow. Vegetables sound better, because of that desire to appear consistent.

That’s the beginner level.

But leveling up to Expert is easy from there.

While you’re going around telling everyone all this fantastic stuff about vegetables, chances are good that you’ll start to believe it.

And then believe that you believe it.

Pretty soon, you’re the “pound of veggies a day” guy to everyone you know (beginner level), and to yourself (expert level).

So if you have a hard thing you want to do (diet, exercise, finance are common ones), go tell everyone you know, emphatically, that you’re going to do it.

Because that’s just who you are now. The person who does that hard thing. And then, as if by magic, at some point you are that person. And it’s no longer hard.

Thanks stupid monkey brain!