Building your stick-to-it muscle

Physical limitations are obvious to us. But not mental ones.

We can't just lift 350kg without serious practice. We can't just run a marathon without any prep. We are aware of the limits.

But when it comes to our brain, we often ignore them. "I'll study for 12 hours to make up for not studying at all.", "I'll quit junk food and only eat salads from now." Why do we think this will work?

It's helpful to imagine the brain as a muscle. To to hard things it needs to build strength.

There's a region of the brain called the Anterior mid-cingulate cortex. It's our stick-to-it-muscle. It literally grows as we do hard things we don't want to do. Just like our muscles grow as we put more strain on them. The bigger the Anterior mid-cingulate cortex the more hard things we can bear doing.

But for it to grow, we have to consistently do hard things. It shrinks if we don't.

To be consistent the task needs to be challenging but not impossible.

Start where you are. Start with what you can do. Then build up slowly.

You wouldn't expect your muscles to lift extreme weights without practice. Don't expect it from your brain.

Build up your stick-to-it-muscle. 

P.S. Here's a clip from the Huberman Lab podcast talking about this topic.