The 365 Commitment

Guy Reams

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Self-Improvement
Daily

The 365 Commitment Podcast focuses on helping people make and keep life changing commitments.

13h ago

Day 3,219 - Willpower Needs a Lot of Help

If you have ever wondered whether spending time setting up your environment so that you can effectively do the things you want to accomplish is worth it, I have an answer for you. It is. I have spent years writing about personal discipline, accountability, and the importance of making and keeping commitments. I believe strongly that we are responsible for our own choices and that developing the ability to do difficult things, especially when we do not feel like doing them, is an essential part of personal growth. However, I have learned that willpower needs a lot of help. Consider my efforts to return to running. Every morning, I have a choice to make. I can get up, put on my shoes, and go outside, or I can find a perfectly reasonable excuse for doing something else. The problem is that I am exceptionally good at coming up with those excuses. I can rationalize almost anything when I am tired, sore, or distracted by the demands of the day. Now consider what happens when I prepare the night before. My running clothes are ready, my shoes are by the door, I have already selected my route, and I have decided exactly when I am leaving. I have effectively removed several decisions that might otherwise interfere with my intentions. I still need willpower, but I have made its job considerably easier. I recently read an article by Linda Wang in the Association for Psychological Science Observer that examined research on the relationship between personal responsibility and the environments in which we make decisions. The research challenges the assumption that individual determination alone is sufficient to create lasting behavioral change. Our surroundings, circumstances, and available choices have a significant influence on what we actually do. I find this fascinating because we tend to treat preparation as something separate from discipline. We admire the person who overcomes tremendous obstacles through sheer determination, but we rarely give the same recognition to someone who intelligently arranged their circumstances so those obstacles never became a problem. Yet which approach is more likely to produce consistent results? If you want to eat healthier, spend some time organizing your kitchen. If you want to read more, place books where you will see them. If you want to accomplish meaningful work, create a place where distractions are difficult to access. If you want to exercise consistently, eliminate as many obstacles as possible between waking up and getting started. Of course, not every circumstance is under our control. Some obstacles are imposed by responsibilities, resources, or systems that we cannot easily change. However, within the areas where we do have influence, there is tremendous value in deliberately creating conditions that support our goals. This is one of the principles I have come to appreciate about The 365 Commitment. Planning my day each morning is not simply about deciding what I should accomplish. It is about arranging my circumstances so that I have the greatest possible chance of success. The more I can prepare in advance, the less I have to rely on motivation when the difficult moments arrive. I think we sometimes make personal improvement unnecessarily difficult because we believe that struggling is somehow proof of our commitment. Perhaps there is greater wisdom in recognizing that the struggle itself is not the objective. Accomplishing what we committed to do is. Willpower is still necessary, and I intend to keep developing mine. However, I am increasingly convinced that one of the best ways to exercise discipline is to spend time designing an environment where discipline has a fighting chance. Make the right thing easier to do. That preparation may be one of the most important commitments you make today.
1d ago

Day 3,218 - The Books on Your Shelf

As you go through life, what books have you collected along the way? Which ones sit on your shelf? Is this an accidental collection process or a deliberate one? An even more thought-provoking question: When you die, and someone is left with the job of cleaning out your room or office where you keep your books, what are they going to be looking at? Would they know why these are important? A common thing for ancestry researchers to do is to look for old family Bibles. The reason is that inevitably people place precious things within them: a note, a picture, a certificate of one type or another. Sometimes the first flower provided by a spouse, or the handkerchief carried at a wedding. These things will often show up in Bibles or other religious texts. I have a few shelves dedicated to various religious studies that I have engaged with over the years, as I am sure many people do. However, what are the other books besides the obvious ones that make up who you are? If someone were to open up to the inside cover, would you have a note there indicating why this book made it to the shelf? If you are like me, that is a no. I have one book, for example, that was a volume of a turn-of-the-20th-century history book that was given to me by a teacher who gave it to me as a token for my participation in his humanities lecture course. The book is not important, but the time period of my life and why that book sits there is important. However, I doubt anyone would know that except for me. Another book, Culture and Agriculture by Wendell Berry, holds a place of prominence. Why? Because it was one of the most influential books, outside of religious texts, that had an impact on me. It laid the foundation for fundamental attitudes I have cultivated over the years about social movements, technological expansion, and our relationship with nature. Another book is an old English literature series that my father would read aloud to me when my sister and I were in elementary school. It was through this book that I gained an appreciation for poetry and the use of meaning and symbolism in language. There are quite a few meaningless books that I have never read and probably never will. They collect dust only and stare at me with an accusing air as if to say, "If you only knew the secrets that I could reveal. I have been sitting here for years, waiting to change your life, and all you have to do is read." There are other books which I know are important, but I have never committed to serious study. These are my pile of great intentions, but yet-to-be-realized books. There are others that I view as books that other people recommended, but I was less than enthusiastic about. They usually make it to the bottom shelf, along with the box of discarded business cards. If you contemplate for a moment what the books you have that you cherish say about you, it can be quite revealing. Now I have read a lot of books, but most of them would never be deemed worthy of the bookshelf. So, maybe it's worth taking a moment to look at those books, the ones that really matter to you, and consider what stories they tell. Not just the stories within their pages, but the stories of your own life, etched into their spines and covers. Perhaps, in doing so, you might find a quiet way to share a piece of yourself, a little whisper of who you were and what you held dear, for whoever might pick them up next.
2d ago

Day 3,217 - Keep Moving

Genetics actually works for us and against us in an invisible pattern that we still have little understanding of. Only recently have we started discovering that there are certain genetic patterns that will give us a certain predisposition or propensity for physical and mental illness. This can feel a bit overwhelming as you ponder the accumulation of potential stacked issues you might have accumulated since before you were even conceived. However, you also might have good genetic markers as well, so perhaps they wash out. Anyway, there has been recent scientific evidence that we can do certain things to offset genetic vulnerability. One of those is movement. In a recent study by He et al., researchers analyzed 23,517 adults with whole-genome sequencing, electronic health records, and long-term Fitbit data, averaging 582 days of wear. Higher genetic risk predicted diagnosis, while more steps and moderate-to-vigorous activity predicted lower risk. Now, this is far from conclusive, but this does indicate that movement does have an impact and that impact can offset a tendency toward things like depression. You remember when your mom would tell you to go outside? Well, maybe she had a point. The more you move around, the less likely these tendencies that you may have been born with will surface. This strikes close to home. I keep close track of my mood swings, my feelings of well-being, and my health vitals. As I have been monitoring this, I have noticed a strong trend, which is that when I am running more often, especially outdoors, I have an uptick in my mood. The pattern is undeniable and repeats frequently. Now that is interesting to hear, because I view running as work most of the time, which according to this pattern I think I need to view it as something completely different. The real takeaway here isn't about forcing yourself to feel a certain way, or even about cracking some secret code to happiness. It's more about noticing what happens when you just do things. When you move, when you get outside, when you engage with the world in a physical way, it often just shifts things. It's not a magic bullet, and it won't erase every tough day, but it's a pretty reliable lever. And sometimes, that's all you need: a simple, accessible way to nudge things in a better direction.
3d ago

Day 3,216 - Cherish Big Moments

Big moments come and go. Sometimes they are rather fleeting at the time but turn out to be major events later in our recollection. We are only saddened that we did not cherish them when they happened. Take, for instance, the first real date with my wife. It was not technically a date, at least I played it off that way. However, I was taking her somewhere, and we would be able to spend several hours together, which now that I look back on it was a significant development in our relationship. This was a big moment, and I certainly recognized that. I worried about what I should wear, where we should go, what we should do, and what I should talk about. I probably spent more time worrying about those first few dates than all our subsequent dates combined, but is that good? The point is that every day you have big moments in your life. A meeting with your kids' teacher at school, a follow-up with your mentor, a new client presentation, a job interview, and yes, perhaps a date with your spouse. Big moments are happening all the time, but do we treat them that way? Do we give the moments in our life enough gravitas for what they are potentially worth? Take this blog, for instance. Just a normal, routine thing for me. Wake up, come up with an idea, and start writing. Just another day, another blog. It is easy to fall into the motions in life, and oftentimes that causes us to treat potentially big moments with frivolity. Yet, what if one of my blogs became a significant inspiration for someone, for me, or perhaps one of my great-grandchildren someday? Should I not treat something that another person may gain value from as a big deal? Try this. When you wake up tomorrow, stop yourself from going through the motions that you normally do. Ask yourself this one question: What are my big moments today? Today, I came up with several. I have two meetings with potentially new clients, I have a parent-teacher meeting at my daughter's school, I have a proposal that I am delivering for a new opportunity, and I have a chance to mentor someone who is asking for advice. Each of these can be considered big moments if I were to stop and really think of them that way. In reality, there is not much I would do that differently, but thinking of them as big moments changes my perspective. Instead of something I have to "get through," it becomes something to anticipate, think about, and plan for. The more active it is in my mind throughout the day, the more prepared I am. The more I remember it, the more I focus on leaning into it. That can make all the difference in the world when it comes to being present and in the moment when these types of events happen. Oftentimes in life, I was on autopilot, so many of these big moments passed me by, and I barely remember them. Sad, really, so if you want to make sure these types of things have a greater impact on you, you can choose to make them part of your focus as you start out your day.
5d ago

Day 3,215 - Adapt to the Load

Years ago, I attempted to memorize the first 1000 digits of Pi. I was mostly successful. I could easily recite the first 500 digits and most of my way through the rest, although I would occasionally get tripped up. If I had kept going, then I probably could have gotten it down reliably. After spending a year training for this, I decided that the only thing I had really accomplished was a great party trick. I did learn a few important concepts along the way. I now understood how the brain could memorize things and that the human mind was particularly good at making visual associations. However, the most important concept that I picked up is that the human brain and the rest of your body are no different. They will adapt to the load they are placed under. As I started increasing the amount of numbers that my brain had to recall during my early morning 15-minute session, my brain somehow adapted to the load. There is this strange person that walks around my hometown frequently. He is always dressed up in some crazy outfit, and he can always be seen walking around. People have started to honk and cheer when they see him. The other day, I rode my bike to the store, and on my way back, I crossed paths with this walking celebrity. Although he was an older man, probably in his 70s, his leg and calf muscles were well defined. They looked like the legs of a 20-year-old mountain climber. His body had adapted to all the walking he had been doing. If you have done any weight training, or any other form of strenuous exercise, then you know this principle well already. It is just what happens when you put yourself under load repeatedly. Your body adapts, and so does your mind. As you show up to the gym frequently, you start to become a person who works out at the gym. Your body gets the message, and so does your mind. This phenomenon occurs with anything you do. If you like to sit in a chair and work on the computer all day long and then sit on your couch and watch Netflix all night long, then your mind and body will adapt to that too. Simply stated, the human body, including your mind, will adapt to the load that you place on it. How long does this take? I am not entirely sure, but I do know that it takes a prolonged change in the load for a period of time that is greater than 90 days. Often we get stressed about what the right program is. What do we need to be doing to become a better version of ourselves? This question is actually not that complicated. We do not need a fancy program; we just need to place ourselves under intense load for a long period of time. Your mind and body will adjust and adapt to that load, and you will look like a being that can handle that type of load—that is just the plain and simple of it all. You will adapt. So, as you keep showing up and leaning into whatever challenge you've set for yourself, remember that your whole being is listening and learning. It's not about finding some magic bullet or a perfect plan, but rather about consistently applying that pressure, that focused energy. Over time, you'll find yourself not just handling the load, but becoming someone who naturally operates at that higher frequency, ready for whatever new waves come your way. It's a continuous journey of becoming, and you're already on it.
5d ago

Day 3,214 - Interrupt Your Rumination

There is an important distinction between thinking and creating. This is important to recognize, or at least it has been for me. Each of these are two completely different modes that I can be in, and when I have been in one for too long, I need to transition to the other before I get overstimulated. The most important one is that of rumination; this one especially needs to get interrupted, or I should say disrupted. Rumination is repetitive thinking that often returns to the same unresolved concerns. You can spend hours considering a difficult situation without getting any closer to resolving it. Creation works differently. When you are constructing a new idea, writing, designing, or solving a technical problem, your attention becomes engaged with a task that requires active decisions. When you find yourself engaged in a creative activity, then you are pulled away from this self-absorbed state and instead become focused on a meaningful activity where you have some control. During such periods, self-consciousness and awareness of unrelated worries can diminish. This is why two hours of creative effort can sometimes leave you more refreshed than two hours of passive entertainment. It is not necessarily rest in the conventional sense. It is relief from unproductive mental activity. I live in a neighborhood where Halloween is a major attraction. Kids come from all over the place to walk these streets and do their Trick or Treat routine. As a consequence, I have always felt persuaded to put on a show, so I always come up with a theme and put on a bit of fun display with interactive characters as part of it. This requires me to spend almost a week ahead of time to assemble everything and come up with some creative ideas. Next week, Halloween falls on a Saturday, which means this neighborhood will be full. We are expecting to hand out candy to well over 1,000 children this year. So I have already started putting everything together. So all day today I have been out in the front yard, building, measuring, decorating, and running sound and lights. Now that I am sitting down to write this, I realized that I have not once thought about all my problems today. My rumination cycle got interrupted. I am tired, not the mental exhaustion that I normally feel, but the type of tired that comes from spending the day in the sun, climbing ladders, hammering nails, trying to dress a plastic skeleton in a coat and top hat. Somehow, I just feel a little better, like my mind and body needed a day off from the constant bombardment from all my mental ruminations.
Oct 24

Day 3,213 - Generative Learning Experiences

If you have not caught on to this yet, I thought I would dedicate some thoughts to this topic. Learning has completely changed in the last year. The traditional learning model has been, for the last several centuries, curriculum to lessons to exercises and then tests. Or more commonly, the explain, demonstrate, practice, and evaluate paradigm in more practical environments. This has fundamentally shifted now, and in dramatic ways. We all now have the ability, using any number of LLM-based tools, to create our own generative learning experiences on the fly. The new paradigm is shifting to be intent to experience to feedback to adaptation. The learning experience is created as you learn, adjusting to your curiosity, decisions, and performance. Just for fun, imagine that you woke up this morning and said, "I want to understand quantum computing." AI might construct an interactive laboratory, introduce an expert mentor, simulate experiments, challenge the learner's assumptions, and invent new exercises as understanding progresses. Another person exploring the same subject could receive an entirely different experience. Neither person follows a course that existed before they began. Your modalities can shift with no high cost or preparation. You can create a simulated world, build interactive role-play scenarios, design intellectual detective-style gameplay, establish a council of experts, reverse-engineer discovery, run hypothetical labs, build memory trainers, and the list goes on. All of these are quickly built and quickly discarded. You can find a topic and, as you struggle to understand it, ask an LLM to construct a better way for you to process it. If you think about this, it is really a natural reaction to the ever-increasing complexity of our society. We are a land of specialists. If you want to earn any amount of money in our society, then you need to be an expert or specialist in something. However, the learning curve is getting intense. In some cases, you could be in school for more than 20 years in order to even get to the entry-level stages required to be considered eligible for certain specialist careers. It seems that our recent technology innovations are targeted right at this problem. Remember when Trinity asked Tank in the movie The Matrix to download her instructions on how to fly a particular helicopter? This is almost where we are today. You can seriously accelerate your learning, discovery, and adaptation process using recent AI innovations. People are lamenting the loss of jobs due to AI, and any innovation is going to do that, no doubt. However, there is going to be an explosion of new job titles that we have not even heard about yet, and our society is going to become even more specialized than it is even now. Like it or hate it, that is the path we are on. Personally, I would like to find a way to live on a quiet farm somewhere in the Midwest, slowly watching a crop grow. However, reality is that I might get close to that, but the window of my office will be staring out at that field while I pound away at my keyboard, relying on my satellite uplink to keep me connected to the giant hive mind. The point is that all this new AI technology is not only about creating fake cat videos; we can also use it to help ourselves learn, and that may prove to be not only useful but absolutely necessary to survive this crazy future we are heading toward.
Oct 23

Day 3,212 - The Answer is Run

I am always on a quest to improve my health. I am not that good at it, but nonetheless, I am always trying to figure out new and improved ways to get stronger and healthier. I would love to be able to stay fit in my old age and increase my longevity. I have tried everything under the sun. Some are more fun, playing a sport for example, or more physically demanding, like a weightlifting program. These are all good and highly recommended, but after all is said and done, the best mechanism for maintaining my health has been to run. That is it, just run. The health nut purist will tell me that you need more, weight training for example. This is true, I do not deny that. Others will talk about the wear and tear on the body; that is also partly true, not denying that either. However, when it comes to something that I can easily do no matter where I am, something that helps me feel better during and after I do it, and something that I will actually do, then running is the answer. Running improves your mood, improves your outlook on life, is meditative, and gives you time to think. You commune with the outdoors and you learn to focus your brain on what matters at the moment. Running checks all those boxes and taxes you in profound ways. You generally improve everything when you are a runner. Your food intake automatically adjusts, your digestion improves, your fluid intake goes up, and you gain in flexibility, and everything in your life becomes easier. Walking up a flight of stairs is not hard, running around town is easy, sitting down is easier. You are just more nimble, more agile, and generally a spry person who can and will often run whenever you can. You stop considering exercise you have to do, and instead, you start enjoying that time you have to yourself to go on a long run. People who run are generally the same; they have tapped into the very nature of themselves and as a consequence have found a certain peace. We were born to run. Toddlers start running almost from the time they start walking. We are a bipedal species who has amazing balance, and everything in our bodies, from our feet to our head, was set up so that we could move quickly and to keep moving for long distances. Humans are a species designed to run. When we are doing things that are not our design, then things start to go wrong. We were not meant to lay around all the time, to sit in chairs, to drive around in leather seats, and to lead sedentary lives. We were quite simply born to run, so it is not a surprise that our health, well-being, and mental acuity improves when we run. Looking for the answer to your physical fitness goals? Start running. Everything else will fall into place.

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Welcome to the 365 Commitment Podcast.

The 365 Commitment Podcast focuses on helping people make and keep life changing commitments.

Creator

Guy Reams
Years Active

2024 - 2026
Episodes

970
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© 2026 Guy Reams
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The 365 Commitment