Text | Mi Xingxing

01

I have heard a saying: "The ultimate achievement comes from self-discipline."

I don’t know when it started. Self-discipline seems to have become a positive label for people. If something cannot be done well, it must be because the degree of self-discipline is not enough.

Moments is a platform where many self-disciplined people gather. Some friends even made up a joke: "You can only watch Moments at noon, because sooner or later you will be involved and die."

Although it is a joke, it is real.

Because sooner or later, when I open the WeChat Moments, all kinds of self-discipline come to mind. The screen is full of words such as "Real strength comes from self-discipline", "The more self-disciplined, the luckier", "Self-discipline" That is true freedom."

I feel like everyone in my friend circle is trying their best to say good morning to the streets at four in the morning and good night to the stars at twelve in the middle of the night. Only those who are not self-disciplined are indulging themselves. .

To be honest, I have heard the saying "self-discipline is freedom" countless times. Even at the moment, I can make many plans and set many flags, but I can't persist for long. Got slapped in the face frequently.

While thinking about how self-discipline can change life, at the same time indulging oneself with a sense of guilt, freedom is freedom, which has become a loud slogan in persistence and action.

Because in most people’s perception, self-disciplined people can definitely live a free life.

It wasn’t until I read the book "Cognitive Awakening" that I realized: What really changes life is not self-discipline, but cognition.

02

Zhou Ling, the author of "Cognitive Awakening", before the age of 36, was in the same living situation as most people, "having no idea about himself and having no idea about life. , the "Three Nos" who have no choice in their destiny.

It wasn’t until the age of 36, when cognition affected choices and choices changed destiny, that I began to extensively engage in knowledge, from brain science, cognitive science, psychology, behavioral science, sociology and other disciplines .

If a person truly realizes what he wants and knows his growth path, he will find a way to realize his dream.

Since then, the author has gradually accumulated some methods and secrets from confusion to clarity. While helping himself out of the confusion of growth, he has also helped many people to answer questions for those who long for growth in their confused lives.

This book was recommended to me by a friend. At first, it was just used as a reference book for writing. However, when I found that a series of operations in my writing were sloppy and I did not have a strong desire for knowledge.

As the author said in the book, "This book is suitable for everyone who wants to grow up, especially those who are impatient, eager for success, and extremely anxious."

If your current situation is the same, then let us work together to awaken awareness. I believe there will be unexpected gains.

03

Many friends will encounter similar problems:

Why is self-discipline so difficult? Yes, it is difficult.

Because we are advanced animals controlled by the brain and spend most of our time thinking about ourselves, we have created a state of having pleasure first and suffering later.

Regarding the brain, the book also gives a corresponding explanation. We humans can gain a foothold on the earth and completely rely on the intelligent brain.

From the origin to the present, our brains have evolved over hundreds of millions of years. From the perspective of the evolutionary process, the brains dominate our lives.

About 360 million years ago, reptiles appeared and evolved into the original "instinct brain" in order to adapt to life on land. The instinctive brain is very simple, which is to respond strongly to external stimuli.

About 200 million years ago, mammals appeared and evolved emotional brains to enhance their survival advantage.

It was not until 2.5 million years ago that humans stood out from mammals and formed a rational brain with independent reasoning in a new area of ??the brain.

Judging from the length of time, the instinctive brain is very old, the rational brain is relatively old, and the rational brain is very young.

Therefore, under the balance of high and low scores, although the rational brain is more advanced than the instinctive brain and the emotional brain, its power is too weak.

This is why, what we want to do has not been able to be sustained well, and we have not been able to stick to our original intention.

Because the rational brain has weak control ability, most decisions in our lives are often controlled by the instinctive brain and emotional brain.

Just like our common "seeking for ease, eagerness for quick success, short-sightedness, and instant gratification" are all natural.

04

Habits are hard to change. If you want to escape from them, you need not to rely on simple self-control, but to revitalize the cognition of the brain circle through the infusion of various knowledge.

Schopenhauer said: "Cognition itself is painless, so the more dominant cognition is in our consciousness, the happier we feel."

Talking about cognition, the author proposes a concept in the book "metacognition, the ultimate human ability". How to say it? It's like everyone has a pair of wings, but they don't realize that it can make them fly. If metacognition is awakened, it can help them spread their wings and fly in chaos.

As mentioned in the book, metacognition is the highest level of cognition, which can recognize and understand its own "thinking process". It sounds very advanced, but to put it bluntly, it is self-reflection and feedback.

If we can stay awake and distinguish from different dimensions and breadths whether what we are doing is correct, whether it is worth persevering, and whether we can move forward with external assistance, then we will know what to do next. Did it.

After reading this book, I am also reflecting on and practicing the following points:

First, deliberate practice of concentration is the key.

I wonder if you are in this situation. You have work tasks in your hands, but your head is thinking about how to report the results to the leader; when you are eating, your mouth is moving, but your heart is worried about how to deal with others. ; When running, you have to fight for time to listen to the audio.

Some people say that this is using fragmented time to achieve greater work efficiency, but the book says that this is a manifestation of distraction. Failure to focus will cause us to have a lot of troubles.

This is what we call mind wandering. Mind wandering can make us live at any time, but it cannot let us live in the present.

Therefore, it is important to start a period of extreme concentration with a clear goal, not only to learn deep immersion concentration, but also to practice concentration deliberately.

When I was in a writing class, every module taught by the teacher was designed to allow students to practice it deliberately so that they can use it freely. The same goes for deliberate practice. Doing something a few times will make it easier. Did it.

Second, choose to study at the edge of your comfort zone.

Nowadays, the comfort zone seems to be a place that everyone wants to escape from, and of course I am no exception. However, the "comfort zone edge" proposed in the book actually means that it is difficult to match.

A person cannot be in a state of chicken blood for a long time, nor can he be in a loose state. Doing something that provides a sense of accomplishment and challenge is the fastest way to make progress.

Therefore, neither too difficult nor too easy, and the zone of moderate difficulty and ease is the flow channel for learning.

When I first started running, I ran for an hour on the first day. It was very tiring and I gave up after less than a week. Later, my friend said that you need to adjust your "tactics". If an hour is too long, you You can adjust it to a length of time that you can accept, so that you can achieve the effect of exercise without pushing your body beyond its limits.

After listening to my friends’ words and adjusting, it really became different.

Third, think clearly, narrow your goals, and take action.

I have read many books and heard many truths, but still cannot live this life well. This is a true portrayal of personal growth.

In the book, the author also said that "the clearer the understanding, the firmer the action." To put it simply, once you have figured out what you want to do, you will take the initiative to practice it.

How to take action, the author also shared a better way to "write it". To be honest, only by actually taking action can you feel the effectiveness of the method.

When I am at work, I am used to making a plan for myself, and ticking each item when I complete it. At first, I thought that such a list would affect the work process, but I did not expect to make a list like this. Work brings a lot of convenience, so the advantage of writing it down is that the general direction is always in your own hands.

To narrow the goal, you need to clearly define the goal. For example, if you want to write 3 articles a week, you can reduce it to a short article of 300 words a day. In this way, you will not feel the burden after completing the daily goal. , and saw the written results.

In a little action, it is more direct to see the results than to think about seeing the results before taking action.

In fact, there are many scenes in life that can be replaced. The key is that after mastering the method, you will see the problem from a different perspective.

Therefore, when we rack our brains to accomplish something, we might as well think about it first and then act quickly. The author also said, "Thinking is very important, but just thinking without doing it will cause endless harm." ”

05

Written at the end.

No one is lucky in their success. They just change their perceptions and take practical actions at the same time.

In fact, we are all smart people, and we know how to learn and grow in many ways. Choose what suits you and touches you, lock the goal, and then start the driving force for self-change and move forward together.

About the author:

Mi Xingxing, a psychology enthusiast, is willing to keep you warm with words at the tip of his pen.