Let’s say that all you had to do to change your current reality was to do one simple act every day for the rest of your life. Could you do it?

What if I told you the act would take no longer than 5, 10, 30 or maybe 60 minutes? And what if you had a choice at what this activity was? I can’t make it any easier than that.

Probably most people’s answer to this question is “yes,” but, then again, most people will underestimate how hard this is. In fact, this game has been running since the birth of society and the failure rate so far is insanely (and seemingly disproportionately) high. Why?

Well, some people will simply forget (i.e., lack of commitment). Some people won’t believe it’s true (lack of conviction). Some people won’t think it’s important to do it every day (lack of discipline). Some people will think even this is asking too much of them (laziness). Some people will say and really think they’ll do it, but then lose focus somewhere along the way (lack of follow-through). Some people will have an earnest start, but will stop as soon as they encounter their first or first few obstacles (lack of self-empowerment and confidence). Some people will use their surroundings and/or circumstances as an excuse (victim mentality).

The truth is, there’s endless reasons why not to do it; why you could fail. But despite the deceptively high failure rate, what I’ve asked you to do isn’t really that hard. The odds are not stacked against you or anyone else on this planet. The problem is, you’ve misunderstood the task. I haven’t asked you to do one simple task every day for the rest of your life. I’ve asked you to find one reason, if you’re serious about living and maybe even thriving, why you should. That is the only thing holding you back from your dreams – not any of the perceived reasons why you can’t.

Let me explain.

One of my clients told me one time that numbers and math didn’t make any sense for them until they put a dollar sign in front of everything. Then it all magically clicked for them. Think what you will about this, but I think it highlights a very important, albeit subtle quirk of the mind. And this is what sets the successful apart from unsuccessful. Can you guess what it is?

I’ll tell you. The mind only works to achieve things it finds important.

Notice I said “the things it finds important.” Because it doesn’t matter how many different reasons you’re given by other people or how important they think each of the reasons is. It’s all about how you perceive its importance. Just like my client. It didn’t matter how many times they were told in school that math was important and all the reasons why. It didn’t matter that their parents barraged them with monologues as soon as they got home from school. None of it mattered because they hadn’t yet found a way to view it as important.

This is exactly the same thing we experience with habits. Things like meditation, exercise, journaling, maintain a healthy diet, and gaining a skill. The list goes on.

Everyone and their mom could tell you how important each of these things is, but it won’t actually click and you won’t actually integrate it into your reality until you find your reason. Everyone knows that exercise leads to a healthier, longer life, for example, but maybe you just care about having fun, so you won’t actually do it until you find an activity that you find both physically challenging and enjoyable. That’s what happened to me.

Let’s rewind back to when I was in high school. I did basketball for two years because I thought I liked it and I thought it would help me get into college, but the coaches ran us to death and sucked the fun out of it. So what happened? I quit. Even though (I thought back then) my chances at college admissions were riding on it. Four years later, I’m introduced to Karate with an instructor whose style I loved and enjoyed and, for two years, I found myself going out of my way to make time for Karate. The only problem this time was that was that my reason for exercising was extrinsic. As soon as my instructor moved away, I stopped doing Karate and didn’t seek out another instructor.

Luckily, I’ve always been interested in yoga. But even with that, I stopped being consistent after the first year. Why? Because I was viewing it as a purely physical practice. It wasn’t until I started appreciating it as a tool in my spiritual practice that helps me process my emotions and make my days a little lighter that I picked it back up four years ago and really started being serious about it. To this day, I continue doing it every day.

TL;DR, you have to find your reason and it has to be intrinsic – it can’t depend on anything outside of your control like other people, your environment, etc. because as soon as those change (and they will), the habit you’ve worked so hard to build is now at risk of being broken or, worse, completely discontinued.

So, are you still game?