A lot of us have pattern problems and we do not even realize it.

We are stuck doing the same thing over and over again, thinking we just need more discipline.

So today I want to talk about pattern recognition.

And I am going to do it through something I struggled with.

A couple years ago I had a simple goal.

Work out in the mornings.

I really wanted to be a morning person.

The problem was I kept snoozing my alarm.

And I would berate myself for not having more discipline.

I knew what I needed to do.

Just wake up.

The internal talk track was brutal.

“You are an athlete. What is wrong with you? Get up.”

“Why can’t you do something this simple?”

“Other people wake up early. Why are you so lazy?”

Eventually I would get so fed up that I would wake up with my alarm.

For a day. Maybe two. Sometimes a week.

But I always fell back into the same routine.

It was a pattern and I was pulling the wrong lever.

Here was the loop:

Alarm → Snooze → Miss workout → Work all day → Exhausted → Home → TV / scrolling → Stay up late → Alarm → Snooze.

I was obsessed with just waking up at my alarm.

But I was ignoring the highest leverage point.

My bedtime.

Every night I was setting myself up for failure.

I’d get home, start decompressing, and get caught in the social media / TV rabbit hole.

By staying up late, I guaranteed I would be exhausted when the alarm went off.

I did not need more discipline at 6am.

I needed a different decision at 9pm.

Once I committed to a 9pm bedtime, everything changed.

I stopped scrolling. I stopped binge watching. I got in bed.

And don’t get me wrong, this was still hard. But after a few days, it became easier.

The snoozing stopped.

The workouts started happening.

It wasn’t magic. It was actually really simple. I just needed to focus on the right lever.

That is power of pattern recognition.

If something in your life keeps repeating itself, stop trying to fix the middle.

Find the loop.

Then find the first domino.

That is where change starts.

Your Move

What goal are you currently frustrated with?

Write down the loop.

Find the first domino.

You are not lazy.

You are just pulling the wrong lever.

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If this resonated, you’re not alone. Let’s talk. Book a call.

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