As the old adage goes, the end is the beginning.

One phase’s conclusion births a new start.

I’m going to run with that as I start punching the keys around a musing on peak performance.

Like last week, I’m stuck with a blinking cursor on a blank page.

Writing goes like that for me: at times, the ideas are exploding in my brain — and then, there are periods where I feel like I’ve got nothing.

So, if the end is the beginning, here’s where we ended last week:

Once you start, don’t quit — momentum is the best mind-altering drug.

I just found out that Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, died today.

It’s unexpectedly hit me harder than I would have thought.

Over the past couple of years, Scott Adams has had an important impact on my life — namely through some of my musical preferences.

Adams promotes that systems work better than goals.

A goal is a specific objective that is either achieved or not achieved at some point in the future.
A system is something you do on a regular basis that increases your odds of happiness and success in the long run.

The difference?

The former involves waiting while the latter is active.

A goal involves continuous pre-success failure or, if unachieved, permanent failure.

“I’m not there yet.”

“I didn’t do it.”

A system — something done every day — is about daily success.

“I did it.”

As Adams states, “that's a big difference in terms of maintaining your personal energy in the right direction.”

And maybe that’s the same thing as the idea that momentum is the best mind-altering drug.

When a system is applied — swim every day, write a newsletter each week, [insert what you want] — we succeed.

And, it feels good: “I did it.”

When we start to do something consistently, it starts to feel great.

As such, we’re more inclined to repeat the system to get another dose of those feel goods.

But, it keeps getting better.

Because repeated actions build consistent progress.

And consistent progress increases long-term probability of success.

Momentum is the best mind-altering drug because, on the daily, we get a dose of the feel goods and we’re also incrementally moving forward.

I’ll end with this:

When I got home from work last week after sending out my newsletter I said to my wife, “I’ve found my drug.”

“Oh?!”

“Writing!”

I swam this morning and wrote a newsletter this afternoon.

I’m not gonna lie, things are feeling pretty good right now.

“That's a big difference in terms of maintaining your personal energy in the right direction.”

Go build your system.

Onward.

Momentum is the Best Mind-Altering Drug

Okay, So What Am I Supposed to Do Now?