No one is coming to save you.

This is both scary and exciting at the same time.

Scary because the situation you're in is entirely of your own making.

Exciting because you can take full control of your life and change your future.

The problem is that we're a bundled mess of thoughts, beliefs, routines, skills, and habits that keep us stuck where we are across adulthood.

Take myself as an example.

Learning new skills on the job came easy to me as a newly graduated engineer, even with complex stuff.

For those who don't know, I was deeply involved in Research and Development for heavy-duty trucks. Those things are crazy – they operate more like an AI than mechanical machines. Things like common rail fuel injection at 2000 bar that a computer controls with millisecond precision in real-time. Or exhaust after-treatment systems that remind you of a chemical lab on wheels.

It might sound pretty exciting at first to learn these things, but I encountered a huge problem:

I was spending years of my life learning skills that had absolutely zero impact on my personal life or my future outside of the job.

As you progress up the career ladder, the rate of skill acquisition slows to a grinding halt. Job environments favor laziness and non-performance until retirement. Comfort sets in while the pressure to perform in novel environments disappears quickly.

The older we get and set in our ways with family, jobs, and responsibilities, the harder it becomes to change and build the life we truly want.

Teens don't have 30+ years of baggage or 20 years of societal programming (yet).

So if you want to change your life for the better, that means earning an income detached from time and doing what you love.

Achieving that means getting into the habit of learning new skills again. And not just one, but a dozen fast AF.

The difference this time around is that you get to pick the skills you need to achieve your dreams and desires.

Skills that improve your wealth, health, and happiness.

I use the words "habits" and "skills" interchangeably because they are tightly linked together and follow one another:

• You get paid for skills

• Skills require consistent practice

• Daily practice requires habits and discipline

Habits are the things that elevate your life and help you get everything you want with less effort. And viewing habits as a skill explains why so many people have problems getting results.

It's simply not a habit for people to take consistent action on the right things that lead toward a goal of desire.

Read that again a few times over.

A writing habit is what allowed me to earn an income online and quit engineering forever. Writing is a fundamental skill and can be repurposed indefinitely – from newsletter writing to copywriting to prompt writing.

Gym and nutrition is what allows me to stay in a Greek god-like shape. All I have to do is maintain the habit, and I don't even have to think about anything as it's automatic.

Do you see how skills, habits, and the fundamentals come together to propel you toward your goals?

Success is a habit, a habit is a skill, and a skill is learnable.

Mastering habits is how you master yourself.

And when you master yourself, you can master health, wealth, happiness, and your future.

How Old Are You?

You might have a limiting belief that you're too old for this, and I understand why.

I was shocked when I discovered what I'm about to tell you:

The average man after 30 learns ZERO new POSITIVE habits a year.

The crazy thing is that learning new skills is more a product of choice and circumstance rather than capability.

As it turns out, each age group has a different set of problems:

• Younger guys have a lot of time but lack direction and life experience

• Older guys tend to have experience but lack time and are set in their ways

This is the typical pattern for the average man during his lifetime:

Ages 0-25

This is the period of most intense skill acquisition, driven by both biological development and institutional "learning." I put this into quotation marks because you don't truly learn anything – you temporarily memorize.

Growing up, we learn fundamental skills (walking, talking), academic skills, and usually core professional competencies during this time.

The brain's heightened plasticity and structured educational environments make this the peak learning period, as it was for me.

Unfortunately, this is where all of the garbage programming and beliefs also get installed that lead to an average life at best.

Ages 25-35

This period typically focuses on professional skill refinement rather than new skill acquisition unless your job demands it.

Men often deepen their expertise in career-related skills and might pick up 2-3 major new skills related to their work or significant life changes.

Think of parenting or home ownership as other things you learn.

Ages 35-50+

Here we see the first significant drop-off in new skill acquisition.

Research suggests that men are more likely to maintain existing skills rather than tackle entirely new domains like building an online business that demands at least 3 major high-income skills.

The average man in this age range typically acquires only 1-2 completely new skills per decade, often driven by necessity rather than choice.

This is sad to see because skills and habits are not static. Our goals and priorities change throughout our lives, and so do our habits. In reality, we pick up detrimental habits like smoking, boozing, or simply becoming lazy.

But why does it feel like a slog to learn new things?

Turns out the answers might surprise you.

Why You're Always Overwhelmed

Please understand that stagnation has NOTHING to do with your age.

Research shows that the brain remains capable of significant learning well into old age, and why we fail is largely thanks to behavior.

I'm curious to know what's holding you back right now, hit reply and let me know.

1. Cognitive Overload

One pattern I've noticed in all overwhelmed people:

They overthink and underact.

Cognitive overload makes your brain go into red alert, and as a result, you do nothing. The human brain is wired to resist dramatic changes as potential threats, triggering stress responses that make it very difficult to learn new behaviors.

In short, the brain fights against what it perceives as a disruption to homeostasis. Add to it the constant casino-like dopamine effects of social media, and you're cooked before you even begin.

I had a client like this who loved to hoard courses and binge-watch YouTube videos in the entrepreneur space. It also left her massively overthinking and paralyzed from doing anything at all.

When this happens to you, the best you can do is not to add, but to subtract.

Cognitive overload is the reason why most online courses are left at 20% – it's simply too much, too big, and too fast.

The balance gets restored only once you start to overact and under-consume.

This allows your brain to breathe and turn the current skill in practice into a habit, and as a result, decreases the cognitive load.

If you have a driver's license, you often don't think too much about how to drive the car – it "just happens." This is the same thing.

2. Response Patterns

Your environment shapes how you act.

This might sound like super basic advice that you've heard before, but I also want you to realize that common sense is not common practice.

Just because you know about it doesn't mean you harness it.

The brain processes thousands of environmental cues all the time, and it does so subconsciously. Things that you see, smell, feel, and touch all trigger a response pattern without you even knowing it's happening.

That's what subconscious means – you're not aware.

Since I discovered minimalism, I've experimented a lot with tweaking my setup, and it's my go-to when adopting a new set of habits.

One month before New Year's Eve, I created a writing habit for these long-ass newsletters you're reading right now. It took me around 15 days, and now I write a little every day.

It would not have been possible to write these letters from scratch without a proper digital space that makes me WANT to write.

If you only rely on willpower to get shit done, then you're up against your subconscious mind, and good luck with that, my friend.

3. Neuroplasticity

This is a cool one.

People don't understand how habits form in the first place.

If you expect it to somehow feel natural or quick, then you're sorely mistaken, and this is also where most people give up.

When you create a new habit by practicing a skill, you're literally changing the shape of your brain. You're forging new neural pathways, and although this process is predictable, it's also slow.

It simply takes time for habits to become automatic, and you can't rush it.

So how long does it take?

If you've had any past experience with a related skill, then it's much faster. I've been writing for years, and that's why creating a newsletter writing habit only took me 15 days.

But for a brand new skill that you have no idea how to do takes anywhere between 30-66 days, and this is for a SIMPLE skill.

Complex skills that require multiple other skills (skill stacking), considerations, and mastery take years.

Luckily for you, the most impactful skills that benefit your life the most are also the basic and fundamental ones.

Just as in boxing, the jab is the most basic, most thrown, and the most important weapon you have – so better get it right and automate it to perfection.

4. The Dream Desire

Emotionality also plays a role in getting the work done.

I say work because by now, you probably realize that in order to set a new habit of acquiring high-income skills, you have to consistently reshape your mind to take action – a.k.a. work on it.

And mastering the work is helpful when you draw on emotions, pain points, dreams, or desires.

My 8-year-old son learned the habit of busting out pushups every morning. I never have to remind him; he just does them like a champ. Why though?

Because he has a desire to watch cartoons for a few minutes before going to school. I'm fine with it if he first earns it, and he does it with pushups.

This, in my opinion, is an excellent way to playfully introduce positive habits that don't feel forced. You learn discipline and the satisfaction of earning what you want in life.

If you truly want to learn new skills and set them as habits as fast as possible, then there has to be a desire for what waits on the other side.

We suck at remembering things, especially long-term visions and goals. When you remind yourself of why you are doing something, then that in itself acts as a trigger to start the habit.

This is also the reason why bad habits that are ingrained in you are so hard to get rid of. They serve the emotional purpose of either reducing stress, providing a sense of control, or offering some form of pleasure/reward.

Smoking probably hits on all 3 of them.

5. Identity Shift

I love smoking cigars, but I haven't touched them for 6 months.

I quit from one day to the next because I never smoked them out of stress or control, just for light pleasure when it was good weather outside.

Thinking back, it was not just the emotionality part that made it easy to stop, but also my identity linked to it.

I've never seen myself as a smoker, and I don't really identify as one. My identity is rooted in health, working out, and doing martial arts. I could enjoy a totally opposite vice without getting stuck in it because of my identity.

This is powerful stuff when you are able to manage your internal psychological resistance without creating any mental stress.

And this works not just on bad habits but on setting new habits as well. Doing the work becomes easier when you change how you think and what you believe.

Changing your mindset about what you are capable of leads to a fundamental shift in identity that naturally aligns with your behaviors.

Right now, I see myself as a writer, so I write.

And my actions confirm my belief that I'm a writer. Apply the same thing for anything and watch what happens.

Start With One

You only need to get into the habit of doing ONE high-income skill and build it up to ONE hour of pure focus a day to change your life for real.

But where do you start?

This is how I'd make success impossible to fail in a long enough time frame.

1. What You Need

Ask yourself what you're in most need of in your life.

This can be anything from cash flow, better health, or happier relationships. I'd argue that income and health are the two must fundamental parts to get right from the start.

These are the skills to learn this year to live your best life:

• Write daily

• Create a digital product

• Outreach to clients

• Sleep better

• Take care of your nutrition

• Work out consistently

• Self-reflection

If you want the ability to earn an income online, write every day to attract an audience that cares about your message and create amazing products that are helpful to humanity.

2. The Rule Of One

It's amazing how fast you progress when you only focus on one thing.

No matter if it's for solving a problem for a client you have no idea how to do or learning a new skill.

This builds confidence in your ability to figure it out, and that is a superpower.

Gary Keller wrote an entire book on the concept of The One Thing (240 pages), which should give you an idea of how important it is to be methodical with this process.

From the above list of skills and what you need, you are only allowed to choose one.

That is your new project for the coming weeks, and all your attention is only on that thing.

3. Balanced Practice

You will get overwhelmed.

That is perfectly fine and normal in the beginning, but we also want to work ourselves out of that state.

And it starts with understanding that turning a skill into a habit takes time thanks to how our brains work. After all, we are starting to turn into dinosaurs compared to AI, so we have to be aware of our biological machinery.

Get into the habit of practicing your new skill every day and work on reducing that cognitive load before adding more to it.

Success Is A Simple Habit

Success means different things for different people.

We all have our own definition of what it truly represents, but we can probably agree on this:

Mastering your life is about finding ways to make success effortless.

If you're dissatisfied with your current version of self and what you have – change your habits and beliefs around it.

If you want the ability to earn an income online and sell digital products, then get into the habit of creating and selling products.

If you want to get in shape and get into the best shape of your life, then get into the habit of working out and eating properly.

It's not complicated, but you need to work with your biology rather than against it.

If you want the system I used, then you'll find it in 2 Minute Habits.

Hope this was helpful.

— Chris