Take the Damn Stairs!¶
The choice between the escalator and the stairs says a lot about who you are as a person. Learn why taking the stairs is critical for achieving a better life.
Have you ever taken the express train from Oslo to Gardermoen?
Then you made a choice, either unconsciously or consciously.
Did you choose the escalator or the stairs?
I would argue that the choice you made says a lot about who you are as a person.
95% of people take the escalator.
I am quite sure that if we got to know those who chose the stairs better, we would see that they were in better shape, earned more, and had better relationships with their loved ones. They would have a better quality of life.
Why?
Because everything worth achieving requires you to do things that are a little difficult.
Difficult choices. Easy life. Easy choices. Difficult life.
- Jerzy Gregorek, author, poet, and world champion weightlifter
In this article, I will show you why it is critical that you start taking the stairs.
Become one of the 5%.
If you are willing to take the stairs, you can have everything you want and become everything you want.
Nothing stops you. Except yourself.
Wake up!
I don't think the reason 95% take the escalator is that they think it is best for them.
I think the reason is that they don't even see it as a choice.
They walk around like a draug.
In a world with increasingly more distractions, our brains are getting hacked.
We go on autopilot with our noses in our phones and a bag of cinnamon rolls and a cola in our hands.
Then it becomes damn difficult to realize that it is actually a choice to take the stairs. The chances are high that one simply follows the crowd with the 95% who take the escalator.
Without being aware that it actually is a choice, you don't even get the opportunity to train your most important muscle, the willpower muscle.
We all have to choose one of two pains: The pain of discipline or the pain of regret.
The difference is that discipline is measured in grams, and regret is measured in tons. - Jim Rohn
Fast forward a few years and you have snoozed through the one opportunity you had to do something extraordinary with your life.
The feeling of unrealized potential and dreams was identified by palliative care nurse Bronnie Ware as the biggest regret people had on their deathbeds.
I am not going to let my future self be dealt a bad hand.
Are you?
Self-discipline¶
Self-discipline is the ability to make the choices that you know are best for you in the long run, even if they may seem difficult in the short term.
Life is not easy.
Things don’t come on their own.
Winning the lottery or becoming a celebrity doesn't guarantee a good life.
Simplifying it a bit, we can say that life is all about choices.
A good life requires doing difficult things. When one learns to enjoy doing difficult things, magical things happen.
By taking the stairs, you gain several positive effects. Your heart rate increases a bit, you release some good hormones, and you think a bit clearer afterward.
The problem is that these benefits might not be significant this one time. But what if you have to go up 5 floors to your office, and you have the opportunity to walk or take the elevator twice a day?
If we add that up over 20 years, you could have the difference between being overweight and having a normal weight. Perhaps even the difference between a mediocre life and a fantastic life?
Discipline gives freedom.
Freedom to become who you want to be. To get everything you want.
Discipline is your friend when motivation fails you. And motivation will fail you.
When Taking the Stairs Becomes a Habit¶
What can be nice to think about is that even if it seems a bit exhausting to take the stairs the first few times, it gets easier and easier. You won’t have to use as much mental energy to overcome the lizard brain's instinct to make the easy choice. Your willpower has grown.
To reinforce the positive feeling, behavioral psychologist BJ Fogg has shown that celebrating small habits is an effective method.
By giving yourself an invisible high-five, pumping your fist triumphantly in the air, you give yourself an emotional reward. You give yourself kudos. This will create a memory in your brain for the next time you face the choice, and it will be attractive to try to recreate that feeling again.
Eventually, taking the stairs will become a habit. What is so cool is that you can take both the willpower you have trained up and your self-image as a person with self-discipline to other areas of life.
You can learn to enjoy doing difficult things.
As I wrote about in “What is the story you tell yourself?”, how we see ourselves is essential for the choices we make and what we can achieve.
By seeing yourself as a person who takes the stairs, your chances of choosing the stairs next time you are faced with that decision are much greater.
The self-reinforcing effect over time is enormous.
Your First Steps¶
You may not have the choice between taking the stairs and an escalator every day. Hopefully, you have realized that this is a metaphor that you can take principles from and apply to many areas of life.
Taking the stairs is a mindset. An attitude.
Find your own stairs!
Maybe you should "take the stairs" by getting up when the alarm clock rings?
Maybe you should "take the stairs" by skipping the Ben & Jerry's pint you didn't need?
Maybe you should "take the stairs" by completing a work task you have procrastinated on.
Maybe you should "take the stairs" by putting down your phone when you are having a conversation.
How you take the stairs is up to you and your individual starting point.
The most important thing is just to get started.
Create a tiny momentum.
Take the damn stairs!
Become the most badass version of yourself!
That stair can change your story to one worth telling when you get old.
Sources of Inspiration¶
- Rory Vaden, "Take the Stairs: 7 Steps to Achieving True Success"
- BJ Fogg, "Tiny Habits"
- Jocko Willink, "Discipline Equals Freedom"
- Jerzy Gregorek, "The Happy Body"