The Two Day Rule

[Music] if you were anything like me growing up you absolutely hated rules no TV until you finish your homework don't run with scissors rules were an assault to our free will and we vowed that when we grew up we would do things differently but as it turns out maybe our parents were right right now [Music] there's one rule in particular the 2-day rule that I can credit to being the most influential in my own personal life it helped me put more than 20 pounds of muscle on my scrawny 130 pound frame and it empowered me to create a consistent exercise habit over the past eight years the decision which according to researchers has extended my life expectancy by at least three point four years fingers crossed I don't be hit by a loss so what's the 2-day rule how has it helped me and why are rules so effective at helping us change our lives I'm gonna be talking about that in today's video but first thanks to my sponsors Skillshare has made this video possible Skillshare is an online learning community with thousands of classes covering tons of different creative and entrepreneurial skills I'll talk about one of my favorites at the end of this video so let's first talk about what makes rules so effective you see our brains are really good at thinking but they are terrible at remembering that's why it's easy to get excited about building a new habit and just as easy if not easier to completely forget about it the next day you know what I mean if you've ever had a brilliant business idea right before bed but decided not to write it down you felt the pain of waking up the next morning scrambling through your brain trying to find the file with the idea on it but it's gone it was an idea that was so brilliant it would have changed the world and you forgot you just you didn't write it down our brains they possess amazing computing powers in split-second decision times but we're biologically wired to get distracted how many of us struggle with addictions from social media to alcohol and sex left to our own devices we will pretty much do anything but the right thing or at least the thing that we want to do if we never set rules for yourself we're simply letting our current feelings desires and mood move our path out of a line if we decide to take control of our lives if we focus on what we value most and we create a set of rules to live by they can be a powerful way to regain control of both our personal and professional lives in a way that we could never imagine no one who has ever achieved success as an author filmmaker or an athlete has gotten there without setting some kind of rule or system for their lives to make it as a pro to write a book or to even build a habit requires overcoming what Stephen Pressfield calls the resistance in his book the war of art Stephen writes resistance is the most toxic force on the planet it is the root of more unhappiness than poverty disease and erectile dysfunction to yield to resistance to forms or spirit it stunts us and makes us less than we are and were born to be resistance shows up in many forms from procrastination doubt the voice in the back of your head asking who the hell are you to do this the antidote is consistency showing up day after day and putting in the work and make no mistake it is a war so early on in high school and college no matter how much I tried I found it so difficult to build a habit of going to the gym or working out consistently to put it in perspective I was a pretty scrawny kid I weighed about a hundred and twenty pounds later in high school when I was around a senior and throughout college at least the first couple years I weighed 130 pounds I kept trying to eat as much food as I could to build up a consistent workout routine but nothing worked it always seemed like something was getting in the way you know I'd get busy with classes I had to prepare for finals I would just be too hungover and I would make every excuse possible but then I decided that all these excuses were complete [ __ ] if I couldn't commit to at the very least 30 minutes of exercise a day then I was the problem after all this was my life this was my health and my future after eight years of attempting to put weight on ever since high school and failing miserably I implemented the two day rule it's very simple I would not allow myself to take off more than one day in a row for some kind of Gau be at the gym jog or hike I had to do some kind of physical activity at least every other day this allowed me the time to take days off as I needed it often multiple days a week but it also kept me committed to my goal and most importantly it prevented me from falling into a slump and neglecting my health for weeks or even months at a time it's so easy to give ourselves a break which we need saying just this one time but then that turns into the next five days six days seven days and on I took the two day rule to heart and promised myself that I'd stick to it as much as I possibly could unless I was literally sick or there was something completely out of my control that prevented me from going to the gym or from getting a workout in whether I was tired whether I was sore from yesterday's workout or even if I was hungover I would get my ass out of bed and I would get to the gym even if I would just get a ten-minute cardio session and even if I went to the gym and I worked out for five minutes that was enough for me to feel like I had actually made progress that I had followed through with that commitment to myself within six months I had built more muscle mass than the past six years I'd broken through a wall and found it more difficult to skip a day of working out than it was to actually go that was over ten years ago and I still stay committed to this rule that's not to say that I'm perfect that's not to say that I don't often mess up and I don't fall back and fail to follow through with the 2-day rule that's just part of life I don't think there's any sentient being on earth that would be able to continue through with the 2-day rule indefinitely for years and years on end but for me it's helped me stay committed eighty to ninety percent of the time when I follow through with this rule and I keep it going in my everyday life I find that I'm healthier I'm more alert it acts as a keystone habit a ripple effect to other habits in my life so if I can get my ass out of bed and go to the gym I'm more likely to eat better I'm more likely to get better sleep I'm gonna feel more energized throughout the day I just know that this one habit alone has changed my life in ways that it's it's hard to explain if you're able to remove the childhood baggage of rules you can use them to your advantage life there's a misconception that rules limit what you can do in life that they hold us back in some way but the truth is that if you set the right rules for yourself based on what you value most will help you to live a life that you've always imagined I was able to make this video with the health of Skillshare recently I took a class by my friend and productivity master Thomas Frank if you often feel unproductive or disorganized this class will change your life it helped me to completely rethink how I schedule my days set up my calendar and get [ __ ] done this isn't just about tips and tricks this is about setting up a productivity system that will help you be more productive and more effective every day or at least the days that you should stick through with it maybe use the two day rule for that skill chair is super affordable with an annual subscription it's less than ten dollars a month but sign up today using the link in the description and get a two month free trial thanks for watching oh hey guys by the way I'm gonna save this for the very end I'm actually gonna hire an editor thanks to sponsors like Skillshare I'm now able to bring on some more people to help me make my videos to help bring up the quality to do some really cool stuff so I'm in the process of looking for a los angeles-based editor to work with me on everything from feature-length Netflix documentaries to the YouTube videos I create videos that get tons and tons of exposure if you want to be able to work alongside me learn from me and some of the things that I've learned as an editor and filmmaker my entire life up your skills as well as make an impact and touch the lives of millions of people then go to Machiavelli comm slash editor thanks so much and hopefully I'll hear from you soon

Channel: Matt D'Avella

Views: 3,772,745

Rating: 4.9259501 out of 5

Keywords: two day rule, 2 day rule, Matt D'Avella, matt davella

Id: bfLHTLQZ5nc

Length: 8min 11sec (491 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 03 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/themaskedugly]

https://youtu.be/bfLHTLQZ5nc?t=255

"don't allow yourself to take 2 days off in a row on [thing]"

Really irritating video

[u/RbdJellyfish]

Maybe I'm missing the point, but this video doesn't really seem to be saying anything. The advice of "don't let yourself take 2 days off in a row" is about as sound as "just go to the gym more consistently lul".

Isn't getting yourself to stick to your new rules the hard part?

[u/shoesarejustok]

I didn't even realize but this is kind of what I do. My two do rule is different though. I can take two days off of any given activity but need to try to engage every other day. This goes with house cleaning and other things that need to be done on the regular too.

[u/[deleted]]

I love Matt.