All or Nothing Leads to Nothing

Why All-or-Nothing Thinking Destroys Progress

When you demand perfection, you set yourself up for failure. The math is simple:

• Perfect gym session = 100% benefit

• No gym session = 0% benefit

• "Terrible" 15-minute workout = 25% benefit

Which would you rather have over a year: occasional 100% days followed by weeks of zeros, or consistent 25% days that compound?

Consistency Beats Intensity Every Time

I spent years trapped in the cycle:

• Monday: Crush a 2-hour workout

• Tuesday: Too sore to function

• Wednesday through Sunday: "I'll restart next week"

• Repeat until completely quitting

The breakthrough came when I embraced doing things badly.

The "Do It Badly" Framework

1. Lower the bar to the floor Make it impossibly easy to clear. Five minutes of reading. Ten squats.

2. Celebrate showing up The win isn't what you did, it's that you did anything at all.

3. Build the identity first "I'm a person who reads daily" matters more than how many pages.

Your Systems Beat Your Goals

The perfect workout plan you abandon is infinitely worse than the "terrible" routine you actually do three times a week.

I read more books when I stopped forcing myself to finish every one I started.

I got stronger when I accepted that some gym days would be garbage.

Consistency compounds. Perfection prevents.

Do it badly. Just do it anyway.