In my last two letters, I redefined consistency as a habit of restarting.
This is contrary to the conventional view that consistency means never falling off, which is an impossible standard that causes us to fear falling off and to beat ourselves up when we do.
My invitation in Part 1 was to accept that falling off is inevitable. Life happens.
And to instead focus on choosing to restart. Knowing you always restart quickly, no matter how many times you fall, creates unshakeable confidence and internal peace.
The second piece is having a system that makes restarting easy. I shared three rules in Part 2:
Rule #1 — Make Starting Ridiculously Easy: Shrink your first step to something so small your brain can't argue against it. Minimize the calories it takes to start.
Rule #2 — Never Miss Twice: One missed rep is an accident. Two is the start of a new habit—one of avoidance and delay. The moment you fall off, make executing the next rep your non-negotiable #1 priority.
Rule #3 — Win the 1-Second Battle: Act decisively before your mind can interfere—while the resistance is still small. Motivation follows action; it doesn’t precede.
Let's continue building your restarting arsenal.
Rule #4 — Never Try to Catch Up
When you miss a day or a week, don’t give in to the urge to “make up for lost time”.
That’s like running a marathon after an absence instead of your usual 5k.
Or like restarting a browser, and re-opening the 58 tabs that caused it to crash in the first place.
Catching up is not the goal.
Your only goal should be to restart.
As quickly and easily as possible.
Remember: your brain is always seeking to conserve energy.
Restarting is hard enough. Don’t pile on unnecessary pressure by focusing on the gap between where you are and where you think you should be.
Drop all “shoulds.”
Focus only on the task in front of you.
Let go of all the rest. And don't look back.
Work with your biology, not against it.
Make it easy for your brain to align instead of fight you.
Example: When I was a personal trainer, I watched countless gym members return from absences vowing to double their workouts in order to "catch up." The result: some of them delayed indefinitely. While others pushed themselves into burnout.
The ones who actually came back? They started with a few light sessions to "wear off the rust." No pressure. No catching up. Showing up was their only goal. And once they built momentum, they surpassed their prior fitness level—without all the drama.
So reset. And start fresh with a clean slate.
Rule #5 — Lock in Consistency Before Intensity
Your only job after an absence is to re-establish a reliable routine.
Don’t rush the process. Don't try to increase volume, quality, or intensity back to where they were before.
If you set the bar too high too early, you create unnecessary pressure that becomes fuel for procrastination.
Instead, focus on progress, not perfection:
Progress likes ease and play.
Not pressure and delay.
There is a natural progression to everything. Just like a plant grows with the seasons, you can't rush rebuilding your routine. If you pull on a seedling to make it grow faster, you'll rip out the roots.
The natural phases of success:
Just start.
Sustain repetition.
Habitify: With sustained repetition… effort decreases, and behaviour becomes automatic.
Increase: Quality, intensity, speed, and/or volume.
How to implement:
“Focus on establishing a routine, first, by making showing up non-negotiable. Then build on it. Don’t concern yourself with the quality or results of your effort at first.”
Write one crappy paragraph daily instead of a full article. Walk ten minutes instead of running 5K.
Here’s how it looked for me:
When I restarted writing, I didn’t try to pick up where I left off, which was finishing a letter a week, writing 3 to 5 hours daily. I knew I’d be rusty. So, I gave myself three weeks to publish my comeback letter comfortably.
First week: I spent 30–60 minutes daily just reviewing past letters and notes.
Second week: 60–90 minutes of actual writing.
By week three, I was writing 2–4 hours daily.
Now, six weeks later, writing has become one of the highlights of my day. The resistance I had felt before restarting is a distant memory.
Remember:
First, make showing up easy; an automatic habit.
Then make it better.
Rule #6 — Procrastinate on Procrastination
I used to joke that when I went to university, I got a double degree: a Bachelor's of International Business Administration and… a PhD in procrastination.
I took pride in my ability to wait until the last moment, cram an entire semester of studying into one dreadful all-nighter, and still somehow maintained an A-average.
I can't recall much of what I learned during those cramming sessions. But one thing endured—my habit of procrastination. I had become literally world-class at it by virtue of the thousands of reps I had invested in it during college and beyond. And as they say:
Repetition is the mother of all skill.
Recently, as I was musing about this “accomplishment” and how much I resented my procrastination, which I saw as a personal failure and defect. Then, I remembered a line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet:
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking it makes it so.
Was there potentially a way to turn this obstacle into an advantage, as the Stoics advise?
And then a whacky idea hit me…
What if I could just:
Procrastinate on my procrastination!
I was already great at this! So, it should be easy. I would fight fire with fire. And turn my obstacle into the way.
My mind protested instantly and violently: “That’s stupid. It would never work.” This outsized response caught my attention.
What the mind resists is usually the exact thing I need to do. So I thought: “What if this actually works? There’s no harm in trying…”
And it did work. Exceedingly well, actually.
I realized I had been pointing this powerful ability of saying “not now” at the wrong target—at the effortful tasks that would take me towards my goals—instead of using it to delay distractions.
How to implement:
If you’ve already mastered the art of "later"… Why not cash in on your investment? Point your weapon at your excuses, instead of your goals. A double-edged sword cuts both ways—you, as the wielder, decide which way to cut.
Every time an excuse shows up, flip the script and tell it: “Not now. We’ll get to it later.” Then get back to starting.
Example: When writing, my main challenge used to be overwriting because I have so much to share. Drafting 3000-5000 words meant spending hours editing it down to something digestible.
So I started an “I’ll use this later” folder where I move ideas and full paragraphs without missing a beat. “Out of sight, out of mind” solved my mind’s FOMO.
Procrastinate on your procrastination.
Turn your kryptonite into your superpower.
Next Steps
Pick the rule that resonated most. You only need to find one that works. Then practice it until it’s a reflex.
What methods have been working for you to make restarting easy? What’s been challenging? I’d love to know. Just hit reply. I read and respond to all emails.
Be all you can be.
Your partner in success,
Ovi
PS: Next week, in the final part of this series… We’ll lock in the final and most powerful piece of mastering the Art of the Start: “How to be a Comeback King or Queen.”
