Over half of the US population uses supplements. Every year that number increases. Interestingly, there’s no correlation of improvement to public health.

Why is that? Is it that supplements don’t work?

No. Looking deeper, what researchers found is that when someone takes a supplement, say a multi-vitamin, they make a mental “check” that they’ve done their bit of good for their body for the day. Then, when mealtime comes, they justify unhealthy decisions. Or when it comes time to exercise, they don’t feel so bad waving it off.

This is a sweeping psychological problem inhibiting real life progress.

We often do small, simple tasks, which have relatively little real impact, to justify putting off substantial tasks of critical value. We get a false sense of progress. We appease our emotions by doing what’s easy, and not what’s important.

There are real barriers surrounding the big tasks—whether it’s ambiguity, time, difficulty, or fear. Little tasks mean little risks, but the bigger tasks are the ones that really need to be done.

So if you want to succeed in life, you need to buck up and do the work.

Rusty

(P.S. I recommend Steven Pressfield’s new book Do The Work, which is a practical walkthrough of getting the right stuff done. Even better, right now it’s free!)