Reason Stacking

So You've Come To A Big Decision...

How Do You Decide?

The Answer?

Reason Stacking.

Let's say You want to Decide whether to Go To The Gym or not...

What Reasons Do You Have?

Don't Go:

A Lot Of Effort Sore Tomorrow

As You Can See, there are A Few Reasons Not To Go To The Gym.

What Positive Reasons Do You Have?

Let's See...

Go To The Gym:

Burn Fat

Tone Muscle

Feel Good About Yourself

Meet People At The Gym

More Energy

Good Night's Rest Later

Can Go For A Swim In December

As You Can See, there are a few great Reasons to Go To The Gym!

Reason Stacking Means:

Brainstorming PRO's and CON's to Making Your Decision for Comparison.

So What If You Have More CON's that that?

CON's for Going To The Gym:

Social Anxiety

Have To Walk There Through The Cold

Strained Ankle Last Time

Hate Working Out

Someone There Makes Fun Of You

You may notice IT IS HARDER to come up with CON's for NEGATING A GOOD DECISION.

If You Look at the Above Reasons, Think Of Ways You Could Make Them Positive...

CON PRO's:

Face Social Anxiety

Get More Exercise Walking

Learn Safe Workout Procedures (to save ankle next time)

Face Challenge of Working Out

Face Your Bully and Grow Under Adversity

Now You Can See the Negatives can be Changed to Positives.

Can the Positives be Changed to Negatives? Let's See...

Burn Fat - Could get too skinny (Eat Healthy then)

Tone Muscle - Could end up overly muscular (Unlikely)

Feel Good About Yourself - Yeah, cause THAT is bad...?

Meet People At The Gym - Could meet bad people?

More Energy - Racing Thoughts if not maintained

Good Night's Rest Later - Overtired? Nope. Energized.

Can Go For A Swim In December - Why Not?

As You Can See, it's a lot easier to come up with Positive Reasons to Take On A Task.

What Does This Mean?

It means Going To The Gym is a GOOD IDEA!

Challenge Yourself!

Get Stronger!

Get Healthier!

Meet People!

Go For A Swim!

Meet People!

Face Social Anxiety!

Face The Hard Workout!

Feel Proud Of Yourself! GO TO THE GYM!

If You Have 100% Reasons TO ACT, You Will, Quickly!

If You Have 60% Reasons TO ACT and 40% Reasons NOT TO ACT, it will Take a Long Time to Act.

But You KNOW it's a GOOD DECISION, right?

Make a Reason Stacking Chart and calculate the Yin, the Yang, the Yin in the Yang and the Yang in the Yin.

Basically, Reason Stacking draws from the idea that Growth is the Ultimate Goal, Avoidance of Unnecessary Pain the Secondary Goal.

Yin is DARK, BAD, PAIN, Subjugation. Ex:

Someone Insults You.

Yang is LIGHT, GOOD, JOY, Freedom. Ex:

Someone Praises You.

The YIN IN THE YANG is the BAD IN THE GOOD. Ex:

You Are Praised - You Develop A Big Ego.

The YANG IN THE YIN is the GOOD IN THE BAD. Ex:

You Are Insulted - You Become Introspective.

GOOD can have BAD effects.

BAD can have GOOD effects.

Yin and Yang make up LIFE.

The Objective Of Life Is Growth.

Therefore, We Should Search Out Growing Experiences.

The Wrong Kind Of Suffering Can Slow Our Growth.

Therefore, We Should Avoid Detracting Experiences. Ex:

Getting Your Arm Cut Off.

Of Course, Getting Your Arm Cut Off may SOMEHOW MAKE YOU STRONGER. This just Isn't Preferable.

So In General, Life Is A Good Teacher.

Therefore, We Should Not Avoid Experiences.

"What Doesn't Kill You, Makes You Stronger."

So Seek Out Experiences That Won't Kill You.

With Reason Stacking, this means Always Search For More Positive Reasons To Act.

The Higher The Percent (51%/65%,100%) of GOOD to BAD Reasons You Have, the More Likely it is that You Will Act Quickly.

Not Only Will You ACT FASTER with MORE POSITIVE REASONS, You will Know What You're Doing It For, Which can be a Great Inspiration!

Look at THIS Example! Ex:

Go To The Gym:

Get Fit

P 50/50 N

Don't Go:

Pain

Go To The Gym:

Get Fit Lose Weight Meet People Accomplishment Good Nights Sleep Money's Worth of Membership

P 85/15 N

Don't Go:

Pain

As You Can See, KNOWING YOUR REASONS gives you a Sense Of Purpose, or rather, Reasons to Act.

Figure Out What You Want To Do and Reason Stack It!

Stacking Negative Reasons is NOT WORTH IT.

Only Use Negative Reasons To Avoid Debilitating Stress.

That is all you need to know about Reason Stacking!

To Conclude:

1. Think of Actions That You Think Will Help You Grow.

2. Stack Positive Reasons For Action.

3. Act!

That is everything I have for you Today!

Get Out There

Stay Positive and Get Active!

By Conor Lynch.