How I went from 0 to 2 hours of training

     When studying anything, I've always struggled with consistency. I would procrastinate most of the time and cram before an exam or a chess tournament. Not an effective method.

     I've tried for years to study for one hour on week days - not a lot when you're in college, but better than nothing. I would keep my resolution for 2 days maybe 3 and then I went back to my old habits.

     I'm not very good at change. In fact, I don't like the process of changing. It's uncomfortable and tiring.

     I found the solution -unfortunately after my college years- in the book : Mini Habits, Smaller Habits, Bigger Results by Stephen Guise. The concept of mini-habits is to make a resolution so easy that you can't fail.

     My new resolution became to study 5 minutes on week days. It seems easy but it took me 5 weeks to do my new habit consistently. Then I added 5 more minutes per week day and when I made this new habit consistent, I added 5 more minutes ...

     I'm now studying chess 2 hours a day, 5 days a week.

     Now I only need to make my training more effective with more deliberate practice and less easy stuff. But it's a change and I might put off doing it a bit longer!