The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

"There are a whole host of ways to do this. One of the best is
the public pledge. Tell everyone you know that you will lose the
excess weight or write that novel or whatever your goal might be.
Once you make your goal known to the world, there will instantly
be pressure on you to work towards its fulfillment since no one
likes to look like a failure. In Sivana, my teachers used more
dramatic means to create this positive pressure I speak of. They
would declare to one another that if they did not follow through on
their commitments, such as fasting for a week or getting up daily
at 4:00 a.m. to meditate, they would go down to the icy waterfall
and stand under it until their arms and legs went numb. This is an
extreme illustration of the power that pressure can exert on the
building of good habits and the attainment of goals."
"'Extreme' might be an understatement, Julian. What a
bizarre ritual!"
"Extremely effective though. The point is simply that when
you train your mind to associate pleasure with good habits and
punishment with bad ones, your weaknesses will quickly fall by
the wayside."
"You said there were five steps to follow to make my desires
come true." I said impatiently. "What are the remaining three?"
"Yes, John. Step one is to have a clear vision of your outcome.
Step two is to create positive pressure to keep you inspired. The
third step is a simple one: never set a goal without attaching a
timeline to it. To breathe life into a goal you must attach a precise
deadline to it. It's just like when you are preparing cases for court;
you always focus your attention on the ones the judge has
scheduled to be heard tomorrow rather than on the ones without
any court date.
"Oh, and by the way," explained Julian, "remember that a goal