When I was at IIT, our superhuman willpower was tested every day – in the dining halls of our mess.
Every afternoon, the mess workers would clang down these giant vessels of rice on the table. Inside would be sitting big lumps of rice that had to be hammered with a spatula and disintegrated. You would then pour some watery dal over it, mix into a sludge, add some sad looking vegetables, and gulp down, trying not to look too closely. 😬
Same food. Every day.
The only escape?
Some days, after lunch, there would be a special item of the day – ice cream – but only if you paid extra. Or we could go to the Hall 3 canteen for Maggi egg fry. Or to a sweet shop near the Campus Restaurant to eat rasgullas.
But wherever we went, there was a problem – we were perpetually broke.
So despite our unlimited ice cream craving, we ate in moderation. We didn’t eat clean because of willpower, but because we did not have enough money.
Fast forward to today.
You can have ice cream at 11:45 p.m., delivered to your doorstep in 10 minutes. The supermarket has two hundred types of chips. Junk food is cheaper than cooking. And you don’t even need to leave your couch.
Everything is easier now. And that’s the problem.
Earlier, you had to walk. You had to cycle. You had to control your indulgences. You had to think for yourself. Now, there’s a tool or service for everything. It’s not good or bad, it just is.
But here’s the paradox: As life becomes easier, it also becomes harder.
Because once all the external constraints are gone – no friction, no access barriers, no money constraints – the only thing left standing between us and disaster is our own self-discipline.
We now live in a world where the default options suck.
The default is binge-watching.
The default is overeating.
The default is doomscrolling.
The default is passivity.
Earlier, the default was often fine. Sometimes even good. But that world is gone.
So if we want to stay healthy, focused, and sane, we now have to opt into the good life. Deliberately.
That’s the shift we must make: From default life to deliberate life.
You have to build healthy habits and routines. Yes, it takes some effort and you need some discipline. But this extra discipline is the price of an easy life. Nothing comes free.
There is something else also that is changing. Earlier, most people had average fitness levels – very small numbers were extremely fit, or seriously obese. Now, that is no longer true.
That population in that ‘average’ middle is now getting split – for those living deliberately, sky is the limit (some are doing ultramarathons and Ironmans). And those falling back on default behaviors are becoming very unhealthy.
And while I am illustrating the point using fitness examples, this holds true across the board – be it any skill, any ability, any craft.
We have to choose between the default life that is easy but sucks, or the deliberate life, where we all flourish.
But how do we start?
Pick one aspect of your life – your mornings, your screen time, your food, your focus – and move from default to deliberate. Take the first step now.
The time for talk is over. Now, time to walk.
Rajan