Tie yourself to the mast. If you don't have discipline or willpower, but you're really smart. Tie yourself to the mast just like King Odysius. This might actually save your life. Odysius was a Greek king who fought for 10 years in Troy. And now that he was heading home victorious, all he wanted was to be with his beautiful Queen Penelope again and hold his son Tmicus in his arms. But there was a problem. On the way back, he had to sail through a narrow reef that was swarming with sirens. No sailor had ever made it through because the sirens with their singing would make you hallucinate and see the thing you desired most on the reefs so you'd crash your ship and get eaten alive. But Adysius had one big strength. Besides being brilliant, he was humble. He could admit, "I don't have more discipline or willpower than anyone else. I'd fall for the sirens, too, but I want to hear them." So he ordered his sailors to tie him to the mast with several ropes and told them to plug their ears with wax. He warned them, "When we're going through the reef and I hear the sirens, I won't be able to resist. I'll lose my mind. I'll scream at you. I'll insult you. I'll beg you to untie me. But no matter what I say, don't let me go until we're out of there." So everyone except Adysius plugged their ears. They tied the king tightly to the mast. But when they entered the reef, it was worse than they expected. One sailor hadn't sealed his ears properly and threw himself into the sea. And Odysius's hallucinations were so vivid that he went completely mad. With superhuman strength, he thrashed against the mast. And the sailors looked on in horror as they moved deeper and deeper into the reef. But before I tell you how it ends, stop and think. In your own life, how could you tie yourself to the mast? What strategy could you use to escape the sirens of your life? For example, Deamosines, the Greek politician, to keep himself tied to the mast, would shave half his head and half his beard so he'd be too embarrassed to go out. And that helped him resist the temptation to party with his friends and girlfriends. And Victor Yugo was just as wild. When he was writing Le Miserab, he'd strip naked and give his clothes to his servant, telling him not to return them for 4 hours until he gets the work done. That way when the siren showed up, let's grab a beer. His friends, let's go to the park and make out his lovers. He was stuck at home tied to the mast and had to keep writing. Reaching your goals is easy when you tie yourself to the mast. Like me, I struggle with working out, but my roommate runs every day. So one day I gave him an envelope with $250 and told him, "For the whole month, if I skip even one run, you get to keep that money." Now skipping a workout is expensive. and I didn't miss a single day. Or if you want to force yourself to eat healthy, you get rid of all the sirens in your house. Throw out the chips that sing so irresistibly. Toss the ice cream that calls to you every afternoon. Kick out all the sirens and tie yourself to the mast by filling your fridge with veggies, chicken, and meat. In your own life, who are your sirens? And how can you tie yourself to the mast? Back to Adysius. He hallucinated and saw the beautiful Penelope and his son Tmicus crying out from the reef. Odysius, we love you. Don't leave us here. Come to us. And with all his strength, he tried to break free to go to them. But because he was smart and had tied himself to the mast, even though he didn't have the willpower to resist the sirens, he made it through the reef. And a few days later, he reclaimed his throne in Ithaca and was reunited with his family. Chapter six of Atomic Habits talks about this, how you can design your environment to make it easier to resist temptation and achieve your goals. In this video, I'll show you how to download it for