A Mindset for Not Giving Up

Whether it's learning English or going on a diet, when you want to acquire a skill or achieve something, people often say that "consistency is key." We all know that, but the hard part is actually being consistent.

There is a Japanese term called "mikka-bozu" (a three-day monk). It refers to the phenomenon where you can keep something up for about three days, but by the fourth day, you can no longer resist temptation and end up quitting.
I think this is a widely accepted term and phenomenon that everyone has experienced and thought, "Yes, that's exactly it!"

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What you need isn't to keep running
It's to keep starting to run

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These are lyrics from a song by Pistol Takehara.

You might slack off or interrupt your progress on the fourth day,
but if you restart on the fifth day, that counts as consistency.

In the same way, even if you did something for a month but slacked off for the entire second month, I think it's fine to just start again in the third month.

If you keep stubbornly restarting over and over like that, it eventually adds up to having been consistent all along.

Instead of being bound by the idea that you must continue every single day, try "restarting as many times as it takes." I believe this is the mindset for not giving up.

"Restarting on the seventh day after being a three-day monk"
Isn't that just about right?

No, it's not just about right—if you can actually do this, you will have a track record of continuing while doing it about half the days of the week. And that is truly amazing!