Barkus Luckey connects Stoicism, the Bhagavad Gita, and Japanese philosophy to modern habit science. He draws on Marcus Aurelius and Ryan Holiday, shares martial-arts stories including grieving his father, and argues that morning reading and journaling build lasting change in roughly 12 weeks through small, consistent improvements.
My first introduction to the ancient philosophy meets modern life was from reading Stoicism. First part of it sort of popped up on the Google Play reading list. I read a bit of Marcus Aurelius Meditations, found it pretty tough. And then when my daughter and I were working together to improve her reading skills, I found the Daily Stoic from Ryan Holiday. And every morning we'd read a stoic paragraph and then Ryan Holiday's interpretation of it. Then from there doing a lot of martial arts. Became fascinated in some of the Japanese proverbs, favorites like Hiyaku Orenji, toku, training lots will become your treasure. With a background in software development, technology, some of the agile ideas like Shu Ha Ri, learn, grow, transcend or learn the rules, make the rules, break the rules, that sort of thing. And then finally, you know, more recent trip to India and reading just a little bit of the Bhagavad Gita was just seeing the same sorts of messages coming out in those philosophies from different countries, different times, different ways of life, and all finding the same sorts of answers on how to live a meaningful and purposeful life. And now neuroscience explains why all of that stuff works. So yeah, it's really fascinating. I think at the root of us we can sort of learn about the theory of how to build habits and get things done. And there's a really nice logic to some of those great books out there like Atomic Habits, Peak Performance, growth, mindset and so on. And they're awesome. But all of our upbringing and the way, for example, our parents were brought up and their beliefs and their traditions often come from the ancient philosophies that underpin our civilizations. So Stoicism is the basis of a great deal of Western psychology and depending on who you believe is part of the root of the Catholic Bible or the Christian Bible, Japanese proverbs, a lot of that comes from samurai, shogun era martial arts and so on and so forth. And then in India, of course, you've got the Bhagavad Gita and in each of these places you've got these different philosophies that sort of tie back the modern day knowledge to historical times, which I think gives us a connection to the past, but it also kind of sparks something inside us because of the way we were brought up, the environment we were brought up in, and how those that brought us up were also influenced in their lives. This is actually a really easy one and that is, you know, find a philosophy that appeals to you or you're interested in and so a Good place to start is one that kind of aligns, I think, to your cultural upbringing. If you like, wake up early, read some passages and then maybe journal a little about it. There's a few things that happen there. One is the mind is really fresh first thing in the morning. So what we read we really enjoy. And it feels pure and it feels ultra pleasurable. Then when we write it down, those thoughts resonate more because as we write them and dissect them and deconstruct them, we think about them and we learn about them more. And then often what we do when we write about a passage, we tend to then write about ourselves after it. And so we start making ourselves relevant to that bit of ancient wisdom that we've just digested. Most definitely it's consistency day by day, small incremental improvements that stack up to the really big results. So we don't go and try, you know, the massive goal straight out with a lot of, without a lot of preparation for it. So the stoics would talk about a hard winter's training. So you don't venture into the things for which you're not prepared. And that's life that just everyday aiming to be a little bit better than yesterday, understanding that's not every day, but just striving for that consistency, you know. New you version two, getting from here to here. The shortest distance between the two is a straight line and that's a consistency in growth. This is a sawtooth and that takes a lot more energy and covers an awful lot more distance. But it's also important to understand that building up those habits takes time. So you give or take 12 weeks to turn a thought into a locked in habit or behavior that is then part of us. That evolution to the new you version too. But it's a tough process, especially changing really tough habits or tough beliefs. And it's often sort of in the end of the second trimester of change that we've forgotten the pain of why we changed. But we're getting a little bit sick of putting in the effort. And that's where it's not aiming for a big change to what drives us on. But it's the importance of having that big vision and that vision statement that inspires us on the day that we can't be bothered doing the work. So it's having the habits. But why am I doing those little habits? Well, because I've got a vision or a bigger picture dream that I want to find. Oh look, there's no doubt in martial arts that you know, you Literally, start off your first class, and you've got no idea. Then you learn to stand, then you learn to punch, then you learn to kick, then you learn the blocks, but you actually still yet don't know how to fight. And so, you know, it's the incremental improvement across all those little areas. Until one day, sensei says, okay, let's slowly put those into practice for you. And then, you know, a number of years later, you practice, you practice, you get beaten up, you make mistakes, you get injured. You try your first tournament, you get beaten in 30 seconds. One day you score your first point. One day you win your first fight. Then maybe, if you're lucky, one day you win a small tournament. And then if you keep progressing and keep understanding, okay, I want to get to here. What do I need? Want to get to here. What do I need? And building up and, you know, my own life. I had some really good success eventually. I had three thirds at the national titles, and I had a second at the national title. In the first three years, I found different ways to lose. The second year, I got into the final because I'd worked out how to get into the final, but I didn't know how to win a final yet, had to lose one to win one final year. There was a number of things happened. One of them was that my natural father passed away. Very emotional, very raw. But all of that raw emotion was something I channeled into every part of my life. And emotion fuels us to achieve the things we're not sure we can. And what that enabled me to do was to have a really strong vision, not about winning the national title, but about getting there on the day of the national title and feeling like I'd done everything I possibly could. And, you know, in all of the philosophies that we're talking about, there's that whole focus on the process and the journey, but be detached from the outcome. And, you know, that was what happened for me. And I wonder.
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