Compare Yourself to the Looney Tunes to Win at Life
You try to say no to the itch to check into social media by setting up time limits on your phone or in the apps. But, when the limit warning on your phone pops up, ‘the remind me in 15 minutes’ button becomes super easy to press.
The moment your phone reminds you to knock it off, self awareness goes out the window. You plow through the time barriers that you’ve set for yourself like the Road Runner through the Coyote’s road blocks.
‘Beep. Beep!’
Next thing you know, you’ve wasted over two hours scrolling on Instagram. Your good-intentioned Coyote that set the time limit road block failed, yet again.
The Coyote should win
When I was a kid, I wanted the Coyote to catch the Road Runner. He put in so much work into his fanatical plans to catch and eat his coveted desert fowl. I loved his crazy contraptions and sly deceptions, but the Road Runner never fell for his tricks. He didn’t even take him seriously as a threat. The Road Runner made his confident escapes seem so effortless that it pissed me off to see the Coyote fail repeated to such a cocky, little bird.
One day, the same feeling of frustration that I felt for Wile E. Coyote crept back up to me in a personal way. I was struggling to ignore distractions while I was working. My mind refused to concentrate on anything that was important. All I wanted to do was check instagram to see if I got as little as one new like or message about a post I was proud of. I kept barreling through the traps I set to catch myself despite my appreciation for the work I produce when I focus. After a few days of this pattern, I finally got fed up with feeling humiliated about my failures to adult and did something about it.
When I sat down with my journal to try to figure out the root of my struggle, I visualized what I was feeling. I’ll be honest, I didn’t immediately have the image of the Road Runner running straight through Coyote in my head. In the moment, I first imagined how I was currently feeling about my responsibilities. And an overwhelmed Gossamer fleeing from Bugs Bunny was the first thing that popped up.
True as it felt, I can’t and won’t run away from my responsibilities. So, I had to keep searching for a better analogy of what I was trying it fix. I didn’t have to look far out of the Looney Tunes universe for what I was searching for.
Enter the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote.
Instant Gratification vs. Self Discipline
The Road Runner [Instant Gratification]
Think of the Road Runner as your brain’s first response to something it wants. In the past, I had really poor self control and even less self awareness. He’s a great analogy to describe my thought processes when I want to play videogames non-stop or when candy is accessible.
What you want, you want now and you go after it faster than you can think about it. On the other hand, if something doesn’t capture your attention in 8 seconds regardless of its importance or practicality, you’re bored of it and reach for your phone.
Much like the Road Runner’s disinterest in the antics of the Coyote. He outwits him or completely ignores him as he speeds on by. You keep outwitting or ignoring your premeditated plans for productivity to get what you want now.
Letting yourself slack in one discipline may lead to weaknesses in others. Like the prey that doesn’t fear the insecure predator, you stop taking yourself seriously as a threat to momentary wants.
This can result in:
- A lot of wasted time planning schedules and routines that you don’t follow
- Hours thrown away only consuming junk media
- Excessive amounts of screen time
- Unhealthy snacking or impulsive eating
- Skipped workouts
This list goes on, but think about what this list might look like uniquely for you. Are there things you want to do, but you never seem to get around to doing because of distracting momentary impulses?
The Coyote [Self-Discipline]
The Coyote, in this comparison, represents premeditated plans and systems for developing discipline. He sets up road blocks and traps to stop your brain from reacting immediately to impulse-driven decisions. For example, this is you when you’ve spent all night re-planning your life because of a Medium article you read.
All of a sudden, you’ve got ambitious dreams to start tomorrow as a brand new person!
….with every healthy habit conceivable to known man! (I‘m not ashamed to admit that I do this at least once a month. I’m still figuring out what routine works best for me in my new home.)
So, like the wily Coyote, you spend late nights or early mornings scheming to:
- Wake up earlier to seize the day
- Design the perfect morning and evening routine
- Set specific hours to write every day and focus on deep work
- Stop wasting time playing videogames (unless you’re a professional gamer)
- Meal prep or order from a meal prep service
- Organize every aspect of your life (or at least I’ll die trying)
This list, too, can go on. It is only limited by what you would consider a successful day for yourself.
The Traps my Coyote Sets for Social Media
Using an unknown passcode on the time limit and the Forest app are my inner Coyote’s traps for the Road Runner — who’d rather be playing videogames or binging all 3 seasons of Rick and Morty. It’s the only thing that’s been successful for me, and I have plenty to thank my fiance for helping me with it.
Have your partner/spouse input a time limit passcode that you couldn’t guess (I tried) on your screen time usage for your phone. This way you can’t bypass it if you’re alone and bored. If you need to check it for some reason, you have to ask them for permission to get that 15 minutes extension.
( For my desktop, I use the Forest Chrome Extension to block social media when I’m working. I can’t bring myself to kill my cute little army of cat trees.)
Stop the Road Runner from humiliating the Coyote
As well and dandy as it is to spend hours planning, it won’t matter if you don’t believe that you can do it. The Road Runner doesn’t take the Coyote seriously as a threat because of his repeated failures. If you say ‘well, just this once I’ll bypass my social media time limit’ one time, then you are more likely do it again. You’re opening a door to form a bad habit. You have to recognize when that’s happening and stop the cycle quickly before you stop taking you seriously.
Don’t just be a Schemer, be a Doer.
It’s easy for us to make plans to set ourselves up for success and try to limit failures. We set plenty (sometimes too many) restrictions, time limits and schedules. But, when the moment shows up, we don’t always show up — and that’s the problem that needs to be fixed. Another personal development book isn’t going to be the answer. Action is.
Reinforce your belief in yourself to make the right decisions. Stop viewing discipline as punishment. See it as it is: training to be a better you. Then stop the Road Runner by doing it. Follow through.
It’s not always going to work the first time. The Road Runner will escape you every now and again. It’s okay if that happens. Forgive yourself for past failures and spend some time scheming again to figure out what will work for you now. If you keep failing, change something. Make it more attractive. Pair something you don’t want to do with something you do want to do. Try it at a different time of day. Remove access completely.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. — Einstein
Whatever it takes, figure out a new solution. Then, do the thing and let the safeguards you put up to save you from impulsive decisions.
You’ll never see the Coyote let past failures paralyze him into inaction. In every episode, no matter how many times he fails, he gets back up and tries again by the start of next attempt. He learns and adapts from his failures to find a better way. His end goal is always on his mind and stays driven in the face of adversity.
The show’s rules dictates that the Coyote will never win. But, your life is nothing like television and is not dictated by pre-set rules for how it will end up. You can decide what road blocks you set up to stop you from making impulsive decisions. Living a life filled with impulsive actions based off of instant gratification add up. They throw you off course and steer you down the wrong road — away from your dreams.
It’s up to you to let those safeguards catch you the way you intended them to do. If they can’t, then keep trying to find new ways to make it work. Recruit some help if you need to. And, don’t you dare stop until you’ve won what you’re after in life.
The Coyote finally caught a break and finally started to wrack up some wins for me. That’s how this article finally got finished. By comparing my trivial frustrations to some Looney Toon characters and dragging meaning out of them, I was able to bring some color to my personal process in improving my life.
