Optimal Living Daily - Personal Development and Self-Improvement 3947: The Opportunity of Lent by Joshua Becker of Becoming Minimalist on Personal Discipline
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Mar 16, 2026 A reflection on intentionally giving up a controlling habit for forty days to build self-discipline and humility. Stories about trading fast food and screens for clearer priorities. A simple diagnostic to spot what truly controls you. Practical rules for setting meaningful, time-limited challenges and reintroducing habits thoughtfully.
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Giving Up Fast Food For 40 Days
- Joshua Becker accepted a mentor's challenge to fast from fast food for 40 days as a Lent exercise.
- He remembers packing brown-bag meals and resisting eating out, calling it an unforgettable lesson in self-discipline.
Seven Benefits Of Fasting A Controlling Influence
- Fasting from a controlling influence produces layered benefits: humility, intentionality, empathy, self-control, perspective on excess, savings in money and time.
- Becker lists seven specific outcomes he observed across multiple Lent experiments that reframe daily wants as controllable choices.
Self Control Transfers Across Habits
- Self-control functions like a muscle: exercising restraint in one area increases capacity in others, potentially helping with anger, impatience, or overeating.
- Becker uses examples like abstaining from coffee or chocolate to illustrate transfer effects.