The Boy Who Connected The TV Screen To The Stationary Bike Is The Perfect Embodiment Of Personal Growth Concept
If He Wants To Watch TV, There’s Only One Thing He Can Do
I’ve already experienced quoting this story while commenting on other authors, and the reaction has been more or less the same:
“Genius”
Not me, unfortunately, but the guy who had the idea.
The “Cycflix”!
Ronan Byrne: the credit for inventing the Cycflix goes to him, and no citation has ever been more deserved!
But What is a Cycflix?
Essentially, a stationary bike.
With a particularity: if you want to watch your favorite Netflix programs, you have to pedal.
If you stop pedaling, the TV turns off, resuming only once you start pedaling again.
Make It Attractive
Byrne himself stated he invented Cycflix “In an attempt to become a better computer coder”, so It doesn’t seem like it was motivated by a sense of improvement towards humanity.
However, it’s impossible not to notice the application of the second principle from James Clear’s famous book, Atomic Habits (a must-read for personal growth, for those who haven’t read it yet):
To establish a habit, make it attractive.
In other words, it’s about combining duty with pleasure.
For all the people who want to lose weight or exercise more, this invention could represent a breakthrough in their physical and mental balance.
Can We Have It?
As I said, it could: currently, it is not available on the market.
Furthermore, in case you’re thinking about it, it doesn’t seem to be an easy invention to realize.
“It uses a stationary exercise bike connected to an Arduino Nano to control the streaming of Netflix on a PC” explains Byrne, whatever that means.
Anyway, beyond the technique itself, this story contains an important moral:
If you want to be consistent, work smart, not hard!
Feel free to let me know in the comments if you, like the other users who saw it first, enjoyed it!
To the next time!
