Check out the
archives here.
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Chapter One – Life is a Work in Progress
Life is a Work in Progress
My life philosophy is always a work in progress. Some people claim that the secret to life is finding a religion or philosophy and then disciplining yourself to stick to it. I disagree, I think the mere fact that you require so much discipline to adhere to your philosophy is that it is incomplete.
A complete strategy for life would not only include the values and principles you try to stick to, but also the tactics for sticking with them.
That’s why my strategy for life is constantly evolving.
I may believe, in bulk, the things I wrote about when I started the blog over three years ago. The difference is now my strategy is more nuanced.
My ability to see the details and not just the big picture has greatly improved.
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Chapter One – Life is a Work in Progress
The people who
My goal is to share the journey with readers, not the destination. I’m never contradict
not coming from the mountaintop to explain the mysteries of life. I’m just themselves later,
another person stumbling in the dark, letting you know when I bump into probably weren't
something.
correct to begin
If your ideas aren’t evolving, you aren’t evolving. This guide will be with.
out of date as soon as you finish reading it. That doesn’t mean it is incorrect, or that it can’t help anyone. Simply that I’ll already be hunting If your ideas
for ways to improve the ideas I wrote about here, right after it has been aren't evolving,
written.
you aren't
evolving.
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Chapter Two – Habits
Habits
Why Habits Matter
Self-improvement takes a lot of work. Exercising, writing, being productive, managing your finances, improving your social life, all of these pursuits take a great deal of energy. It can be a little overwhelming.
It was too much for me to start. Even today, pursuing my perfect lifestyle is impossible. I always fall a bit short of how I’d like to ideally run my life.
However, the breakthrough idea that helped me get a lot closer to that ideal was habits. If you could habituate a particular behavior (say running your finances or exercising), then you wouldn’t need Herculean discipline to do it every day.
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Chapter Two – Habits
This doesn’t mean running a habit requires zero effort. Just that the burden is a lot less. It’s far easier to rise to the summit of your ideal lifestyle, if the baggage you’re carrying weighs only a tenth as much. Habits lighten the load.
How to Change a Habit
You can change a habit in three simple (but certainly not effortless) steps:
1.
Define the behavior change you want to make in precise detail.
2.
Commit to performing the new habit for 30 days, without exception.
3.
After, if you still feel unsure, commit for another 90 days to follow the habit, skipping no less than a day or two.
Habit changing is a topic I have a lot of interest in, as I’ve done a lot of research and a ton of experimentation. Here are some of the resources available on the website to get started with changing habits:
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Chapter Two – Habits
How to Change a Habit - My book on the subject. Includes a pdf report, detailing all of my methods and steps, and also an audio training guide that you can listen to.
Habitual Mastery - An initial, 5-part series looking into habits. It’s less sophisticated than some of my later writing, but it is still a popular section of the website.
One Month Isn't That Long... - My argument that you should only pursue one change at a time.
New to Exercise, Make Workouts Daily - An article on the importance of consistency when changing habits.
Current Status on My Habits
Although it may seem like habits are a “set it and forget it” affair, I’m afraid that only works for infomercial rotisseries. Like everything in my life, my habits are constantly changing. I’ll add new ones as the situations arise and I’ll drop old ones that are getting too cumbersome.
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Chapter Two – Habits
If you want to
Here is a list of a few habits I have trained through 30-day trials that know how I set up
I’m currently using:
those habits, here
are corresponding
articles:
-Weekly/Daily Goals system
-Financial budgeting
-Exercise
-Vegetarianism
-No TV
-2x per week writing schedule
-Checking internet once per day
Of course, the
Chances are, by the time you’ve read this, this list will have changed
again. Here are a few habits that I’m not running at the moment, but are details all of these
part of my toolkit I use depending on my current goals:
habits and others
in far more depth.
-Early rising/morning ritual. Fantastic for productivity, but harder to run with an active social life.
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Chapter Two – Habits
-Alcohol reduction/elimination. I often put a stricter limit on my alcohol intake when I have specific fitness goals I’m trying to reach. But I am a university student and being able to share a beer with friends is also important to me.
-Diet tracking. With tough fitness goals, I track my dietary intake.
-Brainstorming pad. Great when I’m doing more writing and need to capture every idea.
Often I’ll receive emails from people congratulating me for waking up at 5:30am every day, even though I woke up at 9am that morning.
It’s not because I don’t believe waking up at 5:30am can have powerful productivity benefits, or that I’m too lazy. Simply that my habits are always adjusting, so any article I write is necessarily out of date.
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Chapter Two – Habits
Habits shouldn't
Where Habits Don’t Work
make you a robot.
Most of my life is
Habits are just one tool in the getting more from life toolbox. They unscheduled.
work well, particularly for highly individual, vertical-growth oriented goals. But they’re really lousy at helping you find new experiences, be Habits are just
spontaneous or grow laterally.
one tool to help in
specific areas of
I really like using them, but that doesn’t mean I’m a robot and run your life.
everything to a schedule. Most of my life is unstructured, and I am constantly adjusting the balance depending on whether I’m extremely busy and need to do a lot of work, or working less and trying to relax.
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