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Share one really good habit of yours

Let's learn from one another. 😄


Here's mine. I always read a book on my Kindle before going to bed.
This accomplishes three things -

  1. I get to sleep faster since my eyes are strained.
  2. I keep learning something new, every day.
  3. My day always ends on a positive note, no matter how it has been.

I make time for family and the SO every day. No exceptions. There is at least one hour in my day where I do nothing but hang out and be present. No matter how busy I am or how late I'm gonna work, there always needs to be one hour for being with the people I love.

Taken from The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod, I use habit stacking. Habit stacking simply means you pick a few habits that you want to practice, make a sequence out of them and then make the sequence itself a new habit. The benefit of habit stacking is that you can adopt multiple good habits at once, because you automate your behavior to do the entire sequence, which takes less motivation than practicing multiple individual habits.

The first hour after waking up, I keep my phone on airplane mode and go through the entire sequence. Which is currently: have breakfast, 10-15 min of stretching, read one chapter, write down the 3 things I want to accomplish that day and then I go to the gym.

I found that when I tried to do these things during the day I procrastinated on doing them but now it's much easier. You can of course make your own sequence with things you want to do (go for a walk, learn a new language, meditate etc.)

No screen time after 22 (only kindle). I used to have insomnia (probably because of the screen light just before sleeping). Now I sleep like a baby.

Schedule as few things as possible.

The truth is that I'm very bad at predicting ahead of time what I'm in the mood. And, I'm much happier if I can do what I want to do at any given point in time. That might sound privileged, and maybe it is. However, I do think many people take a busy schedule for granted or even as a point of pride. Makes them feel important or something. I think people got it backwards and personally take an empty agenda as a point of pride. It means freedom.

Of course some things you do have to schedule and it's not always. Scheduling a dinner with a friend that lives far way? Of course! However, phone calls, meetings, and even joyful, social activities I prefer to schedule last-minute so we're sure it really is the thing everyone involved wants to do right then.

That said it's still a habit I'm actively cultivating. Most of society still lives a schedule-driven lifestyle and so it's often easier to agree to a pre-scheduled activity than do things in the moment. I still regularly agree to something scheduled way in advance because it doesn't feel real yet. I always regret it when the time finally comes. Getting better at it though!

Work out 4-5 a week or simply as much as you feel like, just work out.

I feel our modern western lifestyle is so un natural and new biologically and historically to our body, sitting all day on a laptop, our body just doesn't know wtf is going on because we don't satisfy it's innate biological reward systems ( climb a hill, hunt, gather [all physical] --> get endorphines in return ) it has had for thousands of years, yet it survives.

No crazy productivity tips for me, just work out and feel the benefits in your body and brain by the change in your hormones.

When I work out, I am happy, when I don't, I am a different person. I hope it makes sense.

Ensure a calm and focused morning.

I try to build an area around sleeping without devices. So in addition to only kindl in bed and possibly no other screens after 10pm, in the morning I don't open my laptop and keep my mobile in flight mode until finished my routine (5 min journal, 10min meditation, coffee) and MIT.

This let's me find my focus and get started on my MIT without distraction. If I commit to it it works beautifully and the fact that I have achieved the MIT by around 10 - 11am makes me feel super productive. I have only partially turned this into a habit yet though...

I read one chapter of a non-fiction book every day. Sometimes it's motivational, other times it's learning something new. I never regret it and I tell myself that it helps me get 1% better every day. A chapter works better for me than some sort of time limit.