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Category: Building Habits

Future Proofing Habits

Published on July 30, 2023

What’s the one daily habit you know you should build into your lifestyle more than any other? (e.g. Exercise)

Good. Now, answer me this:

What’s the smallest viable version of that daily habit (i.e. What can you do, that will require the least effort, that will still count as a completion of that task)? (e.g. jog around the block once).

Okay. Finish by reflecting on this:

What’s an even smaller viable version of that daily habit that you can do when you’re sick or injured? (e.g. walk around the block once or do a light stretching session for 10-20 minutes).

The goal with daily habits is to keep them daily. Not just because of the benefits of the task you’re doing, but because of the momentum that comes from the streak. Which means one of your top priorities needs to be no zero days.

And if you have the above questions answered, you’ll be ready for the days when you’re most likely to break your streak.

By planning for the days when you’re tired/ busy/ or lazy (which will likely be most of your future days lol), and by planning for the days when you’re sick or injured (which will account for a good handful for sure), you’re essentially future proofing your daily task.

…Because if there’s anything I’ve learned about the future it’s that it’s going to be way harder than we think. And the good part is, if we plan for it to be that way, the only surprise will be when it’s not.

P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.

Drifting Downstream

Published on June 14, 2023

The mind is no pond.

The mind is a river.

Constantly moving and circling and crashing…

If we want to keep certain thoughts at the top of our mind, we need to make a deliberate effort to paddle those thoughts forward—to the forefront—or else they will slowly drift downstream and into the darker parts of our conscious/ subconscious mind.

There is no thought that just floats unmoving in the forefront—especially no thought that we WANT to keep at the forefront.

Those thoughts need to be paddled, brought forward intentionally through effort, and done so regularly as the stream is always flowing.

And while the stream may present some good at the forefront, it also presents a ton of crap, too. Especially for those who dump toxic, wasteful, comparative junk into the rivers of their mind via media, news, and gossip.

So, just because you’ve had a great thought once—or a thousand times for that matter—don’t assume that it’s “in your mind” and that it can be checked off your list.

Nope.

It, too, will drift downstream—from top of mind to bottom of the subconscious, like water running down a mountain, as all thoughts do—and continue to do so until you choose to paddle it back forward.

So, if you want to have gratitude, optimism, and love, for example, at the forefront of your mind as you go about your days… you’ll need to plan the padding of those thoughts into your days, too.

And every day you don’t paddle, the further downstream those thoughts will go.

P.s. For paddle inspiration, bookmark this page. I post 2-5 quotes daily for my own mind’s sake.

Matching Words To Actions (and Actions To Words)

Published on December 21, 2022

What letter grade would you give yourself for actually doing the things you say you’re going to do? A-? B? …F?

If you are failing in follow through—in matching your actions to your words—everything in your life will be affected.

Fix this by making smaller promises/ announcements/ goals and remembering not to agree to things you don’t seriously think you’ll be able to do.

Refocus your efforts from trying to capture HUGE word-to-action matchings and start accumulating mountains of small matchings instead. For example, instead of telling yourself that you’re going to lose 30 pounds in 30 days!—tell yourself that you’re going to show up to the gym for 15 of the next 30 days.

The house of trust is built one brick at a time.

The wrecking ball of mistrust slams against those bricks every time you don’t follow through on your word.

Build patiently. Commit consciously. Do everything you can to NOT slam that wrecking ball into your walls. It’s much harder to build than it is to destroy. And until we build a house of trust with ourselves, we won’t have a roof we can house our best lives in.

Surely

Published on November 10, 2022

“Slowly, but surely” is a wildly underrated strategy.

Did you read that third word? Like, really read it?

“…Surely”

It’s the “surely” that makes this strategy a game-changer.

“Surely” is the kind of bet I like to make in my life.

End Before You’re Done

Published on September 23, 2022

Being “done” signifies completion.

And while this isn’t inherently bad… when it comes to the things we can never really “complete”—maybe this isn’t exactly good either.

Think about health, introspection, and connection.

These things are never “completed.”

And so if we can teach ourselves to “end” before we’re all the way “done”—we’ll essentially be learning how to create open loops that our mind might want to “close” in the future.

Some examples:

  • For exercise: Finish when you’re 70% fatigued. Leave unfinished business at the gym. Keep that hunger for continued growth alive vs. completely exhausting yourself to a miserable pulp.
  • For writing: Leave some ideas unexplored. I use the notes app to capture ideas whenever I have them and now have well over 100 unexplored ideas. This gives me launch points for each of my future writing sessions vs. having to stare at a blank screen each time because I finished exploring all of them at the last one.
  • For conversation: Don’t exhaust all of your questions and curiosities. Leave some room for mystery and exploration for the next conversation or for follow up messages. A conversation a little too short is probably better than a conversation that went a little too long.

When you create an open-ended process for the things that compound in value over time, you give your future self a hat-tip that makes the start of the next session easier.

And anything that makes starting easier should always be considered.

Morning Is Important

Published on September 14, 2022

You might not think that what you did this morning was important… but it was.

In the same way that sharpening the saw before you cut the tree is…

Or in how warming up and stretching before intense exercise is…

Or in how planning before acting is…

Try and cut the tree, do intense exercise, or act without the ideal precursor and in each case—the task will suffer.

So, too, will your day.

When you get the start of your day right—you get to cut through the rest of the day with a sharpened mind, a loose and flexible body, and a clearly defined plan.

Which reminds me… you might not think that what you do at night is important… but it is.

The Reality Of 1% Gains

Published on August 5, 2022

1% gains is the philosophy that guides my life.

Each day, I try to:

  • Improve my workout numbers by 1%
  • Eat 1% cleaner
  • Sleep 1% better
  • Etc.

But, I don’t always reach this goal.

Sometimes, what 1% gains ACTUALLY looks like is:

  • -2% on my workout numbers
  • -3% on how clean I ate
  • -5% on the amount of sleep I got

While 1% might feel infinitely achievable… the reality is, we’re imperfect creatures immersed in an imperfect world and we have to account for the ebb and flow of life.

There will be days when you’re feeling it and crush your daily tasks (maybe even with 2-5% gains)… and there will be days when you’re not feeling it and you dip into the negatives.

Don’t let this discourage you—stay the path.

Keep investing in yourself like you would your retirement investment account. Continue to reinvest with the goal of the overall average being a 1% increase rather than the actual increase being 1% every single day.

The real power of the gains come from the long-term compounding of regular reinvestments. Just ask your financial advisor. Trying to get a forever positive return on any stock/fund in the market simply isn’t practical. And neither is a forever positive return on any task you undertake in life.

You don’t get 1% returns each and every single day.

You get 1% returns on average over the course of years and years of regular investing.

THAT is how you get the real 10/15/30% gains and that is how you get the most out of your personal development habits in life.

Stay. The. Path.