Different people suggest starting habits different ways. Some say to start with behavior, like setting a New Year’s resolution or doing it every day for a month. Others suggest starting by changing your environment, like by putting a note on your computer monitor or daily schedule, wearing a device that measures your exercise, or joining a web page that tracks and reminds you. That’s all low-level tactics. Tactics, no matter[…] Keep reading →
I took a year off from college and with all the money I had—$1,000—bought a one-way ticket to Paris. My only goal was not to return before June. My challenge was that if my savings dropped to the cost of a return flight I’d have to choose between the ticket home and risking getting stuck there. I had the safety net of my parents bailing me out, but at the[…] Keep reading →
Notice this pattern and you’ll know how to improve it. It applies to an activity. I’m thinking of exercise when I write it, but many activities fit it. The pattern When you’re not about to do it, you think of it as something you generally want to do. When you’re about to do it, you feel anxious, maybe to the point of fear. You have to overcome that anxiety and[…] Keep reading →
Happy Superbowl Sunday tomorrow, traditionally a day for drinking beer and eating comfort food. By my calculations, I hit 50,000 burpees around tomorrow too. You can read about my hitting 40,000 and 30,000 before that. Still haven’t missed any since my first set of ten in December 2011. Speaking of football food, before I exercise I think exercising will give me an excuse to eat sugary or other unhealthy food[…] Keep reading →
I held on to my TV for a long time. For a while I watched it for entertainment, news, and sports. Over time I gave up wanting it for entertainment and news, though having it around made it easy to use it for that. It was easy to lose thirty minutes to a few hours without thinking about it. I never seriously considered getting rid of the TV because it[…] Keep reading →
An actor told me about a time he forgot his line on Broadway in front of about a thousand people, some who paid hundreds of dollars for their seats. He was in his forties and had acted for decades. Still, sometimes you forget your lines. What do you do when a thousand people are watching you and you don’t know what to say? Most of us have faced not knowing[…] Keep reading →
A reader asked, about my post “Three years of burpees,” Integrity is a interesting concept. Its the same thing for me, after having developed some strong daily habits, which are different from yours. It has made developing harder habits, much easier. How is integrity different from self-control? Isnt self-control the same as doing something when nobody is watching? The way I think about it is, that developing any habit requires[…] Keep reading →