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I just finished 365 straight days of reading.
Thank you Atomic Habits and @JamesClear for changing my life.
Here are 5 things I learned that you can use to build any habit:
Thank you Atomic Habits and @JamesClear for changing my life.
Here are 5 things I learned that you can use to build any habit:
1) Simpler is better
The more complex your habit is, the greater chance you will fail.
Complex: 4:21 AM wake up, splash water on face 3.5 times, meditate for 17 minutes, 4 min cold shower,
blah blah blah you get the point
Simple: Read atleast 1 page of a book per day
The more complex your habit is, the greater chance you will fail.
Complex: 4:21 AM wake up, splash water on face 3.5 times, meditate for 17 minutes, 4 min cold shower,
blah blah blah you get the point
Simple: Read atleast 1 page of a book per day
2) Friction is your best friend or greatest enemy
When you want to do less, add friction.
When you want to do more, remove friction.
For reading, I bought a kindle.
Why?
Buying and ordering new books is a huge friction.
Every book is now a few clicks away.
When you want to do less, add friction.
When you want to do more, remove friction.
For reading, I bought a kindle.
Why?
Buying and ordering new books is a huge friction.
Every book is now a few clicks away.
3) Make it easy
So you want to meditate for 30 minutes a day.
You're abouta be as zen as @naval.
1st day: "HEY I DID IT"
2nd day: "hey. i did it."
3rd: "Busy. I'll do it tomorrow."
4th: Doesn't meditate.
*repeat cycle forever*
Instead, start with just 1 minute.
So you want to meditate for 30 minutes a day.
You're abouta be as zen as @naval.
1st day: "HEY I DID IT"
2nd day: "hey. i did it."
3rd: "Busy. I'll do it tomorrow."
4th: Doesn't meditate.
*repeat cycle forever*
Instead, start with just 1 minute.
4) Make Boredom Impossible
Doing anything for 365 straight days can be boring.
So you need to spice it up:
For reading, this is having 20 different books to rotate through depending on your mood.
For working out, this is switching up your routine once a month.
Doing anything for 365 straight days can be boring.
So you need to spice it up:
For reading, this is having 20 different books to rotate through depending on your mood.
For working out, this is switching up your routine once a month.
5) Keep the Streak Alive
So to track my reading, I kept a habit calendar.
It's a yearly calendar with a box for each day.
Everyday I'd read, I would X off a box.
After a few weeks, something wild happened.
I got ADDICTED to box X'ing
You can do this for any habit!
So to track my reading, I kept a habit calendar.
It's a yearly calendar with a box for each day.
Everyday I'd read, I would X off a box.
After a few weeks, something wild happened.
I got ADDICTED to box X'ing
You can do this for any habit!
If you liked this, retweet the first tweet so more people can see it! https://twitter.com/chrishlad/status/1379430002391805958
Follow me @chrishlad for more frameworks and stories that won’t bore you
