Habits

"The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken" —Samuel Johnson

It’s easier to work out seven days a week than five days a week, due to the power of habits

When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.

"If I miss one day, a simple rule: never miss twice."

• Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit.

Master the habit of showing up.

• The more you ritualize the beginning of a process, the more likely it becomes that you can slip into the state of deep focus that is required to do great things.
• ex. if you show up at the gym five days in a row - even if it’s just for two minutes - you are casting votes for your new identity: You’re becoming the type of person who doesn’t miss workouts.

If you want results, forget about focusing on goals; instead focus on your system of habits.

• goals are good for setting a direction; systems are best for making progress.
• focusing on goals leaves you open to questioning your progress. Since progress happens very slowly over time, if you focus on goals, at worst you will demotivate youself, and at best will remain neutral.
• the idea of focusing on goals suffers from survivorship bias: every competitor has the same goals, so it's not goalsetting that is the differentiator.
• "You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems."

The costs of your good habits are in the present. The costs of your bad habits are in the future.

Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits.

• ex. Your weight is a lagging measure of your eating habits.
• ex. Your knowledge is a lagging measure of your learning habits.

"We don’t choose our earliest habits, we imitate them."

• We imitate the habits of three groups in particular: Those close to us, those who are large in number, and those who are powerful.
• Join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior. Surround yourself with people who have the habits you want to have.

Microhabits

The idea of microhabits is to establish a personal system where you have about 30-40 minor things to track each day, which will give you a way to track progress?

• each goal should be small and boolean (true/false), like "chug water right after waking up"

If you want to write every day, don't start by making it your goal to write for 30 minutes daily. Instead, make your goal to write 50 characters. This is such a small goal, that anyone can do it.

UE Resources

Some good information on Tiny Habits; more of a step-by-step guide