New Year Prep #3
When you group habits together, you can leverage rhythms and routines to make exponential progress.
You probably already do this to some extent. Many people have morning routines, evening routines and various rhythms throughout the day. Shower, shave, brush your teeth, etc. Or, at the end of the day, you may cook, wash dishes and shut things down for the night. In the same way, you might group some new elusive habits together to form a routine.
For example, my morning routine has four components:
- Create space for spiritual focus. Over the course of a year, this includes a wide variety of prayer, contemplation, reading, exercises, meditation, etc.
- Engage in positive brain exercise. I review some of my better thoughts and play brain games such as Wordle, Sudoku, Elevate, etc.
- Learn something. This year, I have improved my knowledge of genetics/genomics, quantum theory, minimalism, positivity, happiness, astronomy, etc.
- Do cardio. Most days, I take a walk for 45 minutes or so. On bad weather days, I ride my stationery bike, punch a heavy bag or do a 10-minute agility routine.
This may sound like a lot, but did you know that I may only spend 5 minutes or so on each of the first three? If I walk, I have spent about an hour or so. If I do a shorter cardio, I may only spend 30 minutes in this morning routine. But over time, the consistency of grouping good habits has a compounding effect. In a similar way, I employ a home routine, an evening routine and some work related routines.
To stay on track, you probably want to write these down or keep up with them digitally. I have found that 5 days a week is realistic, though I may very well do all 7 days. Plus, it clears mental clutter. I don’t think of doing each habit, I just think of employing the routine (3-4 habits at once).
What habits are you wanting to develop? Would grouping them into a rhythm or routine help you gain leverage towards your goals?
Worth Repeating
Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.
-Jim Rohn
Atomic Habits
Over the past several years, I have read about 5 books on habits. I have found James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits, to be the most helpful…jam-packed with powerful ideas on every page. If you are looking to work on your habits, this is a good place to start. Click here to order from Amazon.
