This Week’s BIG Idea
Habit formation has been one of my favorite topics to research since I started writing. After all, habits are the essential blocks of your life. What you do repeatedly says a lot about you and this determines your life’s trajectory. I’ve been thinking a lot about the 30-day challenges that involve a single habit. I’ve always admired people who have done 30-day challenges where they document a singular habit that can potentially change their lives. For some reason, I tend to forget that I can do those experiments too. I don’t even have to report back on those habits if I don’t want to, though that would be fun and a way to keep me accountable.
When I think about my life, I’ve made some progress in certain areas, but I got stuck in others. Some of the habits I started and maintain for the last couple of years include reading, writing, meditating, and exercising. But for every habit I started, there’s one I haven’t been able to maintain for some reason: playing guitar.
So how can I use the science of habit formation to change that? I tried changing my environment, specifying a time and a place, listening to music to motivate myself, and I tried putting the guitar in plain sight. Simply put, I implemented the Four Laws of Behavior Change from Atomic Habits, but nothing seemed to work. But for everything I tried, there were other obvious steps I was ignoring. Did I ever use the power of having an accountability partner? Was I keeping track of the habit in my bullet journal? Did I use resources like Rocksmith 2014 to make the lessons more manageable? Was I challenging myself with new techniques, songs, or lessons? Was a recording of initial sessions to look back on as I made progress and motivate myself? The answer to all of those questions is no.
Habit formation isn’t rocket science. Numerous resources nudge you in the right direction. There are several tools you can use, including books, apps, and videos. The trick is to learn from people who have done it before. Now forgive me, but I have a guitar lesson to take.
What I’m Working on
This week I posted the summary of Outlive. I’m glad the article’s finally on the site because it’s a great resource for anyone interested in improving their health. Also, I posted a summary of Don’t Believe Everything You Think. At the moment, I’m reading Dan Koe’s The Art of Focus and hopefully, you’ll be able to see an article of that book soon as well. I like to take a rest between summaries, but I’ve been reading so many amazing books these past weeks that I got carried away.
What I’m Listening to
Financial Expert Morgan Housel on Rethinking Happiness and Money: I don’t follow The Daily Stoic Podcast religiously. That said, whenever Ryan Holiday interviews another best-selling author, I at least give that episode a chance. This episode, where Holiday interviews Morgan Housel, doesn’t disappoint. There’s something timeless about the discussion the authors are having. In the last part I listened to, Housel and Holiday were explaining how successful people are surrounded by minute-to-minute analysis of what’s going on in the world (think 24-hour news cycle in the vein of MSNBC or CNN) when what they need is the timeless advice you can find in books. Even if I take away that one thing from the interview, it was a worthy investment.
What I’m Reading
The Art of Focus by Dan Koe: I just found out that Dan Koe released a book. For those unfamiliar, Koe has an amazing YouTube channel where he discusses business, productivity, and self-help. As the name of the book suggests, The Art of Focus revolves around the life-changing habit of focusing. In a world where there are hundreds of distractions pulling your attention in different ways, there’s value in harnessing your focus on a few things.
What I’m Watching
The Return of Angry Picnic!!: I’ve been watching educational content over the past weeks. Examples of the content I’ve consumed include online courses and YouTube videos on business, marketing, and books. Similarly, I’ve avoided movies and shows because I want to be more intentional with my time. That said, Angry Picnic has been releasing amazing videos and I binge-watched a couple of them. There’s something to that raw format of going to the streets and doing something different that I find incredibly magnetic to the point that I can’t stop watching. There’s something therapeutic about forcing yourself to interact with random people on the streets and Angry Picnic offers that in spades.
This Week’s Quote
“Don’t sacrifice peace of mind for a piece of luxury.”
James Clear
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