Habits

We all have them. When we sleep, when we wake, when (and what) we eat, when we move, when we rest, when we're in front of a screen and when we're outside. Our lives are basically a series of good and bad habits.
 
With this in mind, I took a few minutes the other day to write down as many of my habits as I could. I didn't label them good or bad, I just thought of things that I do regularly and how and why I do them. Then I made a list of habits I wanted to stop and another of habits I wanted to start. I looked at them both and thought about where I could add a habit; if my habits were daily, weekly, monthly or yearly; if they were things I do solo or with friends and/or family and if they improved or degraded my health, happiness sleep or attitude.

This was my habits list:

• Wake up at 6:30 am
• Breakfast: one cup black coffee with coconut sugar and grass fed butter, two fried eggs, 2 strips of bacon, one apple and a glass of water
• Something to get my heart rate up: Kettle bell swings, pull ups, stationary bike, yoga, etc. Usually no more than 5 minutes.
• Shower, shave, brush teeth, get dressed, go to work
• Eat snacks (nuts, fruit, jerky) throughout the day
• Hard workout or recovery for about an hour after work
• Shower, make dinner, eat, watch a movie
• Go to sleep around 10:30 in a dark room with no TV (I live in a noisy neighborhood so I use an ambient noise machine)
• Saturday: try new activities and take care of big errands.
• Sunday: farmer's market day, which includes fish tacos, a coconut peanut butter coffee drink called the Mainlander and shopping for fresh food for the week before heading home to watch football, exercise and cook salmon pasta.

My self analysis:

• More veggies for breakfast and lunch
• Do a longer and more consistent morning exercise
• Sit down less at work and when I get home
• Hydrate more regularly throughout the day instead of drinking a lot of water in the morning and then not enough at night or vice versa
• Stop falling asleep while watching TV (not good)

The practice of writing down your habits and trying to make them better can be a habit in itself. The goal is to minimize your bad habits and constantly improve your good ones. Try it out.

Jack

PS - One of my favorite habit ideas comes from my uncle. He gets up every day and tells himself "I feel great and I'm going to have a great day." While this is not true every day it is a great step toward getting there.