Add/Subtract

We all have habits; some good, some bad. Regular exercise and cooking meals at home = good. Procrastination and reflexively spending time in the smart phone hole = bad. How do these habits form? And how can we make a change? Like many other things, success starts with making a list. My wife and I recently sat down and listed the things we'd like to change, add or subtract from our lives. This process started by identifying the recurring troubles we both had in our weekly routines.

Missing workouts

Making time to exercise in the P.M. is hard. Our previous approach had been to try and sandwich a quick workout in between cleaning the house, putting our daughter to bed and making dinner. Plus, by this time of day, we were both usually pretty worn out. This meant that many nights passed without a workout happening.

Our solution? We moved our workout to the A.M. We had been sleeping until the baby woke up, usually between 7 and 8 am. We added an alarm at 6 am and, Monday through Saturday, we get out of bed and get our workout done for the day. We plan the workout and lay out our clothes and gear the night prior to give as much help to our bleary eyed future selves as possible. The mornings are usually cool and quiet, the perfect setting for a short, intense workout. We now face the rest of the day with a sense of already having accomplished something (and not thinking about when we are going to exercise).

Tech Hole

If you own a smart phone, you have probably found yourself picking it up and mindlessly thumbing through apps, not knowing what you are looking for until you find something that catches your attention. You have probably also channel surfed a time or two. The glow of the device and its unlimited access to information are known to activate the brain's reward system, much like chocolate or heroin. Our brains have not evolved to handle this technological onslaught and we, adults and children alike, are left mindlessly staring down in all situations, public or private. I see other people doing this and I am disgusted, yet I am 100% guilty of doing it myself.

To combat this deeply entrenched issue, we instituted a "no-fly zone" for devices and screens between the hours of 9 pm and 8 am. The reasons for these hours are two-fold: Starting the day with 2 hours of no screen time helps set the tone for the rest of the day. I used to check my phone upon waking, feeding my habit. Now, I exercise, write, make breakfast and prepare for the day, all before touching my device. The second reason is that the blue spectrum of light emitted by screens affects our brains' ability to shut down and go to sleep. Turning off all screens 1 hour prior to bed time allows us to wind down and get a full night's sleep.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

After 6 days of morning workouts, Sunday deserves a change of pace. We still wake up at 6, only we spend our morning writing instead of sweating. She writes poetry and prose, I write a blog. It is a great time to sit quietly and gain clarity on thoughts that have built over the course of the week.

By making these changes, we are actively choosing how we want to live our lives. It is too easy to sit passively back and let life happen, wondering why things are the way they are. Identifying the activities we want to add and those we want to limit is key in living the happy, productive life for which we all strive. We will try this schedule for a month and reassess to see what effects we have seen.