Habits are great because they save us from making countless decisions that sap our energy.
But do you swap one habit for another when the occasion calls for it?
To illustrate my point, an integral part of my morning routine is watching Netflix while folding the laundry. Yes, yes, I know being sucked into mindless entertainment is not the most ideal way to spend my prime hours, but hear me out.
I haven’t been able to listen to any Fountain podcasts for the longest time. It wasn’t for lack of trying, but somehow, Lady Luck has never been on my side. Fortuitously, I was able to earn sats today. For a good 30 minutes, in fact!
For the record, I am a huge fan of Lewis Howes’ podcasts. I think he is doing God’s work by networking with all these gurus in diverse fields and promoting them to share their gems of wisdom.
But if you ask me why I need the extrinsic motivation in the form of sats before I will listen to him, well the simple reason is that I love my Netflix more. Haha.
Over to you. Do you have interchangeable habits?
In my family (my husband, daughter and I) we have the habit of watching a series while we have lunch, I know it is not an example to follow for any family, but we like it, at this moment we are watching "Malcom in the middle" For the second time haha ​​we like it, and it makes us laugh so much that sometimes it almost makes us choke on the food from laughing so much. On the other hand, personally it also happens to me like @undisciplined, I am a little weak when it comes to creating healthy habits, at the end of the year 2023 I was consistent with yoga and now... I have not done it for 156 days and I know the number because the yoga app reminds me every morning. I would like to have the discipline of my husband, he gets up every morning to study, read and listen to podcasts that instruct him in his learning, then he makes lunch and goes to work, he has everything so organized; I am the complete opposite: I work, I clean and I take care of my daughter, everything is messy and I recognize that it is wrong, (healthy) routines are necessary, they help us organize our time, not waste it so much and reduce the intensity of procrastination.
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Malcolm in the Middle was a big hit in my house growing up.
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Can you believe I only found out about that series two years ago? I'm glad to have known her even as an adult.
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My wife hadn't seen it, so I introduced her to it a few years ago.
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I watched Malcolm in the Middle as well. Do you like Modern Family?
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I once watched a few episodes, but I was more hooked on watching other series at the time. I will give it a chance to finish what I am currently watching, watching series relaxes me, I feel my stressed mind disconnect from my brain for that time, I am only there to laugh and that's it.
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Yes, especially the first few seasons.
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I say, give yourself some grace. It’s definitely not easy to be a full-time worker n mother. You end up having little time for yourself n feeling guilty often. Which affects one’s mood for exercise, I reckon
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oh, thank you very much for your words, really, this thing about motherhood and work is sometimes overwhelming, I think it happens to most of us, and when we have free time we just want to rest... although sometimes I think it could also be a lack of vitamins, I don't know
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I don't know why, but my ability to form habits is very weak.
That's something of a blessing when it comes to bad habits. Although, it does mean I have to be pretty intentional about good practices.
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I’m sure you give yourself less credit than you deserve. Surely you must be functioning reasonably/awesomely* well in other aspects of your life in order to maintain your presence here.
*delete appropriately
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I'm definitely highly functional. I just take things on a very ad hoc basis, rather than a habitual one.
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Erm would you attribute this to the after-effects of the trauma you suffered during grad sch? As in, you don’t want to live your life so rigidly/cautiously anymore? Sorry if I’m being presumptuous
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Nope. This is just how I seem to have been wired.
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I’m impressed by how parenting hasn’t changed this inner core!
These days, I live by habits. This, from the guy who could happily arrive at a foreign city, not knowing where he would sleep that night
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I am a creature of habit but also very adaptable. I like to do things a certain way but if something forces me to pivot from that I adapt and push forward very easily.
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I think I’m like that as well - not tethered to my habits. Though some mornings, I will literally get headaches if I don’t have my coffee early enough haha
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I have also a very common habit like everyone.i like to watch my favourite show while having lunch.
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Watch shows on your phone during lunch? Do your colleagues complain to you about being “anti-social”?
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They also do the same. So who will complain?
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Mine is pretty basic, I'll read on the kindle paper white almost every night until I fall asleep. Works like a charm! I consistently don't sleep with the phone in the bedroom as well. It's a getting better sleep game changer.
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Very cool that you schedule time out for reading in spite of your busy pitching! Hope it is going well
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Thank you man! You have a great memory! We should know in the next few weeks whether we'll be packing up for a film shoot so it's exciting and also nerve wrecking. Will keep you posted!
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Yes, I have many of these habits. The best one is watching my favourite show while eating food. However this is very common and almost everyone has this habit.
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What kind of shows do you watch then? Hindi movies?
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No, not really. I love to watch WWE, Lucifer, Marvel Movies or any Action Comedy.
Ride Along 2, Bad Boys and likewise.
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A habit that I struggle to master every day is to let myself get carried away with reading for at least 20 or 30 minutes at the beginning of the morning. reading a specific book, right now I have a fairly long list of books that I have yet to read.
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I’m like you, except that I’m way less ambitious. On some mornings, I do my reading first. I usually last for ten minutes before my hand automatically reaches for the phone n checks out SN. Haha
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I have a pretty regular routine, even more so since I'm in season right now for football. So I like having certain habits set in place so I'm able to balance work, recovery, and rest. I try and get all of the mentally or physically taxing work done before the sun begins to set. I wake up, then lately I've been doing this thing where I'll set a timer immediately after waking for 15 minutes and during this time I'm not allowed to touch any digital device. During those 15 minutes I'll start with reading the daily excerpt of The Daily Stoic and read through my yearly affirmations. Then I'll usually use the restroom, brush my teeth, and then do a few breath hold walks which I do for intermittent hypoxic training, simply put it's a practice that can enhance your respiratory system and overall health and fitness. And soon afterwards the timer usually goes off, so from there I begin my day, write out my to do list and start knocking them out one by one. I would say I've become quite adaptable, and through experience I've learned to build habits that can be done regardless of where I am instead of them being kind of location dependent. Like breath holds are a form of hormesis that can literally be done anywhere. And setting a timer to have 'snacks' of offline time throughout the day can be also done wherever, whenever.
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How do you read The Daily Stoic if you are not using your phone?
I love how you schedule offline time so that you won’t feel guilty about not being productive all the time
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Habits are hardwired for me. Have to be extremely careful to only form the good ones.
We all need our mind numbing entertainment. My brain gets tired.
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Thanks for the affirmation. Will continue my mindless Netflix haha
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