They are important. We all know that. our parents have been screaming about it since we were a child. Habits can be classified as healthy habits such as brushing your teeth in the morning( Jeez, I still remember the anger in my father’s eyes if I hadn’t brushed my teeth by 8 a.m.). Spiritual habits such as doing a prayer and lighting a lamp at the place of worship, or studying habits such as completing all your homework before you go out to play.
To me, I didn’t pay much heed to these habits. I only followed them in fear of punishment. I enjoyed being the rulebreaker. The rebel.
After completing 38 rotations of the sun, I realized, the power of habits. I realized how important it is to build habits and this blog pins down my journey, of successfully achieving my set goals through “habits”.
Terms:
Let us clarify a few basic terms before I take you on the joy ride.
- Routine: a frequently repeating behavior
- Habit: a routine that you repeat without a second thought
This means, that not all routines can become habits. And when the routine becomes a habit, you’d perform it without a push or motivation (unless you decide not to perform for that day). You’d not even recognize if you miss a routine but if you miss a habit, you’d feel a pinch at the heart. habits are a great way to avoid excuses.
So, to make a routine a habit, first, you need a goal and second, you need to measure and track its occurrence.
Phew!! now that the basics are done, let us dive back into the story.
So, I have always wanted to
- Be healthy
- Read more books (my way, not that fast reading way, ugh)
- Write more blogs (like dah!)
- Read more on financials/markets etc.
So I started to build my routines around these goals. These goals needed to be at the habit level and needed to be broken down at each instance level. So each habit had an ultimate goal and a day-wise goal.
For starters,
- I want to reduce weight as part of being healthy. For that, I started a yoga routine. Merely doing yoga wasn’t good enough, I wanted to ensure I did it properly for at least 20 minutes a day.
- I want to read 3 books in the remainder of this year and books are measured in pages. So I broke the goal-to-day goal as I should read at least 4 pages daily.
- I have been dreaming about being a writer and only when in an instance of inspiration, I used to write. I wanted to be more consistent. Well writing is measured in words so my daily goal for it became – to write 500 words at least per day
- I quench my thirst for knowledge on financials/markets by reading an article from finshot.in (highly recommended)
Apart from these, I had recently added a goal of passing the ITIL foundation certification exam as my goal, for which I ensured I studied at least 30 mins a day for a month.
To measure and track the occurrence of these routines, I installed an app called Loop Habit Tracker (aptly named).
This was a game-changer for me. This app has a very intuitive interface which helped in tracking (you do have to be honest with yourself though). It also creates a score by using a statistical method known as exponential smoothing. It computes a weighted average that takes into consideration every repetition of the habit, from the very first day you started your habit until today.
And here are the results.
- I have reduced by 3 kgs weight. From 71 Kg to 68Kg. (I was so happy to see a 68Kg number on the weighing machine)
- Since the 19th of Jul, I have completed 1 book called The Art of Thinking Clearly, and close to half done, with my second book called, how to Think Like a Monk. 3rd book I have planned and am impatiently waiting to read is Atomic Habits.
- I have published more than 10 articles in various digital mediums such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Medium. One of the articles I wrote was also published in a local Marathi Newspaper
- Reading the finshot article is a refreshing activity of the day for me.
- The last but not least goal that I completed was to pass my ITIL external certification with flying colors. It also motivated me to help others pass the exam.
What also helped me bring in consistency was the timing. Each habit has a specific time in the day. it helped in setting up a rhythm for the day. The rhythm made it easy to follow the habits. Now if for any reason there is a miss (which does happen, as you can see from the table, there are quite a few red items in the “doing the activity column”) I get a feeling that I don’t like it. on the contrary, performing my habit and meeting the set SLA (day-level target), puts a big smile on my face. As if I am a few steps closer to the summit of the mountain.
After understanding the process of setting up a habit, I am keen to explore, what else could I achieve. Maybe one more certification or maybe a focused time for social work. Whatever it may be, I want to ensure I live with intention. To be a better version of myself than what I was, yesterday.
I get it, dad and Mom, Habits are important. Practically they can build a path towards the desired future.