Day #11 : Habits and Routines
It’s working. I see change.
Cue -> Routine -> Reward. That’s the anatomy of a habit. I’m reading the Power of Habit and it’s very fascinating. I’ve observed this after being notified about it — when you reward yourself after doing a routine, your mind sort of gets attached to it and develops positive feelings for it. That’s where the positive feelings or cravings come from. Not out of thin air. You can’t just wake up one day and feel positively about changing yourself or changing your actions or getting interested in work. You have to slowly develop this cycle of cue->routine->reward. It works. After you do it for a couple of days, when you think of the action or when you’re cued for it, your brain lights up(it’s not dark anymore) and you’re naturally pulled towards it. Habits/Discipline is the best way to deal with the action plane.
“You are what you repeatedly do” — Aristotle
My Morning Routine
Wake up early, feel gratitude/affirmations/positivity, yoga+abs for 15–20mins, Bathe & Breakfast, Plunge into the most important tasks(deep work) for 1–2hrs, take a break, meditate for 10–20mins, publish medium article.
My Evening Routine
Wind up the work by around 5pm, hit the gym and do basic cardio/HIIT/deadlifts, come home, bathe, dinner while watching youtube/entertainment for 1hr(varies depending on mood. sometimes i watch a 20min documentary and shut off. sometimes i watch a movie or a couple of youtube videos), shut down all screens by 8pm, read a book/audiobook, take a walk, sleep.
! Cringe alert ! I’ve been writing and thinking about karma yoga lately and I’ve somehow incorporated that into my plank workout everyday. I set a timer for 1min and do the plank. The goal is to not look at the timer no matter how painful it is. I guess it’s a crude analogy but the gist of it is the same : Just forget about the timer, focus on the exercise(no matter how hard it is) It’s a great practise, I feel. Really puts you in the “worker”/“employee”/“warrior”/“pawn” mode.
Shalom.
