Case Study: Did 21 Days Change my Life?
How to develop habits for lasting life changes
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit — Aristotle
We all do it — set a goal for ourselves but then after 1 month, we stop going to the gym or stop working on that business idea. We do this SO MANY TIMES but end up just falling back into the same bad habits.
So in March 2014, I started on a mission to find out why I repeatedly failed to reach goals I had set for myself, where I was in fact spending my time and how I could sustainably affect positive LASTING change in my life.
What I realized is that it was a SYSTEM of problems that were holding me back. What follows is my path to finding and succeeding in reversing the damage and generating a self perpetuating system to build the life I have always wanted.
Results
First the results. Over the last 21 days of the challenge I:
- Read 4 books
- Learned 326 Portuguese words (Using Memrise and Duolingo)
- Published 3 blog posts
- Exercised a minimum of 40 minutes daily
- Meditated for 15 minutes daily
- Stretched daily to start my day
- Autopilot fitness diet
- No sugar
- Started EscapeYourDeskJob.com
All while managing a regular work schedule and not feeling overwhelmed to squeeze everything in. While the results were good, I know I can do even better as I was implementing the following strategies over the course of the challenge.
Develop a Morning Routine
Almost everything on the list above, happened even before I opened gmail and started working. Here was my routine:
- 7:00 — Wake
- 7:05 — Meditate
- 7:20 — Stretching
- 7:35 — Breakfast: 2 eggs and oatmeal with fruit
- 8:00 — Learn Portuguese
- 8:30 — Gym
- 9:30 — Shower and mid-morning shake
During this time, I was on autopilot — literally making ZERO choices and going through the motion. My body and mind knew what to do and there was nothing clouding my judgment. Work and everyone in my life would wait until 10am as I’d made this commitment to myself.
If you do nothing else, make a routine for yourself as baby steps each day will add up incredibly fast.
Track and Be Consistent
This was huge for me. Tracking everything allowed me to see my own progress each day. So if I was lifting 30 pounds one week and moved up to 40 the next that was a tangible number that gave me feedback that I was progressing.
“What gets measured, gets managed” — Peter Drucker
People don’t want to go that extra step to record things but I think it’s probably the most important piece of the puzzle.
At the beginning, you will struggle to see results, but recording your progress will show you that indeed you are moving forward.
Turn off Notifications
I can’t begin to tell you how good this feels. Notifications for me and probably you are like putting an unlimited supply of crack cocaine in an addicts pocket and then calling him every 10 minutes to remind him its there.
None of the emails or social apps you receive notifications for are of any urgency and cannot be dealt with later.
None.
Trust me if it’s important, people will call you for it. I don’t care if it’s your job to always be by your email — you need to push back and claim your time to focus.
It’ll be the best decision you make.
Remove all the App Garbage
Overtime, we build up all these apps we used once or checked out once and will never use them again. Remove them. More importantly, remove social apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
Woah, Woah, Woah you say those are sacred — I need to be on them.
Really, seriously.
We went thousands and millions of years without them and now you need them. That’s probably your fear of missing out (FOMO) and it’s holding you back.
For me, without the instant gratification always available to me, my mind is more clear and I’ve found time to do the things I love.
Batch Process Your Media
Often, I still come across articles and videos sent to me during the day.
I have the urge to read them immediately but have instead started to email them to my Pocket account to attend to later.
Unless they are pertinent to what you are currently working on, reading or watching them will take your mind down a completely different path and take you away from what you are doing.
Don’t make this mistake.
Controlled Media/People Input
During the three weeks, as mentioned I limited social apps and the reading material that came along with them as well as curbing my diet of popcorn movies.
That being said I couldn’t go cold turkey and instead I force fed myself every TED talk on motivation or living a dream life and also watched documentaries about people who made drastic changes in their life or lost a ton of weight.
“Tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus. Our bodies are our gardens to the which our wills are gardeners.” — William Shakespeare
Every time I finished one of these, my motivation was recharged and I could tackle anything. Seriously, what you consume whether food or ideas become who you are.
Another thing to mention is limiting (not necessarily eliminating) your time with people that are not aligned with the habits you are trying to build.
You really are the average of the 5 people you hang around with so if they are stuffing themselves with cheeseburgers it’s going to be near impossible to resist and stick to your diet and workout.
Humans just don’t have that much willpower to waste on stuff like that.
Moreover, some people will have guilt and fear about their own poor choices and will try and pull you back. They will discount what you are doing in anyway they can to uphold the norm.
“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” — Confucius
Appreciate Simplicity
I put my entire mornings on autopilot but more so this comes down to reducing the amount of choice in my day and simplifying my life so that my mind and willpower can be freed up for other things.
You can extend this to your choice in:
- Clothing: Steve Jobs wore that one black polo neck
- Eating: Workout your meals for the entire week or day
- Activities: That yoga class every Wednesday at 7
All these are positive habits that you don’t think about as you are doing but put you on a path you want with results you can see months from now.
Remember plan and then don’t think but do.
21 Days to a New Life Story
I didn’t get a 6 pack over these 21 days or learn how to speak Portuguese fluently but these three weeks helped me focus on putting the habits in place for someday achieving these things.
I stumbled and fell along the way but kept pushing on because I think the process to eventually getting there is sound.
You hear it all the time but you really need to focus on the process and not the end result.
Each habit I implemented fed off the others — so if I ate better, I had more focus, if I had more focus, I had more time, if I had more time, I was able to learn languages, build businesses, etc.
So take 21 days to review your life — where you’ve been and where you want to go and then choose those habits that will get you there.
Afterword
In 2009, I had a desk job at Deloitte in the Financial Advisory group in Toronto when I came across Tim Ferris’s “Four Hour Work Week”.
If you are tech-savvy, you have probably read it yourself — if you haven’t I suggest you have a look because that book single-handedly sold me on the reality that I didn’t have to pursue a typical 9-5 job that was drilled into me since preschool.
After many attempts at breaking the mould with limited success and depending on sheer will to get it done, I’ve come to realize that the energy you start out with WILL get depleted and the BEST way to sustainably build a business is with consistent habits applied over months.
Success will come far easier and you will be happier during the process.
If you wake up on Monday mornings dreading going to work or stare at the clock after it passes 3pm but don’t have a path to get out — you should read the e-book I’m coming out with.
I am including all my best sustainable habits with the express goal for the book to get you out of that dead end desk job.
Click here and i’ll notify you when its ready!
Imran Esmail writes at Escape Your Desk Job where through stories and case studies he shares methods you can use to cut out distractions, implement sustainable habits and ultimately build the life you’ve always wanted.
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