Comments on: Habit Building: Laying The Foundations

By: Life Optimizer

Life Optimizer — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:20:12 +0000

By: Bryan C. Fleming

Bryan C. Fleming — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:52:02 +0000

By: James

James — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 18:15:08 +0000

Claire, I agree that it is very encouraging if you can build up a chain like that. However I would argue that that comes at a later stage in the habit building process. Would it be possible to get that sort of consistency within the first days or weeks? If you can do that you probably don’t need this article.

By: Claire

Claire — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 17:51:34 +0000

I disagree with you, because I think in general, if you have chosen a sufficiently small and doable habit to change, one day is not enough to make you fall off the wagon. Rather that one day you say, “OK, I didn’t make it today, but look at all those days when I managed it. I can do that again!” Significantly, I’ve also found that the shame of having to break a chain of successes is enough to stop me from breaking resolutions – I’m currently at a chain of 46.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 11:12:50 +0000

Those are some really good tips, it looks like habits are in the news again. I have had quite a bit of trouble with biting off more than I can chew, your advice to start small is excellent. Thanks.

By: Rolf Katzenberger

Rolf Katzenberger — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 03:52:41 +0000

James, the spreadsheet is actually for tracking my weight only. Tracking what we eat is managed by my wife – she does it a lot better than me and any software could, for sure! With respect to food, we’ve made the decision to spend less on other things rather than buying unwholesome (but cheap) junk. Aside from that, we simply try to follow what the season has to offer, which gives us great variety. You don’t really need strawberries for Christmas, I guess.

By: James

James — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 20:23:34 +0000

Rolf, good point about how only focusing on individual days can be the same as micromanaging. I was thinking in terms of you-do-it or you-don’t habits, not habits like weight loss where you have to track your progress. Do you focus purely on the weight you lose, or do you focus on what you eat? I would imagine each approach requires different metrics even though the result is the same.

By: Napieed

Napieed — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 16:16:21 +0000

Mark Twain said, “Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.” In my experience, it’s best to ease into or out of habits, rather than biting it all off at once.

By: Rolf Katzenberger

Rolf Katzenberger — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 13:42:05 +0000

Excellent advice. Don’t micromanage nut don’t always focus on single days as this can become a form of micromanagement, too. For example, I started tracking my weight in a spreadsheet because I wanted to lose some. For a few weeks, I kept looking at the daily weight bars, which was quite discouraging. Then, I still entered the data every day, but created a graph that shows me just a single average weight bar per week. That’s a lot more encouraging.

By: Stepcase Lifehack

Stepcase Lifehack — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:50:44 +0000