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Habit experiments  - what I do after the first 30 days

I wrote about how I've learned to add new habits as short-term experiments first and not long-term commitments (that I have to feel guilty about breaking later).

So let's take the habit of meditate for 5 minutes everyday for the next 30 days. I have the following choices:

  • Continue the habit as is  -  so in this case I can continue for another 30 days without changing time or effort required (I could try different app or different time of day)
  • Invest a bit more in the habit by increasing effort or time  -  so in this case I can try the mental exercises for 10 minutes everyday OR for 5 minutes 2x per day. (I can also buy a subscription to some app)
  • Conclude the experiment  -  this habit did not add anything meaningful to my life. Or I do not want to invest the effort/time/money required at this point. So I choose not to adopt this habit and I hereby conclude this experiment as a success in learning!

All three options result in a decision and a positive feeling of conclusiveness. There is a not much room for guilt and such. Especially if I conclude with choosing not to adopt the habit. Cool, now I can move to the next habit in my 'backlog' that I've been holding off adding to my day (due to my rule of adding one new habit at a time).

Seems simple. But the trick for me is not analyzing the habit while in the experiment window. So for 30 days just do it. No evaluating to see if I am liking this or if I am succeeding at this habit. Is this the best habit to serve my goal, are there other better habits I should jump to. None of that. No optimizing before I've experienced something everyday! That is the tricky part for me :)

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    Just do it, and it will become a natural part of your life. Great advice, Bhumi.

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      And even if it doesn't, now you've tried it and you can move on to other habits!

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        I just realized that the habit-building process actually takes a lot of energy.
        So a wish is not enough. You need also to plan this for a period when you feel good.

        Maybe it's just me who is too weak, dunno 😅

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          Hi @alexanderisora - Yes it does take some planning energy up front to get things started. And some decision making. This is why starting small and keeping things simple at the beginning is useful. Decisions about what time to do the habit and then doing it at the same time everyone helps. After just a few days though, it becomes surprisingly automatic and then easy. good luck!

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