Habit building is tough.
Most of us have been through those cycles. We list down habits to form, start working on them and give up on most, somewhere along the way.
There are multiple reasons why that happens but one of the most important is that we focus on too many habits at once and try to change everything.
Charles Duhigg talks about Keystone habits in his bestseller, The Power of Habits. Keystone habits are those small number of key habits that if incorporated, can help change many other dependent habits.
For eg) Timeblocking can help you get better at procrastination, digital addiction, etc.
While keystone habits are great, building those isn’t easy as well. More often than not, it needs a fundamental shift in the behavior.
What if there is a keystone of keystone habits? One habit that impacts the other keystone habits which in turn impact the remaining habits?
I did some research and experimented with this. I focused on one habit at a time and evaluated which one made the maximum impact and improved the probability of other keystone habits becoming sticky.
What I found out was that exercise is probably that one keystone habit that impacts every other habit. To be specific - Morning exercise (before the sun rises).
On the days I went to the gym in the morning, I found it easier to meditate, journal, timeblock, etc. That morning exercise made behavior change more feasible. I started my day well, had the energy to roll my first half of the day, ate healthy lunch, and had better willpower throughout the day.
If you’re in a rut and struggling with habit formation, try this out. Go for a run or to the gym in the morning and maybe it’ll change things for you.
Article of the week
Software Architecture for beginners - Medium
This one is for non-techies like me. Clears out some basic concepts of software architecture really well.
Next time when your friends/family/colleagues geek out on things like EC2 load balancers, front cache, Data store, etc., you won’t feel like an outsider.
Definitely read this if you want to improve your tech quotient.
Podcast episode of the week
Peak Mental Performance - Knowledge Project
KP is slowly becoming my favorite podcast show. So much to learn!
Coming back to this episode, Shane Parrish talks to Justin Su’a, a top mental performance coach who has worked with the top athletes in the world.
In this episode, he talks about the importance of mental conditioning, the challenges of today’s world, and how he works with the best of the best to help them deliver great performance by strengthening their mental game.
I loved the part about how he helps them discover their blind spots.
See you next Sunday. Have a focused week ahead.