u/Keep-it-up2

Twelve weeks ago I added one thing to my routine that made a bigger difference for me than any other habit. It was a meta-habit. The habit of reviewing my habits.

Every Sunday evening, 15 minutes, four questions:

1. What did I plan vs actually do this week?
2. What kept getting in the way?
3. What's one change for next week?
4. What am I dropping to make room for it?

Some honest findings from 12 weeks of this:

The first three weeks were uncomfortable. My mental picture of my week and the written record disagreed constantly. I felt like I worked out regularly but it was about 60% as much as I was giving myself credit for. I "barely watched TV"... if you consider nearly 10hours a week "barely" then maybe..

I don't think I was lying to myself so much as never checking.

Around week 5, the reviews started changing behavior upstream. Mid-week, mid-decision, I'd think "this is going in the review" and make a better choice. The observation was doing more work than the planning.

Adding a layer of visibility into my week basically forced me to start acting like a better version of myself.

To try to make it even more objective I do my weekly review with AI so that I can get an "outside" perspective that sees through my excuses.

It can be a bit brutal to admit you spent 2 hours watching Gnetflix each night when you should have been studying or working. It completely destroys the "I don't have time" excuse when you actually look at your numbers.

If you aren't tracking and reviewing your performance on a weekly basis I highly suggest giving it a try. Absolute game-changer for me.

It can be really crappy to know what you should be doing but feel like you lack the willpower or discipline to actually do it.

Fortunately I found a few secret techniques that I use to get myself to do stuff even when I don't feel like it.

Feel free to use as many of these as you'd like. Everyone is different, so some might work better than others for you.

Here goes:

1. Stop trying to force yourself to do something if you don't feel like it. Instead, focus on changing your mental state. There are a few ways I do this:
   1. Go for a quick walk. A little bit of exercise will release endorphins and change your mental state. Plus some fresh air just helps clear my head. Usually 10minutes is all I need and I come back ready to work on my next task.
   2. Listen to a quick motivational video. 5minutes or so. Something that gets me excited and makes me think about and visualize the future I want for myself. Then the work I'm putting off feels exciting because the context changes from "something I have to do" to "something I get to do"
   3. Go stare at yourself in the mirror. Sounds weird, I know, but there is some psychology behind it. It reminds you of who you are and helps snap you back into yourself.
2. Use accountability to make yourself do stuff. This works really well for me personally because I hate disappointing people. For example if I tell myself I'll go to the gym after work but then by the end of the day I'm tired, I might not go. But if I told a friend I'd meet them there I will never cancel on them. You can create accountability with people, or by posting on social media, or however you prefer. Lately I've been using an AI accountability partner and that works well for me, but choose what works for you.
3. Make sure you know WHY you're building a habit. This should not just be "because". Habits should ultimately ladder up to goals you're trying to achieve. Setting a goal is motivating. It's a desired state of the world. Habits are what should get you there if you stay consistent. A habit without a goal is easy to forget about because it isn't tied to anything tangible.
4. Track your progress daily! Again something I only started doing recently but has helped a ton. This sort of ties back into the accountability piece. Before I actually started tracking myself I would give myself too much slack. I'd say I would do something every day but only do it 4x a week or so. Or I'd say I'd exercise 5 days a week and instead do 3. But I wasn't tracking it so I didn't have any feedback mechanism. I would just do stuff and "feel" like I was making progress but in reality I was just doing stuff when it felt convenient, which got me zero results.

Hopefully this is helpful. So far this year I've been on a roll with incorporating new habits using these things specifically. Happy to answer any questions people have.

Cheers!

I've tried to incorporate tons of habits over the years. Some stuck, others didn't.

Finally I figured out a more structured system that has helped me stick with things. In the last 6 months I've been able to incorporate the following into my routine:

• Skincare 2x/daily
• Gym 3x/weekly
• Take supplements daily
• Cardio 2x/weekly
• Read - at least 30min daily
• Wake up 6am consistently M-F
• No phone first hour each morning
• +several others

I'll give you tactical feedback about how I would go about incorporating the habit into your life.