Hey friends,
Today’s Framework is the second installment, in our “New Years” series.
Last week we looked at setting and achieving long-term goals. If you haven’t set your goals for 2023 yet, read this first.
Now, let’s explore the day-to-day actions that make up our lives.
Everyone has habits, whether they learn them consciously or unconsciously.
Around 70% of our waking behavior is based on our existing habits.
This means we spend an average of 11 hours a day in “habit mode” — 167 days a year🤯.
Small daily actions can seem trivial in the moment, but they are truly the building blocks of our lives. Use the New Year to take advantage of the time you are given.
Visualization
Start by visualizing each step of a new habit you want to build. From start to finish, what do you need to do to complete this task?
This prepares your brain to be familiar with the process to complete a specific habit. Doing so will reduce the amount of friction it takes when actually attempting a habit.
Just try this once!
Even if only done one time, visualization increases the likelihood of building a habit.
Phases of the Day
Our brain’s chemicals fluctuate throughout the day — here is how to optimize your habits based on time.
🌄Phase 1 - (0-8 hours after waking) — Complete habits with the highest resistance.
🌅Phase 2 — (9-15 hrs after waking) — Complete habits with less resistance.
🌃Phase 3 — (16-24 hrs after waking) — Sleep - this is where habits will solidify.
You don’t need to be rigid in scheduling your habits at a specific time. Moving habits from one phase of time to another is okay to do and is actually beneficial.
Use these time frames as a suggestion, and see what works best for you.
21, 21, 21 System
Decide on the 4-6 habits you want to work on. We will track these habits over 21 consecutive days. I use Notion to track my habits, try it here!
- Aim to complete only 4-5 habits each day (some activities can't be done every day).
If you miss a day or do not complete at least 4 there is no punishment or compensation the next day. Go about the following day completing the habits as planned.
For the next 21 days, stop tracking the habits and observe which habits you still complete.
- This step is to assess which habits have become reflexive to you.
- Which habits do you fail to perform if you are not tracking them? (Use these in the next step)
Repeat 21 more days of habit tracking
- This time, focus only on the habits that have not become reflexive to you.
- Don’t add any new habits.
This system is not meant to be a year-long process. This process is to automate six specific habits into our lives. Once you have achieved each of these 6 habits, then you can move on to a new set of 6.
1️. 21 days of tracking 6 habits
2️. 21 days observing yourself to see which habits have become automatic for you
3️. 21 days of tracking only the habits that have not been fully formed yet
Breaking Unwanted Habits
If you have ever tried breaking a bad habit, you know it is very difficult. Most of the time the bad habits we have picked up have become reflexive and we don’t even notice we are doing them.
So rather than trying to stop unwanted habits from occurring, we can add on good habits to rewire them.
We can do this during a period following a bad habit.
- Start by bringing awareness to the situation you are in (you just did something you didn’t want to do).
- Then, Immediately engage in a positive habit.
- Pick a habit that is beneficial and easy to complete (e.g., 10 sit-ups).
By linking a bad habit chain with a good habit, it is easier to identify when a bad habit is about to occur.
Unconscious Bad Habit ➡️ Awareness ➡️ Immediately Add on a Good Habit
📚Quote of the Week
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” - Aristotle
For an in-depth look at the science behind habits, watch Dr. Huberman’s full video here.
See you in 2023,
Rocky