Day 1150 Record Keeping
Day 1122 Fixed Meditation (10 min)
Day 996 Writing (5 rounds/15 min)
Day 536 Rowing (rowing, 30 min/4200 m)
Day 277 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, hip stretch & back smash)
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Early to Rise
Day 305 Sleep Recording (5:40|10:30|1)
Day 276 Bedtime Curfew (DID NOT DO)
Day 114 Wakeup Alarm
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Great sleep. Inverted habit sequence really worked. Excellent work with writing today.
Day 1149 Record Keeping
Day 1121 Fixed Meditation (10 min)
Day 995 Writing (DID NOT DO)
Day 535 Rowing (rowing, 30 min)
Day 276 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, hip stretch & back smash)
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Early to Rise
Day 304 Sleep Recording (4:30|11:30)
Day 275 Bedtime Curfew (DID NOT DO)
Day 113 Wakeup Alarm (DID NOT DO)
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Great sleep.
Reversing Habit Sequence Protocol for an Improper Discharge of One Behavior
I’ve really got to learn how to write titles…
Over the last week I’ve had to do a particularly painful task in my writing habit for work. I usually write at the very beginning of the day - theoretically I have the most willpower, so I should be able to go through the pain that writing brings. And that usually works, because on any given day writing is the most painful thing.
However, the last few days I’ve woken up, come up to my writing, and it’s smacked me right down - I don’t even begin. And because I don’t begin, none of my other habits discharge.
This has happened before. The only time I’ve been able to get around it in some capacity is during this last NaNoWriMo, where I was incredibly proud to have not only gone above and beyond in writing, but I DID ALL MY OTHER HABITS.
That’s huge. Think about it - we almost always as a society give a PASS to people who are are challenging themselves. Of course students are going to eat crappy and sleep at odd hours while cramming for a test. But that’s far from the ideal.
What did I do different? During NaNoWriMo I reversed the order of my habits. This was initially done because of time - busting out 20,000 words a day takes a long time even if you’re not dawdling. So, I got everything else done quickly, then hit the word processor in order to have the most time as possible.
While I believe that saving willpower for the hardest task of the day is sound, it’s only if that task doesn’t hit some sort of as yet unspecified line. And that line seems to have something to do specifically with pushing an already established habit. I’ve not only noticed this with writing, but also with doing a particularly challenging HIIT sequence when I’m being run ragged.
In these cases it seems better to reverse the sequence in order to get a rhythm of doing things in order to develop a flow and an inertia - you’re getting small things out of the way, gaining small victories in order to hit the main event. And perhaps that factor of flow might, in certain cases, work as a lubricating variable despite having less willpower.
I’m unconvinced as to the theory of when and why I need to use it, and I’d like to fiddle around with it more. Today when I attempted this reversal I still procrastinated on my hard task, but it felt like less of a barrier than previous days. AND I did all of my other habits, so all things being equal I got a ton more done today - it’s already a huge difference.
I still don’t think this protocol is quite nailed down, but I’m still playing around with other solutions,
Day 1099 Record Keeping
Day 1071 Fixed Meditation (DID NOT DO)
Day 945 Writing (9 rounds/13 min, failure to start)
Day 485 Rowing (DID NOT DO)
Day 226 Mobility/Stretching (DID NOT DO)
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Early to Rise
Day 254 Sleep Recording (10|10:10|11:20)
Day 225 Bedtime Curfew
Day 63 Wakeup Alarm
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Horrendous sleep, slow wakeup. Failure to start, work deadline.
Day 1092 Record Keeping
Day 1064 Fixed Meditation (10 min)
Day 938 Writing (DID NOT DO)
Day 478 Rowing (walking, 1 hour)
Day 219 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, hip stretch, back smash)
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Early to Rise
Day 247 Sleep Recording (12:30|(6-8)|11:45)
Day 218 Bedtime Curfew (DID NOT DO)
Day 56 Wakeup Alarm
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Horrendous sleep, horrible wakeup. Cycled with depression throughout the day, failure to start writing. BUT, I skipped my writing to get outside to attempt to change my mood, eat to restore whatever stores I had, and ended up doing everything else.
Failure to Start Protocol & Flushing the System
I really want to have a protocol of some sort where, after a cut off point, I come to terms with this failure to start, and then stop and eat or go out into the sunshine or continue the rest of my routine in order to get the ball rolling. A Failure to Start Protocol. I think this would prevent me from wasting hours procrastinating yet stuck in a holding pattern of needing to do the first segment of my routine.
I was mentioning to Lydia that I seem to be emotionally cycling a lot these days, which I consider a pattern that occurs sometime after starting new challenges. Or it’s when it’s cold and dark. Or it’s when I’m in the middle of a slog and I’m not really pushing something, so I feel like I’m not getting anywhere in life while at the same not enjoying the world around me. Like habit hamster in his wheel.
She said I should really take these moments to resurrect dynamic meditation, which for one glorious week in Brazil lead me to one of the happiest places mentally in at least a decade.
That’s not a bad idea - sort of like flushing the system after I’ve blown it out or gunked it up (I know, I really like the engine metaphor).
There are some problems with both of these ideas. It’s really hard to know when you’ve been dithering - it’s not a really conscious process, it’s just something I find myself doing. Also the primary problem with my dynamic meditation was that I didn’t have a really good way to record it. I think both can be overcome, but right now I’ll let the ideas marinate for a bit.
Day 1015 Record Keeping
Day 987 Fixed Meditation (20 min)
Day 861 Writing (2/30 min)
Day 401 Rowing (DID NOT DO)
Day 142 Mobility/Stretching (back smash)
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Eating
Day 239 Pantry Check (DID NOT DO)
Day 237 Food Recording (DID NOT DO)
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Early to Rise
Day 170 Water
Day 170 Sleep Recording (12:30|3|11:20|12)
Day 141 Bedtime Curfew 81
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Good sleep, good wakeup. Having starting problems for my workout. Partial reason is a sore back from kb swings, partial is not really knowing what order I’ll do things at, not having songs easily loaded, and not having good weather for biking. It’s a lot of excuses, but it’s good to write them out to note them. Food recording and pantry check is pretty similar. But meditation is going fantastic - today I did it in the car. Recording and fixed meditation are getting really solid - it’s interesting it’s in the same order they were begun. It could be that habits, under my new proposed pragmatic model, advanced past superhabits to become more unshakeable through disruption. Or it could be that those are just two easy habits to do. Though to be fair, I never was this solid with meditation before.
Day 1009 Record Keeping
Day 981 Fixed Meditation (5 min)
Day 855 Writing (NaNoWriMo Complete - 20,000 words today!!!)
Day 395 Rowing (biked for about 20 minutes)
Day 136 Mobility/Stretching (couch stretch, 1 min each side)
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Eating
Day 233 Pantry Check (DID NOT DO)
Day 231 Food Recording (DID NOT DO)
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Early to Rise
Day 164 Water
Day 164 Sleep Recording (12:40|2:11|10:10|10:20)
Day 135 Bedtime Curfew 77
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Good sleep, good wakeup.
Nailed NaNoWriMo in a personal record breaking 5 days. Because of various disruptions (all good) I had to and did write half of it today. 20,000 words. I found that a modified Pomodoro really helped a lot, and really just starting the timer even when I wasn’t ready. I have a theory on this - it seems to work really well for me in other habits, like mobilization and meditation - otherwise there’s a sort of paralysis that occurs because of over thinking it. I think I’m so indoctrinated into thinking that any one instance has to be superb, that I’m not getting on a visceral level that consistency more than covers for it.
I have a bunch of notes on this, and I’ll post a big article on the fear of starting a task - especially one like writing that has so much fear embedded within it. Lydia asked me if I think it’ll transfer to real work - and I think it will to a certain extent - I think my real work involves a combination of this type of first draft writing, editing, and research, and doing them all seamlessly takes a bit of planning.
That’s all for another day - I intend to spend the rest of today basking in my win!
Day 885 Record Keeping
Day 857 Fixed Meditation (30 min)
Day 731 Writing (3/30 min)
Day 271 Rowing (20 min/3400 m)
Day 12 Mobility/Stretching 55 (hip opener)
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Eating
Day 109 Pantry Check
Day 107 Food Recording
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Early to Rise
Day 40 Bacon & Water
Day 40 Sleep Recording (12:40|1:30|11|11:20)
Day 12 Bedtime Curfew 53
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Good sleep, good wakeup. Day before yesterday had a late night with visitors from the States. Had a fantastic time, but it caused the next day to skew off track. I did all my initial habits, but writing failed to start, which caused everything else to fail as well, haha.
Starting Habits I’m Pushing Skills In
It’s interesting that drains on willpower have repercussions the next day. It’s also interesting that deep work - advancing in skills - has such a draining effect. I’ve been having problems starting writing the last several weeks. I do find that once I dive in, it’s no problem.
Recently in meditation, as soon as i get into the room I start my 30 minute timer, which forces me to start quickly, when normally I’d dawdle. I’m thinking I might have to do something like this for writing. Instead I usually dither around for a long time to avoid starting.
I think my flirting with ritual (I still haven’t really written about that, have I?) was interesting because it was a nano-behavior that helped me transition from one task to the next. This is particularly important if the task is difficult and uncomfortable. The beginning of the 30 minute timer obligates me to start meditating, and acts like this.
There’s something to all of this, but it’s not clear now - I’m sure it will be once I start doing more intense pushing of skills.