I put 27 habits to the ultimate test

I put over 27 habits to the ultimate test in different 30-day challenges over the past few years from cold showers to Bullet journaling to quitting sugar and waking up at 5:00 a. m. every day I want to break down all the lessons I learned through each of these challenges share the Practical lessons I discovered about Behavior change and which habits I'd recommend picking up if you're trying to get your life together this video is sponsored by square space more on them later all right guys grab a cup of coffee pull out your notebook and get comfortable because this is going going to be a very long deep dive into all the important takeaways from my many habit experiments over the years I've organized the challenges into seven broad categories technology nutrition minimalism mental health physical health productivity and sleep there's a little bit of overlap with some of these categories but overall I think it's going to help you find the most valuable takeaways I've also added chapters for every category and experiment so you can jump around if you'd like let's get into it let's start with technology modern technology is a blessing and a curse it allows us to be more productive than ever before and also more distracted from outright quitting my phone to using a flip phone to experimenting with digital minimalism here's what I learned about how you can be more mindful with technology I used a flip phone for 30 days and I absolutely hated it and that's not just my addiction speaking sure there was the obvious benefit that you'd expect to see I spent almost no time on my phone but that benefit came at a big cost texting was tedious and took a really long time it became such a point of friction that I just started replying to everyone with one simple letter K like when my wife Nat would text me I love you and I'd reply okay that one got me into a little bit of trouble and don't even get me started on the GPS completely useless it was so bad that I had to resort to printing directions like it was 2005 but the biggest downside I didn't expect I stopped capturing memories my smartphone has become my camera my journal my map the trade-off between convenience and happiness wasn't as simple as I thought probably the biggest benefit of using a flip phone the satisfying sound when you close it I said $4 million okay a fun experiment but no I would not recommend using a flip phone we tried becoming digital minimalists in my video four rules for digital minimalism my wife and I dove into a 7-Day experiment with setting strict digital boundaries including no screens in bed no phones in bed that was your phone limiting social media reducing time checking email and cutting back on streaming I wanted to see how these rules would impact my focus my productivity and overall relationship with technology and as far as bringing that along I don't know I just thought it would be fun so my two big takeaways small digital rules created structure without feeling like I was being deprived limiting email to once per day prevented me from reactively checking my inbox all day long and cutting streaming to one day per week forced us to find alternative ways to spend our time like playing board games reading and cooking the second takeaway not everyone benefits from digital minimalism some people experience anxiety comparison and distraction from screens more than others I found it improved my productivity and focus while Nat didn't feel the need for these same kind of limits self-awareness is key if screens don't have a huge negative impact on your life then digital minimalism may not be hugely helpful I mean I don't mean to sound obnoxious but I don't feel like I'm getting any value out of this experiment I'm going to be honest I still don't believe her back in 2018 I quit social media for 30 days this is a very nostalgic experiment for me because it happened in the very early days of starting this YouTube channel in fact I released my most popular video of all time a day in the life of a minimalist during this experiment and my channel completely exploded I gained 124,000 subscribers in a month my biggest Spike ever outside of learning about how addicted I was to my phone keep in mind at the time this conversation was relatively new now I think we all know most of us are addicted to our phones I discover that constantly checking my numbers wasn't helping me grow my audience it was constantly making the best videos I could and maybe also getting a little bit lucky I think I found the most effective and creative solution for my phone Addiction in my most recent digital minimalism experiment when I ditched my phone for 30 days and replaced it with my SmartWatch my goal has never been to deprive myself for the hell of it okay maybe in the flip phone experiment but this is one of those problems I've faced for most of my adult life and this solution worked surprisingly well the Brilliance of switching your phone for a smartwatch is that you get almost all the benefits of being connected hey Nat hey how does the quality sound it like crystal clear but like I came I could make calls send texts listen to music and audiobooks and I could even use maps I did a little challenge where I blindfolded myself and had my wife drop me off in the middle of nowhere using just my SmartWatch I was able to make it back home and it completely eliminates your ability to scroll social media stream shows or play games there were challenges like battery life and navigation while driving but overall I felt way more present and free from mindless scrolling this was by far the best solution I found to curb my screen addiction while also staying connected and while I don't use this approach every single day today it's something I Implement when I want a more distraction free kind of day next up nutrition food fuels everything we do but most of us don't pay close attention to what or how much we're eating so over the past few years I tested Myself by counting every single calorie quitting caffeine and even trying intermittent fasting twice some of these experiments gave me life-changing insights While others just made me miserable here's what I learned one of the first experiments I ever did on this channel was quitting sugar for 30 days I got three big takeaways from The Experience first your environment shapes your habits one of the biggest lesson I learned while quitting sugar was that willpower alone isn't enough you have to design your environment for Success the easiest way to avoid sugar make it invisible as James Clear puts it in atomic habits you can break a habit but you're unlikely to forget it and that means you'll always be at risk of relapse a more reliable approach is to cut bad habits off at the source two after quitting sugar my energy levels became more stable I didn't fully realize how much my energy levels fluctuated throughout the day that mid-afternoon slump the sudden craving for snack after dinner it all made sense once I completely cut sugar out of my diet once I removed the sugar those highs and lows started to disappear it wasn't magic but my Energy felt much more stable throughout the day three understand the root cause of your bad habits quitting sugar made me realize that my Cravings weren't just about taste they were a response to stress lack of sleep and even boredom it's easy to blame willpower when trying to break a bad habit but the real key is understanding why you keep falling into these same patterns to begin with instead of just eliminating all sugar from my diet I first had to address the root cause whether that meant improving my sleep managing my stress better or finding healthier ways to cope I've really found over the years that by tackling the deeper issues it's become much easier to make lasting changes another experiment that helped me build self-awareness around food was tracking every single calorie I ate for 30 days I've always considered myself pretty mindful when it comes to what I eat but I never actually tracked my calories and macronutrients in detail like this before using my fitness pal I logged every meal every snack every little bite I took for an entire month and let's just say it was a wakeup call that single spoon of peanut butter 95 calories don't judge me that oversized Ice Cream Sandwich 1,200 calories half my daily intake through this experiment I started to see food differently not just as meals but as numbers as energy and as fuel importantly through this process I discovered my Baseline caloric intake that is how many calories I actually needed to maintain my weight with my current level of activity and with the help of my friend and nutrition coach Jordan scet I realized that I was undereating protein and overdoing it on fats rip to my weekly peanut butter jars this gave me a great Target to shoot for going forward as I Tred to get more intentional with my macros was tracking every meal insanely timec consuming yes it was but it was also worth it if you've never done anything like this before I highly Rec recommend trying it even if just for a month it's going to give you a nutritional awareness that's going to stick with you long after you stop the experiment I quick caffeine for 30 days this was a tough one I wanted to see if it could help me sleep better reduce anxiety and stabilize my energy The First 48 Hours pure suffering I had headaches brain fog and an overwhelming urge to nap on the floor at all times my productivity gone I struggled to focus and even basic tasks felt impossible it's hard to even talk right now because it hurts so bad after the first week I physically adjusted but something still felt off I missed the ritual of coffee the smell the routine the simple joy of sipping on a coffee in a cafe cutting out caffeine wasn't just about losing the stimulant it was losing a small but meaningful part of my daily life and here's the surprising thing I didn't feel any better off caffeine my sleep didn't improve my anxiety didn't decrease and my energy levels pretty much the same I mean maybe if you hooked me up to a bunch of electrodes in a scientific lab they might find some benefits but to the naked eye I wasn't seeing it at the end of 30 days I had my first cup of coffee again and it was Heaven oh my God stop stop would I quit again absolutely not Life's too short to give up coffee I tried intermittent fasting for 30 days twice I've never been big on breakfast so in a way I've been intermittently fasting for years without even thinking about it but twice now I've followed a very strict fasting protocol both for 16 and 18 hours per day to see if I could find any of the supposed benefits the one thing I learned through my research was that fasting works but probably not for the reason you think it does it seems like most experts agree that fasting helps with weight loss because it naturally reduces how much you eat not because it supercharges your metabolism and I found that myself by limiting my eating window to six or 8 hours a day I ate fewer meals and cut down on Mindless snacking that alone led to a better portion control and on my second time around with this experiment I ended up losing 5 lb in a month I just like how I feel fasting in the morning skipping breakfast actually gave me more energy and focus without a big meal slowing me down I felt sharper and more productive in the morning that said fasting isn't for everyone if it makes you feel lightheaded or weak it's probably not worth forcing it so I love doing these habit experiments and sharing all the things that I learn with you guys but that's just one half of what I do the other half is teaching people how to make awesome videos for YouTube and I wouldn't be able to do that without the help of my sponsor for this video Squarespace I've been using Squarespace for 7 years and it's by far one of the easiest website builders that I've ever used it's effortless to get started whether you're using their AI website builder or picking from one of their many beautiful templates it's super quick to make changes drag drop and dial in your settings like the perfectionist that you are this right here is the very long sales page for my YouTube course course what I love about Squarespace is just how fast it loads I mean look at that that's amazing it's got testimonials it's got videos it's got photos it's got graphics I mean what else do you need Squarespace also gives you access to some really powerful built-in tools for e-commerce blogging analytics and domain hosting now you may already know this but when you use the link in the description below this video that makes me look really good and it means that Squarespace is going to want to keep partnering with me in the future so if you want to build a website whether it's right this very moment or 2 months from now make sure you go to squarespace.

com slmt davala to get started you'll also save 10% of your first purchase of a website or domain pretty awesome I know all righty back to life lessons from all the habits oh my God no you saw the light oh the fourth wall is broken no minimalism I've been a minimalist for over 13 years and this practice still helps me to learn about myself to this day over the years I've conducted a few experiments that help me get more intentional when it comes to how I Implement minimalism I counted everything I own challenged Nat to try minimalism herself and even explored what happens when you try to practice minimalism as a parent that did not go as expected these experiments help me to redefine what enough means to me and why I prefer living with much less than most do you remember that time I convinced Natalie to try minimalism for a week I expected her to fully convert find all the same benefits I had and get down on her hands and knees praising the minimalist gods that didn't happen during this experiment we hit four big categories in her life her closet her Digital World her beauty products and her cooking condiments first up the closet na packed away 99% of her wardrobe leaving only 33 items unlike me she didn't end up seeing the value in wearing the same thing every day go figure next digital clutter her desktop was a disaster this desktop is horrifying how long has it been like this forever forever it's really not that bad I think it being dramatic her inbox had over 10,000 unread emails and yes she still uses Yahoo mail we backed up her files organized everything and miraculously found an actual wallpaper behind all the icons I don't think she wanted to admit it but she totally liked the change then beauty products we Unearthed her secret horde of skincare and makeup products and condensed it all into one bag somehow she still found room for her glitter eyeshadow I mean that obviously is an essential the final boss was the cooking condiments I tried to get her to get rid of some but she refused and I surrendered yay at the end of the week did she convert to minimalism I think we know the answer there not a chance but I appreciate the fact that she entertained My Lifestyle for a short period the reality is that if you're a minimalist you don't need to fall in love with a minimalist you need to fall in love with someone that respects you and will do your ridiculous experiments for your YouTube channel or something like that we tried minimalism with kids even though Natalie isn't a minimalist I've been surprised at how much she has embraced this process of practicing minimalism with kids while it hasn't exactly gone to plan we have seen some huge benefits from this practice the first challenge we faced even before Frankie was born was calling down the recommended baby items to the essentials and we still ended up buying 100 new things by the time our son was born these are baby nail clippers while we had to buy a lot of new things there were were a few practices that really helped us get more intentional with the things that we purchased first we gave Frankie a capsule wardrobe do know what I was actually surprised in myself because like when you have a baby you want to get all the cute things right like there's like all the cutest little socks and the cutest little frilly things and like oh my gosh I can put them in these like knitted suspenders that are like impossible to wash dry clean only somehow and I was looking at all that stuff first and I was like well what should I like dress him in and like what should we get and then I was like you know what it this kid's getting a capsule wardrobe and he's going to love it so we got him like a capsule Wardrobe from birth till 3 months and literally what that meant was I think it was like four long sleeve zippies and then like six singlet onesies that was it so it was the same color same style same design same brand all machine washable dryer friendly 100% cotton we implemented a one bin rule for toys so if a new toy came in and old one went out this was great when he was a baby now that he's a toddler we had to get a much bigger bin okay we have seven bins setting boundaries for gifts we went ahead and let family and friends know that we didn't want physical gifts for our son if anything we wanted them to buy us consumables or books since we already had everything else that we needed that helped with some of the things but people still inevitably bought us stuff what are you going to do and finally we got really smart with our storage and organization some people call storage and organization the dirty little cousins to minimalism but I'm personally a fan we used storage bins under the bed for baby gear and organized Essentials like bottles pump parts and solid food supplies in our kitchen cabinet this really helped us from drowning in the Clutter does it slow us down a bit sure but when we ask ourselves do we really need this will it make our life simpler or more complicated has really helped to keep our home simple and clutter-free so can you be a minimalist with kids yes you can but that doesn't mean that your kids will be mental health mental health isn't just about reducing stress or feeling good it's about building habits that help you navigate life's inevitable challenges over the years I've experimented with everything from meditation to mood tracking and breath work to see what actually makes a difference some practices really surprised me with how transformative they were let's start with meditation my meditation experiment was pretty extreme I committed to meditating for 1 hour every sing SLE day for 30 days that's 1 hour spread throughout the entire day 5 hours of meditating so far just wasting my days I was going to say imagine all the videos you could have done 5 hours here are my three main takeaways from my meditation experiment one it's much harder than it looks sitting still and staying present for an hour was mentally exhausting especially in the beginning the biggest challenge wasn't distractions from the outside world but getting lost in my own thoughts too a small meditation habit is better especially when you're getting started out going too hard too fast like I did for 1 hour a day was like running a marathon without training if you want to stay consistent with a habit it's more important to shrink the change as small as possible so it's a no-brainer to do every single day I think doing it for 10 minutes which is what my wife did over this 30-day experiment was a much better approach three try to start out with guided meditations having a structured meditation to follow whether through an app or a teacher made it way easier to stay focused and avoid zoning out instead of sitting there wondering about whether or not I left the oven on guided meditations kept me engaged grounded and in the present moment really I guess the whole idea of meditation is just to be aware of those things and to observe justness I didn't get it stop judging me by the end of 30 days I was loving it but it wasn't enough to keep the Habit alive over the past few years since life got in the away as it always does so sitting down to meditate for even 10 minutes has been a real challenge that said today I try to find time to be still and in the present moment in other ways whether that's going for a walk lifting weights at the gym or finding a few moments to be still after we put our son down for his nighttime routine it's not perfect but every little bit helps uh I'm really hungry uh me too wait did you hear what I'm saying wait do you hear what I'm saying what the wait what oh my God I tracked my mve food every single day for a year because I needed a spreadsheet to tell me if I was happy or not each night I rated my day on a scale fromus 2 to plus two hoping to find patterns in my happiness I got this method from Jim Collins author of good to Great who meticulously tracks every day of his life there were a few key takeaways after doing it for one year through doing this experiment I found that self-perception is often inaccurate our emotions fluctuate daily and when we're in a funk it's easy to believe that we've always been unhappy it paints our entire life in a bad light when in fact we're just having a bad day A bad week or maybe a bad month often when you step back you can find a brighter more complete picture what I found most eye opening was that my work was the cause of both my best days as well as my worst days deep meaningful work led to more states of flow and lots of positive feelings but overworking past 10 hours led to burnout this really reinforced the idea in my mind of balance work can be energizing but too much takes a toll at the end of the year I had 69 Amazing Days 169 good days 98 fine days 25 bad days and four awful days and I would say overall a pretty good year the big Insight looking back at the year the things that made me happiest weren't big achievements they were simple quality time with people I love doing things just for fun and working just enough but not too much I tried breath work for 30 days and it was way more intense than I expected at first I thought it was just another woo woo spiritual Trend like crystals or astrology but people claimed it could help reduce stress unlock repressed emotions and even create psychedelic like experiences so naturally I had to try it I went all in and attended a legit breath work retreat in the first week of this experiment I'm nervous I'm a I'm a little bit excited I have no idea what to expect within minutes I felt lightheaded my hands curled into pause and then boom a wave of emotion hit me out of nowhere I did not expect uh to get as emotional as I did it was definitely unlike anything I have ever done before I left that session feeling completely at peace with the world and a brand new perspective of what was possible with breath work if you try this for yourself which I highly recommend you do even if you just do it once you can expect resistance but also real benefits while it was challenging to stay consistent especially outside of the retreat setting the moments of Stillness and Clarity made it a practice worth doing you don't have to believe in spirits to try it I certainly don't just be ready for whatever comes up I journaled every day for 30 days my goal just dump my thoughts onto the page for 10 minutes every day I learned my lesson from the meditation experiment at first this practice felt boring unhelpful and more like a chore but halfway through the experiment I went through one of the worst periods of anxiety I've ever had in my life and suddenly journaling became a way for me to process my thoughts writing things down helped me to sort through my emotions and make sense of what I was feeling in a way that thinking alone couldn't do so this is May 20th 2019 Nat and I just moved into our new apartment and I write I'm really hoping that after a good night's rest I'll wake up feeling like myself again I don't feel like cleaning the apartment unpacking or getting back to my work my mind and body feel completely un settled there's a tension a nervousness anxiety I hate this feeling I just want to feel comfortable again I just hope that I wake up feeling better again I know I must sound like a broken record but when you feel like this it's all you can think about so many of the people that I've interviewed for my new podcast three rules credit journaling as a practice that has made a meaningful impact on their happiness when I see a certain habit like this come up again and again from highly thoughtful and successful people it just reinforces how important and how Universal they are in the moment it might not feel that transformative but I found that over time it can help to reveal patterns struggles and progress that would otherwise go unnoticed even if you don't Journal daily having a place to turn to when you need Clarity is invaluable and it's a habit that I always come back to when I need to get clear on my thoughts I took cold showers for 30 days there's been a lot of talk over the past few years about the benefits of cold exposure lots of the science behind it is being explored and some of it even debunked even the well-known therapeutic remedy called rice which is rest ice compression and elevation is falling out of practice and not being recommended as a recovery tool good thing I didn't do cold showers for any of the supposed health benefits I did it for one reason and one reason only to embrace the Flinch Julian Smith's book The Flinch describes that split-second hesitation before doing something uncomfortable hitting publish on your first YouTube video walking out onto the stage to give a talk asking someone out at a bar also stepping into a cold shower Julian argues that embracing the Flinch over and over again we can get better at it something like doing cold showers every day can become a daily practice in pushing through hesitation no overthinking no backing out just stepping forward into discomfort over time this practice rewires the instinct to avoid hard things making it easier to take action when it truly matters ah I need to see how cold this really is I'm not joking this shit's got to be like 40° it's only 61° I think it's broken this there's probably something wrong with this is jumping into a cold shower a dumb and pointless exercise maybe or maybe that's just the Flinch talking if you want to find out for yourself here's a challenge for you right now yes in the middle of this video put your phone down turn the dial all the way to cold on your shower and step in you can choose Comfort staying exactly where you are or you can push yourself Embrace discomfort and prove to yourself that fear doesn't get to make the decisions you can do that now [Music] seriously physical health movement is one of the best things we can do for our bodies but not all Fitness practices are created equal some of the experiments I did were wildly simple others a little bit more complicated from walking more to doing powerlifting for 100 days here's what I learned about the habits that help to improve our physical health I tried powerlifting for 100 days not only that but I also signed up for a legit powerlifting competition at the end of The 100 days nothing like a big goal to kick your ass into action this was by far the biggest experiment that I've ever done for this Channel and I learned so much first I learned about what helps to build strength progress and momentum in the gym the biggest improvements I found came from dialing in my technique following a structured program with Progressive overload and working with one of the best strength coaches in the world certainly didn't hurt the right support system Honestly made a huge difference training with a worldclass coach took my progress to another level being in a serious training environment week after week pushed me beyond my limits making me realize that I was capable of far more than I initially believed I also learned that powerlifting at least for me at least for right now isn't a practice that I want to implement into my life going forward while it was so much fun to do this experiment for a few months and I met so many amazing people in the powerlifting Community it really taxed me both physically and mentally but I left with skills that have improved the core lifts I continue to perform at the gym I may not be trying to max out my lifts with every session but I still have a far greater technique and knowledge when it comes to my squats bench and deadlift and that was a huge takeaway from this whole experiment I tried yoga for 30 days long story short I like yoga much more than I expected long story medium despite years of weightlifting yoga revealed weaknesses in my mobility and balance over the month I saw noticeable gains in flexibility and core strength that made everyday movements easier and reduced some of my minor back pain hey honey how are you yoga wasn't just about physical movement it became a mindfulness practice turning inwards into my body's Sensations led to Greater self awareness of my posture my movement and my overall well-being throughout the day which honestly I think is one of the best parts of this practice the fact that it helps you both when it comes to your physical health as well as your mental health I don't know that might also just be the toxic productivity side of me talking still I 100% recommend yoga if your joints are feeling a little rickety or you want to find a mindfulness practice to implement into your weekly routine I rarely hit 5,000 steps a day let alone 10,000 so I find finally committed to getting my steps in I walked 10,000 steps for 30 days they're calling it walking apparently you just get your ass off the couch and move your legs in a forward likee motion propelling yourself into the space in front of your lifeless body and here are my three big takeaways from the experiment walking more is surprisingly hard to fit in when you're busy hitting 10,000 steps daily required intentional effort especially on busy days incidental exercise like taking the stairs instead of the elevator or walking to get errands instead of driving your car really helped to increase the amount of steps I took every day other small changes made a big difference taking work calls while walking scheduling morning walks into my day and finding enjoyable ways to move like hikes around Sydney made it feel more sustainable instead of just a box to check and I was surprised to find that the benefits were more mental Than Physical while my weight and health metrics stayed mostly the same walking more led to improve my mood and feel greater appreciation for slowing down I think we're starting to see a theme here with a lot of these challenges I need to find ways to slow down and calm my racing mind I tried Mobility training for 30 days initially I thought it was just about stretching but I learned it's really more about strengthening your joints and connective tissue helping to improve your range of motion reduce pain and prevent injuries while I completely respect this Mobility practice I quickly realized that it wasn't that practical for me long term there's no doubt that it helped my range of motion improved my joints felt stronger and just like yoga I became more aware of how my body moves but it just doesn't fit into my current lifestyle between work family hobbies and everything else I already prioritize dedicating time every day to slow controlled Mobility drills felt like too much I'm glad I did it but as a dedicated practice it's not something I have space for right now productivity being productive isn't just about doing more it's about doing the right things I ran several experiments to test different strategies from waking up at 5:00 a. m. every day to timing every single minute of my day to experimenting with bullet journaling I even attempted to build three habits at once to see if habit stacking actually works these experiments forced me to rethink how I approach my time and which strategies are actually worth using I woke up at 5:00 a.

m. every day for 30 days and it kind of ruined my life I thought I'd become a productivity Guru or get the mindset strength of a Navy SEAL turns out the real challenge wasn't waking up early it was getting enough sleep research shows that getting less than 7 hours of sleep wrecks your health and I learned that firsthand the first week was brutal it felt like I had jet lag every day then I got actual jet lag on a trip home barely slept and turned into the worst version of myself so it's just past 11:00 now finally getting to bed I'm getting no sleep tonight by the time I adjusted to this new routine I realized something that is kind of obvious in hindsight waking up early doesn't magically make you more productive why because sleep deprive me isn't exactly a creative genius the only real win I discovered something that definitely doesn't work for me I timed every single task I did for 30 days brushing my teeth eating working out even the bathroom why after months of very low productivity I wanted to find ways to get more efficient with my time I tried using a dozen different apps and settled on one called toggle to Time Track everything that I do in a given day the results were pretty eye openening I found out that I was only working 20 hours per week this is just like way worse than I possibly thought it could be if I had a boss I'd probably be fired by now I've been struggling to get motivated I've been struggling with my role as a parent and a business owner and trying to balance everything this experiment really helped me to reshift my work life balance going forward to one that puts a little bit more emphasis on work doing this also helped me appreciate the time that I do have with my family I love the idea of bullet journaling the aesthetic the Symmetry the Embrace perfectionism but when I tried bullet journaling for 30 days I didn't really like it so these two pages Encompass my yearly view it's my 2022 Bird's eyee view on this next page this is the monthly view this is where we can dive a little bit bit deeper and add things like the title of my YouTube video I'm releasing or just some personal things I have going on here we've got my monthly habit tracker my monthly mood check which I'll be able to fill out down here how I'm feeling my anxiety levels and up here in the corner I've got my idea section so that's any video ideas course ideas I can just dump them right in this corner here sure bullet journaling forces intentionality unlike digital to-do lists writing tasks by hand makes you more mindful about what's important in your life but for me the timec consuming setup and the rigid structure felt a little bit more like a chore than a tool that said some elements were worth keeping even if a bullet Journal as a whole didn't stick there were certain aspects that I found valuable like habit tracking mood checks and idea dumps these elements were a useful self-reflection tool that didn't slow down my productivity if your current digital productivity system is working fine and you're getting things done I don't think it's worth ditching it for a physical bullet Journal if you're the kind of person that loves putting pen to paper then you've probably already got a bullet Journal one month I tried putting habit stacking to the test and I built three habits at the same time this isn't something most Behavior experts recommend but in the name of Science and probably overconfidence I gave it a shot anyway the goal build a daily routine of cardio drinking more water and listening to audiobooks all at the same time habit stacking works because it leverages contextual cues linking a new habit to an existing one increases the likelihood of follow through by reducing friction and relying on established neural Pathways I already had a solid gym routine going so instead of trying to force three completely new habits into my life I just built them into this thing that I was already doing I also made a key decision to do cardio first before lifting weights if I left it for the end I knew I'd just make up excuses and walk right past the treadmill and out of the gym to stay on track I followed the two-day rule never skip two days in a row missing one day is fine it happens but 2 days that's when momentum breaks and I've seen firsthand how easy it is to let habits slip entirely from that point one of the important takeaways from this experiment was seeing the results of small consistent effort over time 10 minutes of cardio per session turned into 358 total minutes by the end of the month 30 minute increments of listening to audiobooks led to 27 hours of listening drinking 60 ounces of water daily added up to nearly 2,000 o which is probably why I spent half the month in the bathroom sleep as I've learned in my life is the foundation for everything from Focus to energy and overall health I've experimented with it in different ways from fun challenges like learning how to lucid dream to swapping lives with a night owl these were eye- openening and often sleep depriving experiences that completely changed how I think about rest and Recovery I swapped lives with a night owl I'm an early riser and my friend Sarah is not for one week we swapped routines to see if we could learn something from each other's schedules there were major downsides for both of us right away our energy levels and sleep took a huge hit I used to think that being an early bird was just about discipline but science says otherwise Matthew Walker one of the leading sleep researchers that I'm sure you've already heard of explains that our circadian rhythms are largely determined by genetics not willpower so instead of forcing yourself into a rigid 5:00 a. m.

wakeup time just because productivity culture glorifies it it's better to align your routine with your natural Rhythm fighting against your biology is both exhausting and counterproductive by the end of this experiment neither Sarah nor I were converted another late night for me almost 1:00 a. m.