Tag: Self-Improvement

Posted on

Two Proven Methods for Identifying Habits You Actually Need

Hello Dear Readers,

One of the challenges in establishing good habits is figuring out which practices you need. There are many strategies to spot these gaps in your life, and I’ve tried a few. Today, I want to share two methods that have worked well for me.

The first approach is straightforward: pay attention to your immediate environment. Look for tasks, especially repetitive chores, that need doing. Once you’ve identified an assignment, the next step is to decide how often it needs to be done.

Sometimes, determining the frequency is easy because experts have already provided recommendations. Take, for example, the air filters in our HVAC system. I talked to our HVAC technician about routine maintenance to extend the life of our heater and AC. He recommended changing the air filters monthly. Based on his advice, we set up a recurring Amazon order for inexpensive air filters. I also created a monthly reminder on my phone.

There are times, however, when you have to determine the frequency yourself. In such cases, you might need to revisit and adjust the interval to fit your life circumstances better.

The second method I use for identifying habits involves listening to those around me. Specifically, it grabs my attention if I hear my wife or anyone else complain about the same thing three times. I consider whether it’s something I can take action on. Using this approach, I’ve established some beneficial habits. For instance, I’ve gotten into cleaning our cat’s litter box, scrubbing our toilets, and calling my parents more regularly.

These strategies help you identify gaps in your routine. Building a complete set of habits is a gradual process. It’s usually better to let them accumulate over time rather than trying to establish them all at once.

Posted on

From One Step to 10K: How Small Choices Built a Resilient New Me After a Stroke

People can be characterized by the sum of their habits.

Everybody has habits, but not everybody chooses their habits. Every choice you make is a step toward forming a life-long habit. As such, making choices that lead you toward your desired destination is critical. So, the first step toward developing good habits is deciding where to end up.

 

After my stroke, I wanted to regain my lost mobility and lessen the burden on my wife I had become. The first step along this journey was to be able to take more than one step between resting. My wife helped immensely with this, and we went on daily walks around our Portland neighborhood.

At first, it was challenging as I had to concentrate on moving my legs. One of the things I lost from the stroke was unconscious control of movements. Walking required concentrating on activating the right leg muscles in the proper order, and doing this for more than a couple of steps resulted in neuro-fatigue, a term I learned during physical therapy.

Neuro-fatigue might be something you’ve experienced if you’ve ever spent a long late night studying for an exam the next day and felt exhausted despite being largely sedentary. This used to happen to me just from walking due to the concentration and mental effort this once simple act demanded. Counting my steps helped me maintain my focus on walking, and it also gave me a way to track improvement.

Initially, I would need to sit down and rest every 50 steps. Still, eventually, I was able to last the hour-long walk until we got home again. Now, I can run 10 kilometers without having to sit down midway. In my next posting, I’ll provide a more detailed description of how I built up to a 10k run.

 

If you want to achieve something, you’ve already taken the first step toward accomplishing it, but you need to take the next step. As I see it, the next step is to subdivide your path into small portions. In my walking, this was easy to determine; I just needed to try and put one more effort than I did on the previous walk. If I failed, I had to try that number repeatedly if necessary. Eventually, I would succeed, and I could increase my goal again.

Eventually, I discovered that what was once all I could manage was now merely halfway to my current goal. If you’re stumbling and trying to take your next step, try making your step smaller.

 

Remember the fable about the tortoise and the hare: slow and steady will win many races.