Building Better Habits Hack
There’s something about a streak…
You don’t want to break it…
You know how hard you worked to get here…
And you know that one simple moment of temptation won’t be worth it.
When it comes to changing habits…
You need to leverage two things.
One – Accountability to Your Coach (‘someone you deeply do not want to disappoint’)
Two – The Streak Stack
The Power of the Streak Stack is that you’ve worked so hard, and you don’t want to throw all that hard work out the window…
With each day that you add to the streak, it’s power grows.
It’s like the Network Effect… the more people in your network, the faster your network grows.
For example, it’s been 951 days since I’ve drank alcohol.
I’m so close to an epic number => 1,000 days.
Why would I throw that all away for a drink?
And then start again from zero?
No way!
Likewise…
It’s been 24 days since I’ve checked a news website or used Twitter.
The freedom has been wonderful.
The extra time to read books, meditate, and pack for our move next week to Mexico has been incredibly helpful.
It’s very embarrassing to admit…
But over the past year I became a bit of a news addict.
Here’s how it happened…
So many nights after feeding Sofia…
I found myself “stuck” under a beautiful, peaceful sleeping baby on the couch.
Now if you’re a parent, you know the conundrum.
You dare not move, lest you wake the baby.
So I couldn’t get up.
(At least not until I knew she was in a deep, deep sleep.)
Foolishly, instead of using that extra time to pray or meditate, or even to plot and scheme grand plans…
I chose to take the easy way out…
With phone in reach, I began to scroll.
I found a guy on Twitter that was entertaining…
He covered the news, parenting, and workouts…
So each night I’d read his feed for a few minutes.
Sometimes for 20 minutes or more!
Then this “news habit” bled into my lunchtime…
Soon my days were dying a death of 1,000 cuts as I’d “give myself just 5 minutes” to check Twitter, or the Globe & Mail, or even the NY Times!
Nearly everything I looked at was “Rage Bait’.
Incredibly effective and addictive rage bait, I must say.
(A good example of the power of copywriting!)
Recently I decided enough was enough.
Time to break a bad habit.
Time to close down the media.
So that I could open my mind.
That leads me to a big lesson for my American friends…
You already know who you’re voting for in November.
You’re either Team Orange or Team Blue.
There’s no new article about Trump’s scandals or Biden’s gaffes that will change your mind.
It’s already set.
But be honest…
How many slivers of time do you give to this issue every week?
Even one is too many.
So let’s put you on a streak that’s free of election news for the next 4 months.
If you really want to “cram for this test”, you can read the news on November 1st.
Your “election exam” isn’t until Nov 5th.
You don’t need to make your final decision now.
That means that for the next 120 days, you don’t need to collect any new trivia about either of the two elderly gentlemen that will be given control of the most powerful country in the world.
(oh dear)
So…
Start a streak.
Just say no to the news today!
Tell your coach for accountability.
Use the Law of Subtraction (delete your news apps, Twitter, etc.) for success.
(Or use the Opal App to block those, Coach Daniel’s favorite).
If I can do it, you can too!