THREAD: For me, 2018 was a year of experimenting with micro-habits around learning and content, and making them sticky. In the preceding years, I had read up literature on habit-building and what influences behaviour. All that came into play in 2018.
Micro-habits: something small - typically taking <15 mins to complete in one go, aimed at being done daily.
(Previously, the one habit I had deliberately created from scratch was writing+publishing a quiz question a day. That's how @infinitezounds began. There was plenty I learned from keeping that streak going from 2010 till I ran out of steam in 2015.)
Here are some of my experiments, results, and key insights:
1. Non-fiction knowledge exposure: I read one @blinkist book summary each day, along with colleagues at @choosetothinq. Designed something called 'compounds' to support this. We are on day 368. (Read takeaways from it here: )
2. Writing 100 words daily: Based on the reading compound's success. However, I failed at the immediate goal of writing each day. But got more writing confidence: started and sustained newsletters at work, and published more posts than in the preceding 2 years.
3. Exposure to arts: another compound at work. This was more successful, and brought immense joy of discovery. However, this is now running out of steam. We need to find a new dimension to this.
4. Learning French via @duolingo: I've had false starts in previous years. The success of compounds has helped me gain confidence in sticking around more. Result: I'm on Day 228, mes amis. It's usually the first micro-habit I do in the morning.
5. Reading the book "Godel-Escher-Bach": It's a tough book to get through, and I've failed before. So this time, the aim was to read just one page a day. I did a 4 months streak and then I fell off the train. Only resumed yesterday. We shall overcome.
Key insights (1/3)
1. Make the action small and sustainable
2. Find a strong purpose, as timeless as possible
3. Get a cohort together that shares the purpose
4. Reduce as much friction as possible
5. Know that some goals will have a shelf-life; it's alright to bid them good-bye.
1. Make the action small and sustainable
2. Find a strong purpose, as timeless as possible
3. Get a cohort together that shares the purpose
4. Reduce as much friction as possible
5. Know that some goals will have a shelf-life; it's alright to bid them good-bye.
Insights (2/3)
6. Daily is better than every other day/weekly
7. Find a channel (for reminding each other, conversing) that works for you
8. Positive peer pressure works; find people/causes you can't let down
9. Celebrate even the smallest of milestones
6. Daily is better than every other day/weekly
7. Find a channel (for reminding each other, conversing) that works for you
8. Positive peer pressure works; find people/causes you can't let down
9. Celebrate even the smallest of milestones
Insights (3/3)
10. A habit is most vulnerable at the beginning, during vacations, when something else puts you in flow, and after a streak has just broken.
10. A habit is most vulnerable at the beginning, during vacations, when something else puts you in flow, and after a streak has just broken.
In 2019, I hope to keep the reading & Duolingo streaks going, find my stride on the writing front, finish G-E-B, and add a couple of more micro-habits on non-content fronts.
At @choosetothinq, we also plan to bring some of these ideas to the outside world to benefit from. For I want to know: is there just something weird about us, or would these ideas work for other people as well?
(If you've need any inputs on building micro-habits, especially on the reading/writing/content consumption front, I'd love to help.)
Some references on habits & behaviour: the work of Prof. B.J.Fogg, the book 'Power of Habit' by Charles Duhigg, the writings of @ScottAdamsSays, @danariely, Robert Sapolsky, 'Switch' by the Heath Brothers, "Thinking, Fast and Slow", and various ideas from Behavioural Economics.
