5 Weeks of Habit Building
I am super excited for this summer. Given the current environment, it is not quite the summer that I had envisioned months ago, but it is still an exciting time. I am really looking forward to starting my internship in a couple of weeks. I am also excited for a chance to focus on self-improvement and education this summer. I am not talking about collegiate education, but rather on-the-job learning and self-education through books, podcasts, and meaningful conversations.
In order for the summer to go as planned, I am going to be doing something new on the blog for the next five weeks. I am committing to establishing a few habits and documenting my experience of building these habits over the next five weeks.
I am not naive enough to imagine that five weeks of work will amount to a radically different me, but I am hoping to establish a habitual foundation to build upon and continue to stack progress upon progress.
My purpose in posting this endeavor is three-fold.
A selfish reason. By posting it for all of you to read, I will be extra incentivized to actually follow through.
I think that there will be some insights uncovered in pursuit of these habits that will perhaps be interesting to you.
By publicizing my effort, I can write honestly about the ups and downs and hopefully inspire you to consider pursuing a similar project!
My Habits
I should first clarify that I am not completely starting from scratch on any of these habits. I value all of these activities and have been doing some of them over the past few months and years. However, I have not been nearly as consistent as I would hope to be. These five weeks, I will not compromise on any of these habits. They will be a top priority.
This is what will set this period apart from typical weeks. In everyday life, there are occasionally justified excuses for breaking a habit for a day or two. I will not be breaking habits during this period because I am explicitly focused on building them.
The habits:
Read 30 minutes every day
Workout 5x a week
Take 3 tangible steps towards personal/career development each week
My Reasoning
None of these habits are significant time commitments. I am also planning to start small. For instance, reading 30 minutes every day should be enjoyable. I will be finding books that I really enjoy reading to build the habit. (Check out some of my favorite books in my Social Distancing Reading List). Although reading books that take more effort can be incredibly rewarding, I am not going to be subjecting myself to difficult content at first. Building habits is an arduous process, so why make it harder than it has to be? Once I have the habit, taking on more challenging material will be my next endeavor.
I am no fitness expert, but I know the importance of staying active, and I enjoy physical activity. Similar to the reading, I am not going to start with extremely high ambitions for this workout regimen. I have made that mistake before and experienced burnout way too early. I will be using the Nike Training Club app to do in-home workouts. I have been using it over the past couple of months and found it to be super helpful in finding home workouts. Initially, I will be aiming for 30-45 minute workouts, but I will be satisfied even if it is only 15-20 minutes. The important thing is meeting my goal of 5 workouts each week, not the length or intensity of the workouts. I chose 5 workouts because the app has some programs that recommend 5 workouts with 2 rest days each week.
The tangible steps toward personal/career development is a little bit more of a vague habit. This might lead to some problems, but I am hoping that it forces me to find meaningful things to do each week. Some of the types of things that I am envisioning are conversations with experts, discussions with mentors, online courses in interesting or useful topics, progress in projects that I am working on, and other related activities.
My Request
Since this is a significantly different type of writing than I have typically done on the blog, I would really appreciate your feedback. I'd love to know if you think that there is anything that I could be doing better and whether or not you like this particular type of content.
I would also ask that if you are inspired to begin building your habits (fitness, reading, personal development, a new hobby, creative, etc.), please let me know. It encourages me to know that other people are working with me towards better, more intentional lives.
Thank you so much for reading and continuing to follow the blog. I am so honored and humbled to know that anyone reads my thoughts, and even more so because I know how amazing and impressive so many of you are.
My Progress
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