5 Weeks of Habit Building: Week 3
Three weeks ago I started five weeks of habit building. I am spending these five weeks to try to build a foundation of good habits. To read more about my process, read my recent post: Five Weeks of Habit Building.
The habits that I am building:
Read 30 minutes every day
Workout 5x a week
Take 3 tangible steps towards personal/career development each week
The Good
There is no doubt in my mind that this was my best week so far. As I wrote in my last post, I was attempting to finish The Brothers Karamazov before this update. I am happy to say that I met my goal. The novel is very psychological and made me think...a lot. I cannot say that it is one of my favorites, but I am definitely glad that I read it. Now I am excited to turn my attention to other books that have been sitting on my shelf for too long.
I also met my workout and personal/career development goals this week. Like I had promised, I returned to focusing my career development on real estate/investment analysis, and I made a lot of progress on building a model that I am hoping to share one day. Speaking of which, if anyone has any experience either building financial models or as a landlord/property manager and would be willing to share a bit of your experience with me, please let me know!
The Bad
Amazingly, there is not much to report here this week. There were two days this past week that I opted for lighter workouts due to long days, but I am still happy to have completed them. As I have written in previous posts, I am trying to get on a more routine schedule with these workouts, but I am finding it somewhat difficult. This might be due in part to the abnormal schedule that we are all experiencing, but I still have hope that I can find a regular time each day that works throughout it all.
Lessons Learned and Adjustments for This Week
This past week I was reminded of the value in targeting clear, attainable goals. My goal of finishing The Brothers Karamazov propelled me to pick up the book and finish it. It provided me with some added strength against frivolous distractions.
I experienced a similar result in my personal/career development. A singular focus on this model that I was building caused me to think about it even when I wasn't working on it.
Furthermore, I found that the more I worked on it, the more time I wanted to spend in Excel perfecting it. I even started losing track of time a couple of the days I was working on it. I love those moments when everything else subsides, and I can focus the entirety of my attention on one thing. It happens in relationships, sports, nature, and even work. I have heard it referred to as flow, or being in the zone. The most recent place that I remember reading about it is Jonathan Haidt's book, The Happiness Hypothesis.
Building habits is a funny thing, though. It seems so simple, and at times it is, but consistency is deceptively difficult. As Paul once so eloquently put, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do."
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