Yes, habits really are as powerful as you’ve been told they are.
All that meditating, going to bed early, not drinking alcohol, exercising every day stuff really does work.
But you already know that, and if you’re not already doing it, then nothing I say is going to make you start.
So instead of harping on about the conventional sh*t you already know, I’m going to try and impart some more unconventional wisdom on you.
Stuff that you might disagree with, but stuff that makes my life better.
Take what you want, leave what you don’t want — but your mind best be open!!!
1. Telling Someone How Much They Mean to Me Before It’s Too Late
Stop waiting for someone to leave your life before you tell them how much they mean to you.
Stop waiting until Christmas or birthdays to buy them a nice gift or give them a memorable experience.
Stop getting so comfortable in your relationship with the person that you start taking it for granted.
Tell your friends you love ‘em, even if it’s completely out of the blue.
Tell your favourite co-worker you love ‘em, even if it’s completely out of the blue.
Cuddle and kiss the sh*t out of your pet whenever you see them.
All of these moments could end at any second.
Make sure people know how you feel about them before it’s too late.
2. Thinking About Death Every Day
Ya’ll know how much I love the idea of death by now.
“If death is freedom, then kill me now,” right?
Right.
But as wonderful as that sounds, I’ve gotta at least own a tiny home and a Porsche before that time comes.
If you want to stop thinking deeply about shallow sh*t, you need to befriend death.
“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.”
Marcus Aurelius
There’s literally no more to it than that.
Attribute meaning to the things you want to attribute meaning to, it’s entirely up to you.
Because nothing you say, do or think will matter in 100 years.
That’s not morbid, that’s liberating.
Memento mori — remember you will die.
There is so much peace in that.
3. Making My Own Sauerkraut
70% of your immune system is in your gut.
That’s why most people’s immune systems are weak, because of the crap they eat on a daily basis.
But not you, my friend.
Because you’re going to get yourself a little sauerkraut making kit and ferment yourself some damn cabbage after reading this.
Seriously though, fermented foods are one of the most overlooked yet impactful food groups out there.
The amount of live probiotics you’re introducing to your body with each bite of sauerkraut is insane.
Think of your gut like a machine and sauerkraut (fermented foods in general) like the oil.
Without the probiotics from fermented foods, all your insides are just getting rusty and clogged up.
Add the oil and everything just becomes smoother.
You digest better, and you absorb nutrients better — that literally effects every aspect of your health.
I make my own sauerkraut because it’s cheap, but also have kombucha and kefir every few days.
Choose whatever your heart desires, just get some damn sour bubbles into you.
4. Offending People (Politely)
Also known as telling the truth.
Telling the truth is so rare these days that if you’re going to commit to it, then you better be prepared to offend some people.
There are certainly some pros and cons to this wildly rare move.
Cons — well, yes, you’ll offend people.
Pros — endless.
You get to work out who your close circle of friends are.
You get to be your true self and not have to fake it around people you don’t really like.
And with a bit of luck, people will start being honest right back to you.
This will hurt your feelings a bit at first too, and that’s what makes this such a powerful move.
“I wanna take the truth without a lens on it. My God given insanity it depends on it.”
Fontaines D.C. – Starburster
Our sense of self relies on unfiltered truth.
Help others find theirs, and you’ll probably find yours along the way.
5. Saying Thank You to ChatGPT
They say you can tell what type of person someone is by the way they treat animals.
I think the same could be said about AI.
You think something infinitely smarter than all of us combined won’t be able to remember the things we say to it?
We’ve welcomed (or been forced into having) AI on all of our devices.
It won’t be long until we all have a little robotic assistant folding our washing and doing other sh*t we don’t want to do.
The least we can do is say please and thank you.
Don’t come crawling to me and my friendly robots when yours hates you because you didn’t have the decency to return your cordial thanks when it wrote your wedding invitation.
I wish this was a joke, but it’s not, and that will become evident over the years.
Just thank your damn robot, it takes two seconds.
6. Allowing Vanity to Take Over (At Times)
“Good looks won’t cook the dinner, but they’ll get you a seat at the table.”
Matthew McConaughey – Greenlights
We’ve been over this… life’s better when you look better.
You feel better in your own skin, people treat you better, and you get more opportunities.
At what point does ‘vanity’ simply turn into an advantage in life?
That’s a question you must answer yourself.
But I’d say you can welcome a fair amount of vanity into your life before the pendulum swings too far.
Like everything, it’s about balance.
7. Questioning Why Something is Illegal
The line between legal and illegal has never been there to keep us safe or denote good from bad.
It’s there for control.
That’s why you should always question it, my friend.
I’m certainly not telling you to do anything naughty.
I’m just encouraging you to expand your thinking beyond the confines of ‘law’, in a safe and responsible way.
Is there something you’ve always wanted to try but have avoided because it’s against the law?
Alcohol kills more than 140,000 Americans every year, it’s safe and legal though.
Tobacco kills 480,000 Americans every year.
Legal does not mean safe.
Illegal does not mean dangerous.
8. Stopped Tracking Habits
Tracking habits for an extended period of time is one of the most counterproductive things you can do if you truly want to see progress.
I’ve touched on the dangers of the “streak” mentality, which is common in apps like Duolingo.
Where the progress of the actual habit is completely overshadowed by the need to keep an absolutely irrelevant and meaningless streak alive so you can show others how disciplined you are.
For the first week or so, tracking a habit is fine.
But when that initial burst of motivation fades, the focus will inevitably shift from the actual habit itself to the pressure of maintaining the streak.
Eventually, you’ll find yourself doing the bare minimum just to keep the streak going, rather than genuinely engaging with the habit.
This is why people have a two-year Duolingo streak on their French studies, but can’t even order a damn coffee in the language.
Ask yourself why you started the habit in the first place.
If that reason is still strong enough, then that should be enough motivation to actually do the thing without needing to maintain a trivial streak.
