It's been just 13 days since I broke my habit stack and change is proving difficult. The goal of 100 days seems very far away at this pace.
For context: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/skarthi_doing-a-funky-experiment-of-stopping-all-activity-7197472026679263232-__Ta
I've made several interesting observations during this period:
When I'm fully immersed in excellent work, the need to write morning pages, meditate, and keep a task list goes out the window, yet my happiness index remains intact. It's something to seriously consider. Job dissatisfaction and the under utilisation of skills can make self-care seem more significant than it actually is. Fixing real issue >> Piling on self care
I've missed reading and writing. Not making time for these activities felt like taking 100 steps backwards. Some habits are best understood in their absence rather than their presence, reading and writing being among them.
I've missed sharing updates with the community and felt a void. From the release of amazing podcasts (Level Up Podcast with Malthi) and AiPL updates to the upcoming mentorship program from our team at Salesforce, it felt like our connection was severed.
I focused on a few habits during this period and found it easier to start from a blank slate. I began Varshitapa (40 hours fasting window and 8 hours eating window) a week ago. Establishing this new habit was much easier than stacking it onto an existing multitude of habits. Just fasting, sleeping, and moving was easier to handle than maintaining 17 habits at once.
I realised that many habits are just activities and don't contribute to outcomes. It's beneficial to prune them and keep the habit stack to a minimum. I had a total of 17 habits, and they were certainly weighing me down. Prioritising to 3 makes most sense.
In our upcoming habits and accountability cohort #pifo I want to share the why, what and how of habits from lived experiences both as a curious soul and as a behavioral scientist. Stay tuned for more updates on the deets!
