Breaking this one rule causes my whole day to fall apart…
The habit list and the non-habit list.
If you read enough self improvement, you’ve inevitably stumbled upon some quotes by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
The big one is…
“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
And, of course, it’s completely true.
For me, stacking my day with too many items to check-off just leads to stress and anguish.
Today’s agenda includes…
- Publish Medium ✔️
- Schedule Email ✔️
- Send Invoice ✔️
- 4-hour travel day ✔️
- Record podcast ✔️
- Student emails 3x ✔️
- Start tomorrow’s post ✔️
(I’m actually writing this post as the day goes on, so I’m adding to the list above, not dumping a ton of stuff in the morning and staring at an inconceivable checklist all day, which makes a huge difference mentally.)
So in addition to my necessity list above, each day requires a habit list and a non-habit list.
In James Clear fashion, the habits are meant to be simple and repeatable…
- 5am wake up call ✔️
- 20+ minute workout ✔️
- Write in journal ✔️
- Repeat thought matrix ✔️
I’ll touch on these a bit more later on, but I use the one line journal and my current thought matrix — or “affirmation” — is…
“I, Brock Swinson, will earn $21,000 per month selling books, courses, and films by September 15, 2023.”
(If that sounds impossible, as I’m nowhere near this goal less than two months out, that’s sort of the point, but stick with me each day and I’ll breakdown my entire plan and results for you.)
As for the non-habit list…
- No junk food ✔️
- No television ✔️
- No social media ✔️
This all probably sounds crazy, and maybe it is.
But I’m a very binary, black-and-white, somewhat addictive person.
I’m often 100 percent in, or 100 percent out.
And my day has to be structured in this way to be productive in a consistent, reliable manner.
Otherwise, it can all fall apart, and has, over and over again.
The positive habits are minimal effort, but the negative habits are non-negotiable.
Because if you start losing minutes, you start losing hours, and then you start losing days.
And if you’re going to actually accomplish those impossible goals — and not just talk about your dreams — it’s all about today.
No exceptions, no excuses, no time to waste.
What keeps you from starting today, right now, on that personal or intimidating thing that, deep down, you care most about?
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