Habit #14

Calendar steps to your goal

Sorry once again for the extended absence of posting. The birth our third son in mid-July added a new dimension of chaos for my wife and I, but things are getting into a rhythm that appears to be sustainable for our new family of five.

The Why

As some of you might know, last year I embarked on completing my first marathon. And while my finish was somewhat expected for my first try, I will be the first to admit that I did not train sufficiently enough for the task at hand. This was evident in my pace drop off in the final 6 miles, as well as my inability to walk the next day. Being the sport I am, I wanted to pursue the same marathon this year as well, only this time with the preparation necessary for success. I’ve never been one to follow training plans, but there is something about taking the success of those who have come up with a system that produces great results that lured me to finally give into one. So I when through the rigor of googling “marathon training plans” and picked the first hit. In this case it was www.halhigdon.com. This site offers a plethora of different training programs for all kinds of distance races, and each race has plans to suit any ability level, from novice to intermediate to advanced. I selected one of the intermediate programs and pulled up the 18 week schedule that neatly laid out what types of runs or training to do each day up until the day of my race.

The How

Now that I had a training schedule in place, it just became a matter of taking my goal (Harrisburg Marathon on November 12th) and plugging in the regimen for each day so that the end of the program fell on marathon day. I have a 2017 planning guide in the beginning pages of my yearly planner, which displays the entire year on two pages. I was able to fill in each day’s run total from the end of July all the way to Mid-November. As I go through each day, I will cross off the days I completed the assigned run, or circle the days I missed, regardless of the reason. I like having this format, because while it’s satisfying to see the crossed off days accumulate, it’s equally agonizing to see a day circled as a negative reinforcement to not miss any days in the future. In any type of behavior change, consistency may be the hardest part for me, so having that paper accountability will hopefully work wonders in sticking to my assigned runs.

Habit #13

Create more margin time

The Why

“Just as the margins of books, newspapers, and magazines give our eyes a break from all the words on the pages, margins in our life give us a break from all the busyness, stress, and chaos”

-Andrea Dekker

Whether it’s getting ready for work in the morning, driving to church with the whole family, or going to any other activity, I feel that in most cases I’m pressed for time. Does anyone else get the feeling that there just aren’t enough hours in the day? I’ll find myself getting somewhere right on time, and that’s if all lights are green on my way there. But add the occasional traffic jam or forgotten item in the house that needs to be turned back for, and I’m rushing around like the proverbial “chicken with head cut off”. I hate that feeling and I’m sure many of you would agree. And while we all need to extend ourselves a little grace when we are running late every now and then, it is definitely a red flag when that becomes a chronic pattern of constant time strain.

Running late not only reflects poorly on your image to the outside world, the added stress associated with always flirting with latency is certainly not good for your inner being either. Conversely, putting margin time in your life allows for more intentional and proactive decisions because you have time to consider options rather than just react to the next stimuli. Blogger Andrea Dekker goes into more detail about how she incorporates margin time in her life and the benefits her family is experiencing.

The How

This habit is a little more complex because it involves incorporating a series of smaller habits to act as one cohesive unit. Below I have highlighted 3 key ones to hopefully achieve more margin in my life.

• Be realistic with how long it takes to do things – Take a stopwatch and time how long it takes to do random tasks around the house, like taking a shower or getting dressed. Of course, resist the temptation to rush through the task for the sake of getting an accurate assessment.
• Prioritize and don’t over-schedule – Some things are important, but not everything needs to be done today. Make sure to take care of first things first and anything else you have time for is a bonus.
• Plan out tomorrow the night before. – A return to Habit #1, but now applying the two principles above and allowing for margin time between each action item.

 

Habit #12

Keep a running grocery list

The Why

If you’re like me, you like to eat. And if you’re also like me, food costs is probably a large factor in your monthly budget. According to the US Department of Labor, the average “food at home” expenditures for a family unit in 2015 was $4,015. Seeing that eating is a necessity, it isn’t a matter of “if” we purchase food for ourselves and our families, but rather “how” and “what”. One area I struggle in still to this day is creating a “good” grocery list. I don’t have issues with making grocery lists, but I don’t think it’s well done if you find yourself forgetting to purchase key ingredients for a recipe you want to make that week, or those few items that your spouse mentioned to you the day before that you swore you wouldn’t forget. Yep, I’ve been there too, which is why I wanted to tap into the power of the running grocery list.

Anyone who is not familiar with this painfully simple domestic tool, it’s really just a list you keep in a convenient location (say on your refrigerator or counter top) that you write down things you need to purchase on your next trip to the store. See you’re getting low on bread? Write it down. Come across a unique recipe that requires an exotic spice or two? Write it down. Then the next time you need to make up a grocery list for the week, you already have a head start with the things you know you need.

The How

This habit is really self explanatory, but for the purpose of consistency, I will put it in writing. I will keep a piece of paper either on the fridge or on a clip board in the kitchen and simply write down everything I know we will need to get on our next grocery trip. By doing this, I hope to not only simplify the grocery list process, but also be more cognizant of what we are getting each week.

Habit #11

Table Time

The Why

As mentioned in the previous post, Rachel and I have been instituting a new nightly routine we like to refer to as “Table Time.” Contrary to it’s childlike name, this activity is adults only and observed after we put out boys down to bed for the night. It is simply a time that the two of us sit at the kitchen table and engage in any thought-provoking activities or hobbies we want to. We may turn on the radio for a little background noise (the local oldies station has been a recent favorite and we will chime in when a familiar song comes on that piques our interest). Most of the time we’ll have some sort of calm evening beverage, like chamomile tea. The main focus of this time is dedicated to spending time together, free from the routine distractions of the day. No kids, no TV, all each other.

Though we haven’t been doing this for a long time, we are already seeing some benefits. We are on the same page more often because we devote a time in which we keep each other in the loop about our individual plans and aspirations. We also are reducing our daily television exposure, which has many benefits of its own.

The How

Our table time has not yet developed a strict routine, but it does tend to start between 8:30 and 9:00. We usually have our kids in bed by 8:00, which gives us the time in between to tie up any last household tasks and get ready for bed ourselves. Then we usually spend the next hour at the table with whatever we want, sometimes it’s reading, sometimes it’s games, but that one-on-one time as a couple is what the focus is on for this time. Your true priorities are what you make time for, and we want our marriage to be something we always make time for.

Habit #10

Use a notebook

The Why

In my on-going life improvement project, being more productive has been a key element in becoming a better “me”. Incorporating lifestyle changes such as minimalism has allowed Rachel and I to free up time and space that was previously being occupied by less meaningful things to make room for the true priorities in our lives. But one thing that has still dogged me through this process is the mental clutter. Having ideas crop up with good intentions to act on them later only to find they were forgotten throughout the daily grind. Now this may sound like a repetition of Habit #1, but that habit had more to do with creating a plan for my upcoming day and did not account for the things that happen throughout the current day that were unanticipated. The ideas, interactions, or even lessons that I would like to revisit at a more opportune time would become fleeting as the activities of the day would progress.

Enter the notebook. Not the sappy Nicholas Sparks novel turned movie, but rather the simple binder of papers used for writing ideas. Though it really isn’t a secret, using a notebook was listed in a 2016 Forbes article as one of the 15 Surprising Things Productive People Do Differently. The last line of this section stated “Ultra-productive people free their mind by writing everything down.” When I thought about that, it really made sense. If an idea comes up that I want to spend more time on later that day/week/month, I would normally try to keep it in my head, naively convincing myself that I will come back to it when the time is right. Inevitably, that idea would usually be forgotten, only to be exhumed from my subconscious with the help of an outside trigger. Now, if I take that same idea and write it down in a notebook right away, I give my mind full permission to forget about it and move on to whatever is most pressing at that moment. Then I can revisit the notebook at a predetermined time that is appropriate for that idea.

The How

As one of the main themes for my habits is simplicity, I intent to stay the course with this one in that regard. I will simply carry a notebook with me wherever I go (when applicable) and just write down any thoughts or ideas that spontaneously come to mind. Nothing is out of bounds because the review and sorting of ideas will be at a later time, which for the purposes of these two weeks, will be every evening during Rachel and I’s newly dubbed “Table Time” (More on that in a later post). Even though for my purposes I will use paper and pen, the term “notebook” is being used loosely in this post. Other types of recording media, such as voice recorders and smart phone apps, could be more effective for you, given your lifestyle demands.

Habit #9

Use human-powered transport for short trips

The Why

With the recent warm-up of spring, Rachel and I have been finding ourselves getting more and more active outside. This has included numerous walks, runs, and even bike rides to locations all over our town. As this is more of a time commitment than the default motorized alternative, it has a few benefits that have lead to my desire to incorporate human-powered transport for most, if not all, short trips:

For starters, it’s simply good for your health. With the rise of Fitbit users around the world, a common goal for many users is 10,000 steps a day, which comes out to approximately 5 miles. If you have that errand across town that’s a little over a mile away, instead of jumping in your car why not walk it and knock out half your day’s steps in less than an hour? Walking is touted as one of the best exercises for anyone, given the low impact on the joints, full body movement, and low intensity aerobic activity. Replace the walk with running or biking, and you get many of the same benefits with improved travel time.

Second, it’s cheaper. Sure you may think that a quick drive to the Post Office doesn’t add up to more than a couple cents in gas, as I used to think. But considering that trip is probably at slow speeds with frequent stops and accelerations, you most likely aren’t getting the typical mileage you would on a highway trip. When you factor in added wear and tear, vehicle depreciation, maintenance costs, and insurance, you get a number that is pretty close to the government reimbursement rate of 53.5 cents/mile. I did an analysis of my typical week and found that I can probably replace 20 miles of vehicle transport with walking or biking. Given the true cost of driving a car is roughly 50 cents/mile, that would be $10/week savings. It might not be much, but it is something.

Third, is the social factor. One thing I did not expect when we started making more trips with our feet is the number of people that take notice and tell you about it later! That’s of course after taking into account the people you communicate with just in passing. Since it’s generally understood that positive social interaction increases happiness, you increase your quality of life with every chance encounter you make. These connections are ones that just aren’t duplicated when you are going somewhere in a climate-controlled steel box on wheels.

The How

Now, I’m not advocating that we do away with the automobile completely. It is a tool that enables us to get anywhere in the country in a relatively short time. The 60 mile trip to grandma’s only takes an hour in a car, as opposed to the 4-5 hours it would take by bicycle. But like any tool, it can also be abused, even to the detriment of it’s user. Every trip has the potential to decrease our health, wealth, and happiness simultaneously. The key is to find that line between necessity and convenience. For me, that is roughly 2 to 3 miles. I can get almost anywhere in my hometown by bicycle in about 15 minutes or less. And that trip by bike may only be a few minutes longer than if I were to take my car. So for the cost of a little bit extra time and loss of comfort (though I would not consider it “discomfort” because riding a bike is pretty much the most fun thing in the world), I become happier, healthier, and slightly wealthier for my trouble.

So for this habit, I will attempt to resist all car transport if my destination is within 3 miles (and provided there isn’t adverse weather conditions). It will require a little extra planning and time, but being intentional about our actions usually requires such things.

Habit #8

Daily Email Purge

***First off, an apology to falling behind by nearly a week on the 2 week habit cycle. More intention needs to be paid to this area of my life, so I will make up for it by introducing a short and sweet habit/description, followed by shorter one week implementation period before getting back on track with Habit #9***

The Why

The reasoning for this habit can relate to almost any adult who participates in any form of social interaction. It seems that everyone, from retail stores to restaurants to special interest groups, is vying for that coveted email address of yours that they can add to their mailing list and subsequently flood your inbox with a bevy of information, offers, and updates that you just can’t afford to miss. For me, it turned into about a dozen or more emails a day that I would have no intention of ever reading. The main problem was that I would soon allow those daily emails to compound on each other until I had over 1,200 emails in my Gmail account. And to think all of these are completely separate from my work emails! Not only does having an excess of emails feel overwhelming, but it also caused me to overlook actual important emails that I would very much like to respond to. So recently, I decided to put my foot down on this nasty habit rooted in apathy.

The How

The first thing I did was go into my emails and unsubscribe from every list that I wasn’t finding value in. Even ones that were once very useful to me were given the ax (an easy way to do this is to type “unsubscribe” into your email search bar and just go down through each result). That was the easy part. The second, which is still a work in progress, is to remove additional emails each day. This can either be placing the important ones in appropriate folders or just scrapping the clutter. So far I have reduced my inbox total to around 500 and my goal is to have it at zero by this time next week. Once this is achieved, it will be much easier to just go through each email I receive for the day and deal accordingly.

Habit #7

Nickels and Dimes

The Why

From the title, I’ll bet you are thinking this is post is addressing a money habit I would like to instill for the next 2 weeks. In actuality, this article has to do with fitness. But may I provide a bit of background to explain how this has absolutely nothing to do with financial wellness?

A few weeks ago, my sister referred a book to me that addressed a theme I find great interest in, human potential. The book Living with a SEAL: 31 Days Training with the Toughest Man on the Planet was written by entrepreneur Jesse Itzler. In the book, he invites a Navy SEAL to live with him and his family for one month and chronicles the entire experience. To say the say the 31 days was tough would be an extreme understatement, given the 6 mile runs through the snow, daily push up totals into the hundreds, plunging into frozen lakes, and sitting in blistering saunas till the point of passing out. Reading this book has inspired me to push my own physical and psychological boundaries to see what I’m made of. That’s where the Nickels and Dimes come into play.

The How

In the book, there were numerous workouts utilized to mix things up, but the one I plan on adding to my routine of 100 push ups a day is to do a series of 5 pull ups (Nickels) and 10 push ups (Dimes) each minute for 5 minutes. Not only is this workout incredibly efficient (25 pull ups and 50 push ups in the time it takes to check your email), but it is also incredibly difficult. By the last few sets, I am unable to complete all the pull ups and can barely finish the push ups, but I feel great afterwards. My goal is to be able to complete all 25 and 50 by the end of the 2 week trial.

Habit #6

Get at least 7 hours of sleep a night

The Why

According to a recent Gallup poll, 40% of Americans get less than 7 hours of sleep a night, which might sound reasonable until you look at the results for 1942, when only 11% of Americans fell into that same category. Indeed, there are a number of factors that could be contributing to this rise over the past 75 years. The pervasiveness of late-night television, increasingly busy schedules, and the struggle to find work-life balance can lead people to withdrawal more and more time from the ever-available “Sleep” account. I mean, sleeping a 1/3 of your life away seems like a waste of time. How necessary can that really be?

Dr. John Medina, developmental molecular biologist and author of book Brain Rules, wrote “Loss of sleep hurts attention, executive function, working memory, mood, quantitative skills, logical reasoning, and even motor dexterity,” There is even evidence in his book to support the idea that our brains use sleep as an opportunity to upload and replay information that we gathered the previous day. So in short, sleeping well can actually make us smarter! From a physical standpoint, our bodies also benefit from sleep. Catching enough z’s has been associated with maintaining a healthy weight, lowering stress, faster recovery from injury, and decreased fatigue (surprise!)

The How

So how does one go about getting more sleep? This is not as simple as my other habits, in regard to the time frame required. Most of my other habits only take a few minutes each day. So I will look to an unlikely source for my sleep inspiration, my two boys. They are excellent sleepers, in part, because their mother and I made them that way. In following the principles of a sleep schedule, we are now able to put them down at 8:00 pm each night and they will sleep until roughly 7:00 am. So why can’t this principle work for me? While I’m not going to call my parents up to put me to bed each night, I will attempt to establish a consistent bed time (say 10:00 pm). This time will allow me to get at least 7 hours of sleep, even during the earliest mornings I have to wake. I will also attempt this on weekends. I don’t magically let my 2 year old stay up late because it’s a Saturday night, so it couldn’t hurt if I followed suit.

Habit #5

Read to my kids every day

The Why

“What we teach children to love and desire will always outweigh what we make them learn”

-Jim Trelease

Those of us who have children can probably agree that we want our children to be successes in life, and a lot of that success can be tied to how well they can learn and perform in school. As a parent of 2 small boys (with a third on the way), I want my children to reach their full academic potential, so that they can pursue whatever lives they are called to lead and do it with unrelenting excellence. But in order to achieve this, there can be a maze of different paths offered to reach this intellectual pinnacle. It was shortly before the birth of our first child that Rachel came across a book that helped pave the route we would commit to taking. This book (as mentioned above) is The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. There is so much evidence and research to back up the critical importance of reading aloud to your children, I would be doing the book a disservice to try and highlight that in this post. I encourage you to pick up a copy and read for yourself or visit Jim’s site here.  I know for a fact that Rachel already does an excellent job with upholding her own end of the reading (as our bulging box of library books will attest to), so I believe it is just as critical for me to be reading to them in time I have with them. Not only does this reinforce the importance of reading from both parents, but having dad read to them helps our boys to avoid the stereotype that reading is more of a “girl’s” activity.

The How

I believe this habit is also pretty self-explanatory. I will attempt to read at least one book to my kids every day. Since the books are relatively short, this habit should only take a few minutes each day, but I am willing to extend the time as I see fit. The reading time will most likely happen in the evenings, but I can be more flexible with the times during the weekends.