Habits are amazing things. I’ve written about them before. I will write about them again. There are numerous books on them. Habits and their benefits have made James Clear a very wealthy and sought after man. I’m always trying to form or break some habit. 

That’s kind of weird isn’t it? You’d think by now I’d already have all my bad habits broken. Like weeds they just keep popping up. I’m currently writing a series of articles on Ben Franklin’s 13 virtues. Franklin captured these virtues in his aptly named book, ‘Benjamin Franklin’s Book of Virtues.’ (Check back here for my 13 part series on each of his 13 virtues).

I actually have a course I teach on habits as part of my Vitruvian Lab. I go into the science of habit formation, how to make them easier to adopt and how to break bad ones. Yet here I am once again tackling my own habits. I thought I’d share them with you because I don’t think they are unique to me. Maybe you will join me in this habit exercise. If you do, and you want to hold one another accountable, just DM me on Instagram @jasonwrightnow. Let’s do this.

First the habits to break.

Habit to Break #1: Checking Social Media Too Often

I’m so bad about this. I confess. I love the little dopamine hit I get when you like one of my photos or messages. I do. I’m no different than the teenage girl or guy ‘doing it for the gram’ and loving the likes. I use it as a way to see what topics people respond to. Sometimes based on a particular response I dig up data and do an article on it. So you could say I use social media for my own personal creator R&D.

Ok. All that’s fine, but this does not necessitate me checking Instagram 978 times per day. I could actually do everything I just claimed by checking it once a day or even less. So I’m checking it for the wrong reasons.

I just learned Lex Fridman limits himself to only 10 minutes per day on social media. Well, if Lex with his millions of followers between all the different platforms can reduce his time to 10 minutes then sure I can. So this will be goal number 1.

How am I going to do it? Well, the best way to start any habit is to specify a specific time and place. Let’s say I wanted to start working out. Ok. To start the habit effectively I would need to commit to a time and place to start the habit. I’m going to reverse engineer this a bit. I’m going to limit a habit that already exists to a time and place. 

I’m going to check social media at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. every day. I’m going to allow myself 5 minutes each time. I’m going to start this June 9th, 2022. I’m also going to find a way to replace the dopamine hit of my social checks with a more positive dope hit. I’m going to create a small spreadsheet with hours on it. The hours will be from 5a.m.-10p.m. This is approximately what every one of my waking hours looks like. I’m going to put an ‘X’ under each hour I DON’T check social media. 

So come 2p.m. I will open up a Google sheet on my phone and put an ‘X’ under 1 p.m. assuming I made it the entire hour without checking the socials. Get it? By doing this, I will get a small hit of dopamine for putting the ‘X’ on the chart and crushing the hour. Voila! I switched one dope hit for another. That will hopefully make not checking SM so difficult. We’ll see.

Habit Break #2: Watching Endless YouTube Videos

I realize this could probably count as social media, but it’s different. I get sucked into YouTube videos that really add nothing to my life. Granted I like to watch TedX videos, some of my favorite podcaster clips and I use it to learn how to do stuff like format an Amazon book but I also get sucked into rabbit holes of why the world is ending tomorrow. That’s no good.

Therefore, I’m going to set some parameters on my YouTube consumption. 

1. YouTube free play (where I can go down rabbit holes) is limited to my 5 minutes of social media consumption listed above. I will set a timer at the beginning of the session. Once it goes off, no more.

2. I stop and ask myself, “What can we learn in this 5 minutes” before going on YouTube. The YouTube algorithm knows what JW likes so it’s going to dangle all sorts of goodies before me wandering eyes. However, if at least set a goal in my mind to be inspired, learn a new bio hack or something, I’ll get the YouTube fix plus it will have real utility value. The problem is without going in with a plan I usually go to learn a chord on my guitar and end up learning of 13 different riots across America and then why Richard Pryor only ate cabbage on Tuesdays. I just made that up, but it’s about as relevant as the crap I often chase on the tube. Here’s another little secret. If you’re like me, you probably don’t watch much T.V. if any at all. That’s something we non-T.V.’ers kinda take pride in. But is it really any better if we are constantly scrolling videos on YouTube? Na.

Habit I Will Try To Start: Prepare Office For Following Day’s Work

My office is more than just an office. It’s my thought laboratory, my podcast studio, my library, my guitar studio. It serves a lot of purposes in a pretty small space. As such, it doesn’t take much to get it cluttered. 

I’ve noticed when I get it setup for the next days first work session which usually starts around 6 a.m. it is magical. I walk up and I’m immediately joyful just looking at the neatness. My books are staring me in the face from their floor to ceiling shelves. My desk, which I love is neat with my laptop plugged in and ready to role. 

Any reference books or other documentation I might need is stacked neatly beside my computer. It’s awesome.

Then there are most days. The office looks like I ran out to put out a fire. Everything is right where I left it after I wrote my last line, strummed my last chord or edited my last track for the podcast. It’s a freaking mess.

I want to make the latter description my norm. I want to start taking the time every day before I retire for the evening to get my office neat and ready for the following day. This is a real energizer and it leads to optimizing time better.

How will I do it? I’m going to put an alarm on my phone for 5:45 to get the office ready. If I’ve already done it, cool. I’ll still go up to see if I might be able to make it better. Either way, I’m going to go up one last time. I generally don’t go up to my office after Mrs. Wright gets home. I like to reserve the evenings for 100% our time. 

The funny thing is just because my office is upstairs and I workout every day around 5 I usually don’t want to go back upstairs. I think it’s because I know how easily I can get sucked into a project. My office is like my toy room. I love to work and create so I avoid it. Therefore, I’ll try a habit stack. I’m going to keep one of my books I’m reading for the week upstairs. The goal wil be to only read a few pages. While I’m there I will straighten up. 

I’m hoping by reading the book it will be enough to start shutting the engines of my mind down. I will get the office ready and I’ll hit the next day running. We’ll see.

So there you have it. I’m going to pluck two weeks and plant one tree. We’ll see how it goes.

Are you trying to form better habits or break bad ones? I have a 1 week course on habit formation that’s fantastic. You will learn the science of habits, why they stick and why they don’t. It’s a great course for anyone wanting to add habits to their life for greater optimization. Just contact me for details or apply for the 6 Week Vitruvian Challenge.