Message to self:
I am still sleeping and waking up late. Either I accept that this is my biological clock, or I have to take it seriously and urgently address the root cause. The root cause is that I have more things I want to do than I have time for. Another root cause is that I still spend time consuming materials in an undisciplined manner. I love to read, watch and research, because I get a high from digesting insights. Fundamentally, I would have to rewire that high to come from deep work, from producing value, from making decisions and progress, from being in stillness. Another root cause is that I enjoy having dinner with my family, both from the oxytocin release from the social bonding, as well as the dopamine kick from the food.
According to James Clear, habits go from cue, to craving to response to reward. To break a bad habit, substitute it with a good one. Make the cue invisible, the craving unattractive, the response difficult and the reward unsatisfying. 1 tactic is to use bright-line rules. Another is to use paper-clip. One more tip is to use implementation intentions. Let me stack them all up.
2 bright line rules. 1st is no meals after 12pm noon. 2nd is start a 1-hour meditation at 9pm daily, and sleep right after that. 3rd is no message checking, article reading, video watching, any form of consumption except from 7-8pm. Let’s start with these 3. Then , I will find a physical visual cue I can move over from day to day to keep a running streak. Third, I will set a reminder for the 1 hour meditation in my room at 9pm. Fourthly, to make this all enjoyable, I will revel in my peace and focus whenever I can.
8:00am - woke up
10:08am - watched JerryRig, worked out, showered, core beliefs
11:22am - sat for 1 hour
12:07pm - arranged paperclips on my desk
1:24pm - planned for the day, finished morning ritual
4:24pm - finished FACE meeting, discussed about data lead position
4:31pm - rested by pacing around in verandah
5:17pm - synchronised all hiring plans, did ref check call with Xiao Yong
9:27pm - finished strat week materials
9:42pm - prepared for tomorrow’s meetings
Learnings for today:
- Start my day earlier
- Fasting isn’t that difficult once you are used to it. Just observe my sensations
- Same for information fasting. Just have to be mindful of my original tendencies, and they will go away
- Using pomodoro is ridiculously productive