Habits Archives - Sajith Mathew

Choosing the Best Way to Do Things

We’re all doing stuff all the time, day in and day out, every moment, literally without any break.
I can say that most of the time we do multiple things together. And we have become masters of multitasking.

We have become the masters of multi-tasking these days.

But the question is – Are we mindful about the ways of doing it?

We might have a habit of doing the routine stuff in a certain way. It doesn’t always mean that it is the best way of doing it.

There are multiple ways of doing a thing – whatever it is.
Only if we really thought of the possibilities, we come to understand what might be the best option for us to do it.

This is my internal thought below while writing this 🙂

‘Am I going unnecessarily wild with this thought thread?
Will my readers be able to get what I’m putting across?’

The simple way to go about it is to take a pause before you do any task.
I’m aware that it is not quite possible always – especially on trivial matters.

But I can assure you that if you start using this approach when you do stuff that matters to you, it can literally bring in changes that you never expect.

Small changes seem irrelevant in the short run, but it adds up.

Small changes deliberately done can result in big jumps over time.

All you have to do is to take a pause, maybe for 3 secs, before you do something that matters to you in some way. You have to decide where to apply it.

Ultimately, in most cases, your reaction to a situation is what matters more than the situation itself. Just think about this.

And taking a pause helps us in coming up with better reactions to situations.

I know people who have just said ‘No’ without considering the possibility of what might happen if you just give it a chance.

I’ve been there too and still find myself there a lot of times.

‘No’ put a full stop on the possibilities – ‘what might have happened’ stops right there – career opportunities, relationships,…

Life is all about making choices, and whatever choice you make makes you.

I just believe in the philosophy of minimizing regrets.

After all, that’s one thing we can’t change in the long run. We need not wonder what might have happened if you give it a chance.

99% of the time, our reaction to the situation determines the after-effects.

Pause, reflect and give a second thought before you do anything on things that matter to you.

Wish you the best.

Designing a Better World

A better world

I just love this concept – ‘Incentivise to make things better’.
This is a thought I have been talking about a while back.

Please read it here

James Clear talks about this same concept in the book ‘Atomic Habits’ with a different spin – How can we design a world where it’s easy to do what’s right?

In fact, we can design a world where good actions trump over bad, which when compounds result in a massive positive impact.

This is a simple concept that makes a difference in the world we live in.

Why?

It’s difficult to define laws and rules for every scenario out there.
It’s just impossible.

Consider the permutations and combinations of activities, ideologies, thoughts a single person can have.

Now, think about billions of people like this.

It’s really difficult to fathom the set of rules and laws that could bring out the best in every situation.

But what can we do then?
We can design a world where it’s easy to do what’s right.

We, as humans tend to choose the path with the least resistance. So, if doing the right stuff is the easy step, most of us go along that route.

And when we do this, a majority of the people out there tend to do the best things that are beneficial to the overall society.

We need not have specific rules and laws for every situation.

Just look around.

We already have incentives in place for promoting good activities in society so that the collective gains ultimately.

For instance, when you donate to a cause/charity, you get exempted from taxes.

This makes sure that anyone who has a slight thought of helping someone with a cause, can do it and gets incentivized for their good actions.

Donations and charities are tax exempted, which is a way of incentivizing the good act.

Talking from a highly relevant topic in today’s age – climate change.
Imagine, if you could get discounts on your electric bills for every tree you plant in a year.

I’m sure that a good number of people would do this. The reason – the good act is incentivized.

This is the reason behind having tax exemptions for electric vehicles.

I believe that incentivizing the good acts that protect our environment gets far more traction than just lectures

Now, in the bigger picture, this all makes sense in many cases.

But why should you care about this in your life?

You can design your life by keeping this simple logic in mind.
If you want to start/stop a good habit that you have been planning forever, just incentivize it.

It doesn’t have to be a monetary reward, it can literally be anything that makes you feel good – taking a vacation after working hard on a project, watching a series after a workout,…

Many a time, we tend to fall short of the habits that can really transform our lives. Try incentivizing the good ones and it can make a difference.

I just believe that ideologies and concepts don’t make sense unless it impacts an individual in some way.

This is a simple concept but it can positively impact your life if you use it well.

Wish you the best.

How My Thoughts on Habits Changed?

Experiences

We’re all a rebel at times. One trait of a rebel is to move the exact opposite way.

Hear out my rebel thought on habits and how I have changed them.

Until sometime back, I would always scoff at the advice on habits.

The advice can be anything along the lines – ‘You need to have discipline’, ‘You need to sleep on time/wake up on time’, ‘You need to plan your day’ and on and on.

Hey, these are not just from my closed ones. Also, from internet gurus and mentors and real impactful people.

Then I stumbled across an idea from the book ‘Atomic habits’ by James Clear.

Just one thought – Cue -> Craving -> Response -> Reward

This pattern controls our habits, which in turn control our lives.

I looked closely. Anything I felt I’m doing good, there was this pattern.
Any bad habits I have, there was this exact pattern again.

Earlier, I had this thought on habits – ‘It just takes away the fun and uncertainties in life. In essence, it just makes my life a routine or redundant.’

Now, I have this counter thought on habits – ‘It just makes my life function in a smooth way so I don’t have to worry about spending my willpower each time I make a choice.

The best thing – I can now spend my willpower on the stuff that really matters’.

In a way, habits give backs us the time to do our own stuff.

This is not to say that things will be completely fine, but at least good habits make them easier.

So, if you wish to change something in life, just think about the pattern:

Cue -> Craving -> Response -> Reward

Love you all.

#1 Practical Way To Get Your Life On Track

Life

There are tremendous opportunities for us to develop in all aspects of our lives these days, in the digital age.
But the question is, are we using them?

Take control of your life by using habits

I am sure that you have heard about habits a lot before, maybe a good one or a bad one.
But basically these are activities we do unconsciously in our day to day lives, without putting much effort.

Why habits can do wonders in your life?

That’s why inculcating new great habits in your life will do wonders.
Initially, you will like doing a daunting task, but gradually this becomes a part of your life. And this automatically improves your lives without you even realizing it.

Power of keystone habits

There are few habits when you start, it automatically spills positive impacts into other aspects of your life. These habits are called keystone habits(coined by Charles Duhigg)
We are going to discuss a few of them.

Meditation

I thought meditation was only monks or someone who is exploring spirituality. But boy, I was wrong. I gave it a try and then stuck with the practice for life. When we hear about meditation, we feel it is a complex task which is very difficult to learn. But in reality, it is quite simple.

You can start off with Breath awareness meditation. You just want to sit in a calm place in a comfortable position and watch your breath closely. That’s it.

Meditation makes your mind calm. This helps in multiple aspects of your life. you will be able to make better decisions. You will be in a position to understand people more closely. This improves your relationships and overall happiness.

Exercise

We all have done some kind of exercise in our life. It can be running, walking, strength training, any kind of dance, sports, etc. Have you ever thought about what happens to us overall when we exercise. This increases our energy and mood. What more do we want?

The benefits of exercise is enormous as we all know, but the power lies in practicing it.

Visualization

I started using this technique 4 years back and fell in love with it.
You imagine with maximum possible clarity what you wish to achieve in life and feel as if you have already achieved it. That is what it is.

Affirmations

We are bombarded with countless pieces of information in your day to day lives. Most of them are negative, which in turn result in negative thoughts and emotions for us during most parts of the day. To counteract this, and to reaffirm a positive mindset and emotions, we practice affirmation technique.

We repeat positive statements to ourselves daily to keep us positive. This will make us believe in ourselves and our capabilities.

Final thoughts

We all have limited time in a day to spend for life-improving habits.
That is where it makes maximum sense to practice a few keystone habits which positively impact multiple aspects of our life.
We can start with a habit and gradually build on that momentum.
But I assure you that this act will transform your life in a scale you have not imagined!