5 Asymmetric Habits I’ve built into my routine
Here’s 5 simple habits I use dilay for outsized returns
Paper before pixels.
Before you scroll the socials in the morning read five pages of the hardest book you’re reading.
That’s it, that’s the tweet.
By hardest book I mean the heaviest stuff you’re working your way though.
Save the ‘fun’ stuff for the evenings.
But what if, over night, the greatest meme in history was dropped and now I’ll be out of the loop for the rest of eternity? What if we discovered alien life? What if Taylor Swift said…anything?
You’ll be ok.
I like to double down on this behaviour by reading those five pages, sitting outside with our dog and cup of tea. I’ve got the kids breakfast sorted, Wife is on the way to work and for a brief moment, all is calm, as the sun rises and I can grab my five minutes, read, drink and get some early morning sun.
The real bonus is when your kids ask you why you’re doing that and then start to join you (sometimes). Now we are really kicking goals.
2. Take the stairs.
Given the choice between stairs or escalators, 98% of people take the easy option.
2% take the stairs.
That’s a horrifying statistic, and before you shake your head in disbelief run the experiment for yourself - especially at airports. People have just spent indeterminable hours buckled into a seat inside a tin can and at thi first taste of freedom they slump onto the travelator, dragged along like a california roll on the sushi train in the food court.
The flip side is that if you do take the stairs, always, you’re getting a leg up on the other 98% - literally and figuratively. And who knows, maybe in the process you shake a few others out of their static slumped reverie and inspire them to take the odd flight too.
3. Sip at Sunrise
A hark back to Habit 1 but be mindful of the first thing that lands in your stomach in the morning. It’s a simple act and a powerful choice that can frame much of your morning if not your day.
I’m not telling you what it should be - if you’ve joined the AG1 legion, are part of the Kale smoothie army or just love a long tall glass of water - you do you. But make it a conscious choice that sets you in a great frame.
Go for fluids, make it simple and then get about your business.
Not only are you getting a head start on hydration, you’ll push back a little of that empty stomach craving. It’s a little easier to make a better breakfast choice if the wolf isn’t gnawing away at the gates.
4. Kindle everywhere
I put the kindle app on my phone and it’s been a game changer.
It puts a viable alternative to scrolling the immeasurable depths of the socials if you can flick to kindle (or whatever e-reader you so desire) and make some progress on your latest read.
This is a surprising win across a few spectrums;
You feel like you’ve done something good because you read not scrolled
You feel like you made measurable progress on something, 10 pages, 20. How often do you feel good about how many reels you breezed through? Would you even know the number?
It tends to be far less visually stimulating, so easier on the mind if you’re getting ready for sleep.
It’s like stealth reading, you do this a few times a day and suddenly you are ripping through books
5. Prepay some Hurt
I’ve always used this frame in training for ultras, the more difficult time you spend in training today, the ‘easier’ it gets on race day.
But it also resonates with this recent concept doing the rounds of performing an action today that the you of tomorrow will thank you for.
Doesn’t have to be epic or David Goggins-adjacent.
Just something that you know tomorrow you will wake up and think, so glad I did that yesterday.
Find something today that you can do - make one better choice at a meal, mobilise, make a start on that job you’ve been totally avoiding, do the thing that you’ll thank yourself for later.
Expedite tomorrow because you got a head start on it today.
So that’s it,
5 relatively simple habits I use for outsized returns.
∆symmetric returns for the win.