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The Secret To Better Habits in 2023
Ryan Holiday
2 days ago
It’s kind of crazy to think how recent December 2019 feels.
Not that long ago, it seems, we were getting ready for what a new decade might bring us.
It’s even crazier when the truth settles in: 2019 was THREE years ago. We are well into that decade.
Think Small
The writer James Clear talks a lot about the idea of “atomic habits” (and has a really good book with the same title).
An atomic habit is a small habit that makes an enormous difference in your life. He talks about how the British cycling team was completely turned around by focusing on 1% improvements in every area.
That sounds small, but Clear emphasizes that repetitive actions accumulate and add up in a big way over time.
Don’t promise yourself you’re going to read more;
be realized.
How much longer are we going to wait though?
How much time are we going to let escape us? Hopefully not much longer.
that he just has to learn under Antoninus for two or three years.
As it happens, Marcus has to wait in the wings for twenty-three years before putting on imperial purple.
Whether you’re writing a book, whether you’re being a leader, whether you have kids, whether you’re wanting to lose weight or improve your mile time—having patience is critical.
Set a Bedtime
All the other habits and practices listed here become irrelevant if you don’t have the energy and clarity to do them.
What time you wake up tomorrow is irrelevant…if you didn’t get enough sleep tonight.
One thing every parent knows is that kids are a mess when they don’t sleep.
But for some reason, we think we’re different. We think we can get away with pulling an all-nighter here and there.
We think we can substitute stimulants for sleep. Nonsense. We only have so much energy for our work, for our relationships, for ourselves.
A smart person understands this and guards their sleep carefully.
The greats—they protect their sleep because their best work depends on it.
The clearer they can think and the better their mental and physical state—the better they perform.
In other words, the more sleep, the better. The philosopher and writer Arthur
See Everything as a Challenge
In 2018, we did our first Daily Stoic Challenge, full of different challenges and activities based on Stoic philosophy.
It was an awesome experience. Even I, the person who created the challenge, got a lot out of it.
Why? Deciding what we want to do, determining our own habits, and making the right choices is exhausting.
Handing the wheel over to someone else is a way to narrow our focus and put everything into the commitment.
To kick off 2023, we’re doing another Daily Stoic Challenge.
The idea is that you ought to start the New Year off right—with 21 great days to create momentum for the rest of the year.
If you want to have better habits this year, find a challenge you can participate in.
Just try one: it doesn’t matter what it’s about or who else is doing it.
Marcus Aurelius, who’s told that he’s going to be emperor, that he just has to learn under Antoninus for two or three years. As it happens, Marcus has to wait in the wings for twenty-three years before putting on imperial purple. Whether you’re writing a book, whether you’re being a leader, whether you have kids, whether you’re wanting to lose weight or improve your mile time—having patience is critical.
they perform.
In other words, the more sleep, the better. The philosopher and writer Arthur Schopenhauer used to say that “sleep is the source of all health and energy.” Certainly, no one is thriving who is not sleeping enough. If you want to have a good year, if you want to be up and at ‘em in the morning, start small, choose a bedtime.
Discipline Now, Freedom Later
The famous line from Musonius Rufus was that labor passes quickly but the fruit of labor endures. It’s the same with discipline: the vigilance is temporary, but the fruit of that vigilance can be enjoyed long after the sacrifice has been forgotten. When you’re on the fence about going for a long run or working on a big project, remind yourself: discipline now, freedom later. The labor will pass, and the rewards will last
Lay Out Your Supplies
Our mornings at home go best when the kids’ clothes have been chosen the night before, sometimes even for the whole week. We get out of the house with less trouble on mornings where the lunches have been packed the night before. When I get to my desk in the morning, the three journals I write in are sitting right there. If I want to skip the habit, I have to pick them up and move them aside. So most mornings I don’t move them, and I write in them. You can use the same strategy if, for example, you want to start running in the morning. Place your shoes, shorts, and jacket next to your bed or in the doorway of your bedroom so you can put them on immediately. You’ll be less likely to take the easy way out if it’s embarrassingly simple to do the thing you want to do. The same applies with meals. Pack your lunch the night before and you’re less likely to order spur of the moment takeout.
again. It’s time, Marcus continues, to “revert at once to yourself, and don’t lose the rhythm more than you can help. You’ll have a better group of harmony if you keep on going back to it.”
In other words, when you mess up, come back to the habits you’ve been working on. Come back to the ideas here in this post. Don’t quit just because you’re not perfect. No one is saying you have to magically transform yourself in 2022, but if you’re not making progress toward the person you want to be, what are you doing? And, more importantly, when are you planning to do it?
I’ll leave you with Epictetus, who spoke so eloquently about feeding the right habit bonfire. It’s the perfect passage to recite as we set out to begin a new year, hopefully, as better people.
The main thing is that we stop expecting this to simply happen. In one of the best passages in Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations (check out this awesome leatherbound edition), Marcus tells himself to stop hoping and “be his own savior while he can.” It’s great advice—advice we should follow this year.
And we do that by starting with some foundational habits and mindset shifts. Or at least, that’s what I am trying to focus on as I prepare for 2023
to begin a new year, hopefully, as better people.
From now on, then, resolve to live as a grown-up who is making progress, and make whatever you think best a law that you never set aside. And whenever you encounter anything that is difficult or pleasurable, or highly or lowly regarded, remember that the contest is now: you are at the Olympic Games, you cannot wait any longer…
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Categories: Blog