February's Habits

For February I decided the habit I was going to concentrate on was to journal each day and so far haven't missed a day! My journaling habit is pretty straight forward. Each day after my two morning coffees and before my morning shower - I try to journal my goals for the day (other days the journaling occurs a little later than that).

I have 10 things which I've developed over the years that I try to do each day which I then track in my journal. These are:

1. Sleep - convinced that getting a good night's rest is the key to everything else you're trying to accomplish that day.
2. Kids - I have four kids and I try to be in contact with at least one every day. That contact can be in the form of in-person, text, email, etc.
3. Read for an hour each day. Normally more that one hour but sometimes because of schedule even an hour isn't possible.
4. Write for an hour each day. My blog and Substack account usually make this pretty easy to accomplish. Next up is branching out to longer Substack articles and maybe a book (or two).
5. Exercise - an hour a day. Try to get at least 1.5 miles of walking and maybe to the gym, pool, or for a hike (harder to do that in the winter).
6. Work - after being retired this is basically my "To Do" list (more on this later).
7. Diet - eat right which means minimal carbs and sugar with as little processed food as possible (though I am a sucker for chips).
8. Debt - pay one bill each day.
9. Simplify - try to get rid of one thing each day. It could be some clothes I no longer wear, a book, a file, or something along those lines.
10. Have fun - we aren't hear for a long time so might as well have a good time.

Also firmly believe in the Warren Buffet, Charlie Munger idea of going to bed 1% smarted than when you woke up. So each day I write down what I may have learned that day (with the idea that putting it to paper reinforces the knowledge).

Finally - I write down my To Do" list of things I want to accomplish that day. This helps make sure you are doing the things you told others or yourself that you'd do so that you don't let the day slip away.

My goal for January was to do 20 pushups each morning - increasing the number by one each week until I was doing 25 per day at the end of the month. Maybe I was lazy or the goal too ambitious but it was a failure. Once I did this and found myself doing 70 consecutive pushups each morning but I had the incentive of getting back into the dating pool. Now I live with my girlfriend so don't have that incentive anymore. At least I found myself exercising more.