{"id":1591,"date":"2019-01-31T00:57:48","date_gmt":"2019-01-31T06:57:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonathanwold.seguru.digital\/?p=1591"},"modified":"2019-05-24T12:27:27","modified_gmt":"2019-05-24T18:27:27","slug":"choosing-a-habit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/","title":{"rendered":"Choosing a Habit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019ve been asking for feedback on ways to make the first edition of Tiny Habits<\/a> more useful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One suggestion I received was to write about the thought process behind choosing a habit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My original motivation for experimenting with habits back in 2017 was improving my health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I chose my first habit, pushups, because I believed it would get me started in the right direction. And it did! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as important as exercise is, the big thing I wasn\u2019t addressing with regards to health was my relationship with food. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

See, for a long time I just couldn\u2019t figure out how to form a helpful, momentum-building habit around food. I thought of a few different food related habits I could experiment with and they all just felt wrong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whole point for me behind experimenting with tiny habits was to choose things so ridiculously easy that I wouldn\u2019t have any trouble keeping them up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s worked. I\u2019m coming up on 500 days of pushups soon without missing a single day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food, though, I just couldn\u2019t crack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I kept thinking about it, though, and after a few months I settled on an idea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started tracking the following habit: \u201cTake a picture of or record at least one meal\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why a photo? What\u2019s the point of that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, my thinking went something like this..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trying to limit what I eat or eat more of something is going to be hard to do, especially without breaking a chain. I might be in good shape for a week and then it\u2019s a special event or we\u2019re eating out all day, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t like the unsustainability of forming habits that restrict<\/em> me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I actually want<\/em> is to make it easier for me to make better choices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to make better choices I need to know what choices exist and that requires awareness and keeping the subject matter in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take a random skill, like juggling, card tricks, calligraphy, playing an instrument, learning a new language, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, look back over the past 10 years of your life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For one of those skills where you don\u2019t currently have any ability, if you had thought<\/em> about that skill at least once each day, would that have made a difference? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I suggest it would have. When you\u2019re aware of something you\u2019re more likely to take action, however small. You\u2019re more likely to ask a question, given a relevant opportunity. You\u2019re more likely to pay attention a moment longer when you notice something related. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, while I’m my thoughts and ideas on the matter are still in development, I’d sum it up like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take a big, difficult “goal” (I don’t like the word goal, but that’s a topic for another time) you have in mind like improving health. Break it apart into “sub-goals” like eating better or exercising more, then form rediculously tiny habits that you can start that build momentum<\/em> towards that goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, if you can’t think of anything tiny enough (e.g. the equivalent of pushups), start by just forming a habit around awareness (e.g. taking a photo).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been asking for feedback on ways to make the first edition of Tiny Habits more useful. One suggestion I received was to write about the thought process behind choosing a habit. My original motivation for experimenting with habits back in 2017 was improving my health. I chose my first habit, pushups, because I believed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nChoosing a Habit - Jonathan Wold<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Choosing a Habit - Jonathan Wold\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019ve been asking for feedback on ways to make the first edition of Tiny Habits more useful. One suggestion I received was to write about the thought process behind choosing a habit. My original motivation for experimenting with habits back in 2017 was improving my health. I chose my first habit, pushups, because I believed […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jonathan Wold\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-31T06:57:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-05-24T18:27:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jonathan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sirjonathan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sirjonathan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jonathan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jonathan\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/#\/schema\/person\/227f76cb7cb08b9ceb3ace85804bfd66\"},\"headline\":\"Choosing a Habit\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-31T06:57:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-24T18:27:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/\"},\"wordCount\":541,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/#\/schema\/person\/227f76cb7cb08b9ceb3ace85804bfd66\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/\",\"name\":\"Choosing a Habit - Jonathan Wold\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-31T06:57:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-24T18:27:27+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Choosing a Habit\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/\",\"name\":\"Jonathan Wold\",\"description\":\"Investing in WordPress\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/#\/schema\/person\/227f76cb7cb08b9ceb3ace85804bfd66\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/#\/schema\/person\/227f76cb7cb08b9ceb3ace85804bfd66\",\"name\":\"Jonathan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/cropped-Wold-Jonathan-scaled-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/cropped-Wold-Jonathan-scaled-1.jpg\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Jonathan\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/blog.jonathanwold.com\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jonathanwold\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/sirjonathan\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Choosing a Habit - Jonathan Wold","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Choosing a Habit - Jonathan Wold","og_description":"I\u2019ve been asking for feedback on ways to make the first edition of Tiny Habits more useful. One suggestion I received was to write about the thought process behind choosing a habit. My original motivation for experimenting with habits back in 2017 was improving my health. I chose my first habit, pushups, because I believed […]","og_url":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/","og_site_name":"Jonathan Wold","article_published_time":"2019-01-31T06:57:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-05-24T18:27:27+00:00","author":"Jonathan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@sirjonathan","twitter_site":"@sirjonathan","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jonathan","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/"},"author":{"name":"Jonathan","@id":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/#\/schema\/person\/227f76cb7cb08b9ceb3ace85804bfd66"},"headline":"Choosing a Habit","datePublished":"2019-01-31T06:57:48+00:00","dateModified":"2019-05-24T18:27:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/"},"wordCount":541,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/#\/schema\/person\/227f76cb7cb08b9ceb3ace85804bfd66"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/","url":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/","name":"Choosing a Habit - Jonathan Wold","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-01-31T06:57:48+00:00","dateModified":"2019-05-24T18:27:27+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/choosing-a-habit\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Choosing a Habit"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/#website","url":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/","name":"Jonathan Wold","description":"Investing in WordPress","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/#\/schema\/person\/227f76cb7cb08b9ceb3ace85804bfd66"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/#\/schema\/person\/227f76cb7cb08b9ceb3ace85804bfd66","name":"Jonathan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/cropped-Wold-Jonathan-scaled-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/cropped-Wold-Jonathan-scaled-1.jpg","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Jonathan"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/blog.jonathanwold.com","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jonathanwold\/","https:\/\/x.com\/sirjonathan"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bf0cd40f-7ebb-43c9-a4ea-50b260f6ecbb.express.conves.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}