Tag Archives: habits

Fix the inputs

“We think we need to change the results, but the results are not the problem.When you solve problems at the results level, you only solve them temporarily. In order to improve for good you need to solve problems at the systems level. Fix the inputs and the outputs will fix themselves.

You do not rise to the level of your goals, your fall to the levels of your systems.”

~ James Clear, Atomic Habits

I’m re-listening to Atomic Habits, and this time I’m bookmarking sections and taking notes.

Relating this idea of, “Fix the inputs and the outputs will fix themselves,” to students and schools, I think we often focus on the outputs. A simple example is homework incompletion: A student doesn’t do the homework, what do you do? Make them do the homework they missed.

On the surface this is a good idea. The best consequence for not doing the work is doing the work. But when this issue is chronic, and the teacher is constantly making the same student do the work after the fact, then that teacher is dealing with the output constantly, when the issue is the input. Why isn’t the homework getting done in the first place?

Maybe the student is overloaded with activities or a work schedule that doesn’t allow much time for homework.

Maybe the homework isn’t seen as helpful to the student.

Maybe the student doesn’t see the value in the homework, and thinks it’s not helpful.

Maybe the student prefers to do the homework after it’s due because they know they can sit with the teacher and get help, which they don’t get at home.

Maybe the student lacks the habits that makes homework achievable. Especially when they get unlimited time to play video games at home. Maybe the structure of being forced to do it later is the only structure they have in place to get the work done.

Maybe the teacher is giving that student too much homework and it takes too long to do.

Maybe there is a totally different reason. But here is the thing, if the homework is chronically late, chasing the student to do the work later isn’t solving the problem, it’s just trying to fix a problem with the results that you are getting.

“You do not rise to the level of your goals, your fall to the levels of your systems.”

On a personal note, I’m working on systems at work to stay focused on a single task rather than being distracted by trying to do too many things at once. This is challenging in an environment with constant distractions and a multitude of priorities – both my own and from others. I’ll share more on this later, but for now, the thing that I’m realizing is that it’s the inputs I need to work on. The systems I put in place set me up for good results or leave me chasing results when I don’t have those systems working for me.

Slowly by slowly

In an email correspondence, my cousin, Lee, reminded me of a post I wrote in China, Slowly by Slowly. In the post, I quoted Rob Giebitz who “first heard this phrase from our Chinese production manager“. Rob went on to say:

“Those odd sounding phrases that often amuse the native English speaker, those Chinglish phrases, may offer a key to understanding our host culture. “Slowly by slowly” may carry some meaning absent from the more familiar “little by little” or “step by step” that a native English speaker would use. “Little” indicates size or quantity, “step” implies distance; “slowly” brings our attention to the element of time.”

As I mentioned Tuesday, I broke my patella. I got in to see an orthopaedic surgeon and he gave me good news. Luckily, the break was the ‘right way’ (vertically on the bone) and I can start putting weight on my leg right away. It’s still very swollen, sore, and stiff, but it could have been a lot worse.

So now comes a 4-6 week recovery. It will go slowly by slowly. This will be tough. I’ve been doing 5 or more cardio workouts a week since the start of the year, but now I can’t run or ride for a while. I’m also still doing Physio exercises to strengthen an injured shoulder that’s recovering well. So, I have to be careful with upper body workouts too.

What will my fitness regimen look like? I’m not sure? I was too achy this morning and still want to get into work today, so icing and elevating is my workout after an unsettled sleep. But I’ll be up early tomorrow, I’ll hobble down the stairs and figure it out. Sometimes we have to accept that slowly by slowly is the best approach, and save the sprints for another time.

Adapt, Adjust, and Amplify

“Lose 25 pounds in a month.”

“Earn $1,000 a day.”

“Look 10 years younger.”

“Discover your potential.”

“Live the life of your dreams.”

“Anything is possible…”

…But none of it is attainable for the vast majority of people. The plans are made to look simple, but the goals are lofty, and the path to success is anything but easy. How many of us are excessively rich, looking and feeling healthier and younger than we are, and living our ideal dream life? We aren’t going to get all these things from some motivational speaker or some club membership or program. As Derek Sivers says,

“If [more] information was the answer, then we’d all be billionaires with perfect abs.”

It’s amazing how easy it can sound, but real, incremental, and meaningful change often takes two things:

  • Consistent effort.
  • More time than you think.

I’ve written about my healthy living goals, and the shoulder injury that I’m recovering from. In the past, an ice-pick-like stabbing pain in my shoulder would have been enough to derail my entire workout schedule. I would have stopped everything and gone into lazy mode.

Instead, my treadmill run, which bounced my shoulder too much, became a stationary bike ride; my weights set became a core strength set. My other routines remained as well. I think this happened because I am not on some crazy, unrealistic path to health goals I’ll never achieve. I’m on a slow, attainable path, that I want to maintain.

Here is the path that worked for me:

Adapt, Adjust, and Amplify.

It wasn’t easy at first, and it was not going to happen overnight. There wasn’t a romantic appeal, it wasn’t sexy or overly inspiring. It took patience. And unlike the fads and crazes, it lead to significant change over time.

1. Adapt – The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. If at first you don’t succeed, try something different. I made changes that were realistic and sustainable. Twenty minutes of cardio – totally doable to fit into my schedule. Before, I’d incrementally move that up to close to an hour. Now, I can put in over an hour on the basketball court, running hard, even though I haven’t done more than a 25 min. hard cardio workout in over a year. I won’t win any marathons, but I’m not dumb enough to ask my body to try. I adapted a workout schedule that optimizes my fitness in a minimal amount of time.

2. Adjust – My schedule had to adjust when I started writing this daily blog before my morning workouts. I kept running out of time. Now I’m writing this at 10pm, in bed on Sunday, rather than early tomorrow morning. I write longer posts on weekends, when inspired, and keep them short, with limited writing time on weekdays. I’ve adjusted a few things along the way, each time I do so, it’s to reduce friction and to make maintaining my wellness regimen easier. A great example of an adaptation is that when I felt I was stagnating a bit on my runs, I started doing some interval training. I increased my speed for minute or minute-and-a-half intervals, and I watched my top speed increase. When I got to a good speed, one that I used to run when I was in my 30’s, I made that my new maximum for my hard days… I adjusted again, rather than pushing myself to some unreasonable goals.

3. Amplify – When things are working, I highlight them. I’m public with them on my blog, and with family and friends. This isn’t bragging, it’s holding myself accountable. When I see results from interval training, I push myself to do this more often. When I got injured, I focussed on my daily calendar, and the things I could do, rather than the things I couldn’t. By amplifying the small successes, and the commitment I made to myself, I’ve created a positive feedback loop that inspires me to keep going.

As catchy as Adapt, Adjust, and Amplify may sound, it’s the other two tips that really make this work:

  • Consistent effort.
  • More time than you think.

Keep going, knowing that long term goals are more sustainable than flashy weight loss or instant muscles. Low motivation or injuries will happen, they don’t need to break the pattern of consistency, they will just slow down the intensity, and the timelines to the goals that were created.

There are times to aspire to be great, and to put everything you have into success and achievement. And, there are times to focus on self care… Times to realize that mentally and physically, we need to be consistent, show up, and maintain as well as tweak, the patterns and behaviours that make us incrementally better over time. It’s not fast, it’s not glamorous, it is achievable and rewarding, as long as you are dedicated and show patience.

Speed bumps are not road block

For over a week now, I’ve been dealing with a minor shoulder injury. I’m not sure how I got it, but I think shovelling snow and wide grip chin-ups were a bad combination, and I’ve pinched a nerve. Mentally it has been tough because I can’t help but think that this would have been an injury that would have lingered for 3 days if I were in my 20’s, but it has bugged me now for over a week. This “I’m no spring chicken anymore” attitude isn’t great, but I can’t help but think it when even trying to put my coat on makes me feel old.

However, in previous years, this injury would have brought my workouts to a standstill. I would have taken a break from my routine. Instead, I’m sticking to my Healthy Living Goals. In this 2019 year-end post, is a tip that I shared which I’m sticking to. This tip is to ‘reduce friction’, and a key point is:

Don’t exercise at your maximum every day. Some days I push really hard, and some days I go at 75%. A day when you are feeling low, give yourself an effort break, but don’t give yourself a break from actually doing exercise.

I haven’t been able to get on the treadmill because the bouncing causes my shoulder to ache, so I’m getting on the exercise bike. While I love mountain biking, I’ve never loved riding on a stationary bike, and so this isn’t my favourite thing to do. Still, today will be my 8th time on the bike in 9 days. I’m not winning any speed records, I am getting my heart rate up, and getting my minimum 20 minute cardio workout in.

I’ve also stopped weights and chin-ups, but I still stretch and work on my core. My workouts are a bit shorter, but they haven’t stopped.

The simple fact is that an injury like this used to become a major roadblock to my regular routine. It used to break the pattern and I’d stop working out. Instead, I’ve looked at this as a minor speed bump. Yes, it has slowed me down. No, I’m not improving my strength and conditioning. I am maintaining my healthy living routines and my streaks (another important tip from my year-end post).

I’m also trying to stay positive and stop myself from experiencing the “I’m getting old” self-pity party, but it’s easier for me to go through the positive physical motions than the mental ones… And on that note, it’s almost 5:30am, time to meditate and then get in that exercise bike. Remember, we are going to hit speed bumps on our healthy living journey, and while we need to listen to our body and slow down, we don’t need to stop.

Undermining Self-Sabotage

It’s amazing how much people undermine themselves:

  • The dieter with tons of food they shouldn’t eat in the house.
  • The person with a deadline watching one, or two, or three more tv show before getting to work.
  • The victim of bullying seeking negative attention that makes them an easier target.
  • The emotionally struggling person finding friends that needs rescuing and more support than they can healthily give.
  • A perfectionist placing such high demands on themselves that they can do nothing well.
  • The stressed who relate everything they do to stress, so stress is always on their minds.

Here are two quotes from James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits:

You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results.

And;

You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.

The things we do, and the plans and systems we put in place, and the habits we develop here and now are what determine the outcomes we are heading towards. Part of self-sabotage is looking forward and not believing we can achieve our goals, so why make the effort? The targets are too big, or too far away.

It’s the small thing that you can do today that move you to a bigger goal. Small, repeatable things that become habits. These small things undermine self-sabotage. When you surround yourself with small positive, incremental changes, your trajectory changes, and the people around you notice. Maybe it’s possible that you can help change the trajectory of others around you as well? Undermine self-sabotage by making small positive changes can be contagious.

Lifestyle as process, not outcome

I love this quote:

New goals don’t deliver new results. New lifestyles do.

And a lifestyle is not an outcome, it is a process. For this reason, all of your energy should go into building better habits, not chasing better results. ~ James Clear, author of Atomic Habits.

Regular fitness, listening to audio books while I work out (and instead of the radio in my car), regular writing, time restricted eating, and daily meditation… these are lifestyle choices I made, I track daily, and I hold myself accountable to.

This year I made lifestyle choices that have made me feel so much better about myself.

Result: I have more of myself to offer to others, family and work. Sure, I still feel overwhelmed at times, and I still feel like I’ve got more on my plate than I can handle, but I also feel more resilient and up for the challenge.

Lifestyle is a process, not an outcome, and I’m working on that process daily. As I approach my one-year anniversary of tracking these things, I now need to reexamine my process. What am I now doing regardless of my tracking, that is now habit, and what do I need to track more closely to ensure I’m refining the process, and my habits, to make my lifestyle even richer and more rewarding?

The Challenge of Incremental Change

Incremental changes are easy if you are a bee or an ant. Social insects contribute minimally to a greater goal and so collecting a droplet of nectar or moving a single grain of sand can quickly lead to incredible results. Incremental changes are hard if you are human.

Incremental changes rarely happen because incremental changes are seldom what’s really needed. You don’t get fit by adding one workout to your week. You don’t break a bad habit by adding one day of discipline before repeating the habit. There is usually a greater change needed to actually get the incremental changes you want. You aren’t going to make any significant difference collecting a droplet of honey or moving a single grain of sand.

What can you do on another logical level to achieve the incremental change you want as a positive by-product of doing something else? Example: You want to be less distracted but email eats up too much of your time. You can’t ignore email, it needs to be addressed, but maybe don’t open email until you do one thing on your ‘to do’ list that you want to do! Now you have a daily routine of focus, rather than trying and failing to be less distracted many times over the course of the day.

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Related: Leading Change – This is the post that I got the featured image from (above). It goes along with 2 other images. Together they focus on Embracing Change, Resisting Change, and Inspiring Change.

Do you choose?

Do you decide to respond to that red alert notification on your phone, or does the red dot make you look?

Do you want to scroll down your social media feed, or do you need to scroll down your feed?

Is that daily streak on your game something you enjoy keeping, or are you compelled by the streak to keep going?

Are you making these decisions, or are you giving up control and reacting without any real decision being made?

Do you really choose?

Building in the habit

I start work again this week after a wonderful summer. This was a summer where I really ‘let go’, I even deleted the mail app from my phone and only checked in weekly. I felt I needed a full break.

Today that changes. I’m ready. I’m looking forward to the new year.

So now I find out if this #dailyink can work? I have a few drafts started for the slow days, I have a few more titles in my notes. But can I maintain this like I have other goals? This has been an amazing year for creating good habits, can I keep that going?

I don’t watch TV, I don’t watch sports, I don’t read newspapers. News highlights on my phone and Twitter keep me connected to the world, but I don’t dwell on all the negative things pushed through my feeds.

Meeting my minimal commitments for fitness, reading (mostly audio books actually, writing, and meditation have taken me between an hour and an hour and a half daily. Most people spend more time than that watching television. But I need to figure out a a schedule that works for me. My guess is that this blog will be an early morning part of my routine, but I haven’t locked in a schedule that I know I can commit to. I have 2 weeks to figure that out before my real schedule starts.

Writing is a pastime that I enjoy. It isn’t work, it is my television… except that I’m the script writer. Reading is a pastime that I love, but my eyes fatigue easily and audio books provide a great opportunity to continue to learn from books. Meditation is new for me this year, and I haven’t missed a day since I started in early January. The journey has been slow, but I’m learning to settle in faster, and I’m sure other benefits are forthcoming.

Just recently I missed my workout target for the first time this year, having only 3 workouts in a week rather than at least 4… but the next week was the start of my new (positive) streak!

It has been a year of building new, healthy habits, and I managed to do this during the busiest school year I’ve ever had. For the coming school year, I hope that I can keep the good habits going!

Why blog daily?

“For years, I’ve been explaining to people that daily blogging is an extraordinarily useful habit. Even if no one reads your blog, the act of writing it is clarifying, motivating and (eventually) fun.“ ~Seth Godin

I enjoy writing, but I’m slow at it. So, when I get busy, I don’t write. This has really hampered my sharing on my Pair-a-Dimes for Your Thoughts blog. At one point, I was constantly thinking in blog posts. I enjoyed this. I would think of a concept or idea, expand it in my thoughts, then wrap it up on my blog. But I’ve written less and less and so that ability to create a full narrative around an idea has faded. I miss doing that.

So, what can I do to get that back? I need to practice writing; to practice thinking in story; to make writing a routine and expectation – not just something I wish I did.

When I started Daily Ink years ago, I was going to hand write a journal and then take a photo of the writing (images are gone from moving this blog around before finally getting DavidTruss.com)… This digital sharing of analog writing was to be a blending of two worlds. It didn’t stick. Then I shared links and videos with a small commentary (I might still do that occasionally), but now this is about (re)finding my joy in writing.

It might go to an audience of just one, but I’ll share it publicly, and hopefully anyone reading this, besides me, will enjoy the writing journey I’m on.

What’s a habit that you want to develop? And what can you do right now to get it going?