Extending My Habit of Becoming Experiment in 2015

Photo Credit: sleepychinchilla via Compfight cc

In January, 2014, I decided I would reverse engineer my life. I made a series of decisions about who I wanted to be a year later – a.k.a. today. It was like hacking new year’s resolutions into next year resolutions.

The thinking was that if I got clear on who “that-year-from-now guy” really was, it would be self-evident what I would be doing if I was becoming him. Then, I could just do those things, each day until I had the life a person like that might have. Basic sowing and reaping: Envisioning a future and living as though it were so, until it was.

[Sidenote: What I like about this ongoing experiment is its flexibility. If I decide to tweak stuff along the way I can as long as the be-do-have sequence stayed in tact. Turns out that order matters a lot.]

Well, today is report card day.

Over the last year, I ended up adding and dropping a number of habits. When it all shook out, I landed with a working daily method of committed behaviors that have formed a lot of who I have become.

The following is (1) a list of traits I wanted to be more true of me today than it was a year ago, (2) connected to particular habits I hoped would get me there and (3) objective and subjective assessment of each effort.

They are listed in order of how I use them most days.

My aim was to become a person more awake to God and his direction in my life.

Habit: Scripture Reading and Body Stretching. After a lot of experimenting, I landed on starting my day with either reading the Christian Bible (or listen to my friend Brian read it to me) combined with physically stretching. This served to keep both my mind and body active and engaged. In 2014, I completed this habit of reading scripture 365 days in a row, in an unbroken streak. The stretching part was a late addition and I don’t have stats on that yet. I will say though that so far, I love the combination.
It’s worth noting that I have been committed to this habit for a number of years now. I believe there has been a causal relationship between keeping sacred text in my mind day in and day out and becoming a more God-focused person. Of course, there’s no surprise when I say I’ve got plenty of head room still to grow. Just ask my wife and kids. But, I think they’d also say that there has been substantive, long lasting change in this category. All that said, I wasn’t completely satisfied with the quality of my engagement with this habit this year. Sometimes I’d be more concerned with checking the box. I’m noticing though that involving my body helps me focus.
Verdict: I’m going again with this one. For just 20 minutes of effort, it’s an incredible amount of bang for buck, even with the days where I’m less tuned in than I’d prefer.


My aim was to become a fit person.

Habits: Workouts and Paleo Eating. I didn’t start working out until well into the year. Looking back, I think this was mainly because I was focused on my eating and was satisfied with the results that gave me. Somewhere along the way though I realized that was short sighted. I needed to work my body if I wanted it to work. In the end, I completed 62 workouts in total with the longest streak being 5 days in a row. I also completed 2 rounds of Whole 30 (strict Paleo eating thanks to Dallas and Melissa Hartwig – check out my conversation with them here).
Verdict: I now see so much resource in combining good eating with workouts. I expect this number to improve significantly this year. I’m committed to working out 6 days a week this year, likely using apps like Fitstar to keep the decision making on how to work out to a minimum.


My aim was to become a calm person.

Habit: Meditation. I don’t remember when I finally gave meditation a serious try this year but I’m so glad I’ve picked this up. There are so many faith traditions that engage this discipline in some way or another that I’ve been confused over the years with what to try and who to listen to for direction. I finally got over all that and chose a practice that connects to mindfulness and presence, that starts with a focus on breath and body over a 10–20 minute period of time. In 2014, I completed 107 meditations in total with the longest streak being 48 days in a row.
Verdict: I am SO glad I took on this practice. I will definitely continue with it daily in 2015. I have found it to be a huge gift to myself. Days that I did it I was indeed more present and calm. Days when I didn’t I struggled. Huge ROI on this one.


My aim was to become a consistent writer.

Habit: Write 1000 words a day. This was a big one for me. I started the year very strong and then really ebbed and flowed to finish out the year. In 2014, I completed 247 writing sessions in total (average of about 1000–1200 focused words around a particular topic) with the longest streak being 129 days in a row.
Verdict: I am a writer. And, if I want to continue to be one, I get to write regularly. It’s pretty simple. I’ve decided that this will need to continue into 2015 but with the caveat that with so many first drafts completed, this is the year of publishing, not just getting words down. I have decided that I will expand this habit to writing or working on 5 drafts (weekdays) and publishing 2 completed articles here or on medium. By the way, I also managed to collaborate on a set of how to develop a writing habit resources over at WeaveWriter.com. If you are interested in developing this habit for yourself, go check it out.


My aim was to become someone who does things he should even when I don’t want to.

Habit: Flossing. This one’s pretty straight forward. The benefits of flossing every day are that other good things come with dental hygiene. It’s just a good habit. It’s also really easy to make good on this one. In 2014, I flossed 287 times, with the longest streak being 157 days in a row.
Verdict: I am a flosser and I intend on staying one. You should too. If you do, be kind to yourself and get the good stuff. In my experience, Glide is best. I’ve decided to add a related habit though. I’ve decided to eat 30g of protein as the first food of my day and then floss afterward. By combining the two, I won’t get vanity credit for habit I’ve already taken on (flossing) but will combine it to level up to better food intake flow.


My aim was to become the kind of person who knocks out the hard stuff early.

Habit: Cold Calls. Like anyone who sells things for a living (ideas, services, products… doesn’t matter), reaching out and developing new relationships (prospecting) with people is part of our job. It’s also – historically – been my least favorite thing to do. I decided to make a minimum of 3 cold calls a day as an indicator of success. In 2014, I made a minimum of 3 cold calls in a given day 140 times, with the longest streak being 43 weekdays in a row.
Verdict: By the end of the year, I finally changed my tune on this one. Thanks in large part to a single conversation with a friend, I was able to reframe what prospecting could be (if I let it). As the year comes to an end, I’m relating with cold calls as a habit in an entirely new way. Now, it’s more like relationships I get to be in rather than forcing myself on someone. I’m re-upping on this commitment to 3 cold calls on every work day and I can’t wait to jump in.


My aim was to become a reader.

Habit: Read 1000 words a day. I ended up reading a fair amount this year but was generally disappointed with this habit choice. It was the wrong metric for me. Reading a certain amount of words compared to reading a certain amount of books or chapters made this habit kind of meaningless. But, I went for it anyway. In 2014, I read 1000 words or more in a given day 133 times, with the longest streak being 22 days in a row.
Verdict: I’m switching from 1000 words a day to two chapters a day and to keep a log of what I’m reading with study notes. I want this one to take some gravity so I decided to change it. I’m confident this will lead to me reading about a book a week if successful and – with the notes recorded – I’ll get way more return on that investment.


My aim was to quit work each day at 6pm.

Habit: Set an alarm for 6pm and quit when it goes off. In 2014, I quit at the 6pm whistle 206 times, with the longest streak being 70 days in a row.
Verdict: I still have a lot of room for improvement here but I am happy with the progress. What’s great about a habit like this is its objectivity. For the sake of being present with my family, I’m keeping this commitment in 2015. It’s now facilitating even greater accountability to be present in other moments of my days.


My aim was to be in front of my day before it started.

Habit: Decide Tomorrow Today. This is a great exercise in consciousness. Simply by reviewing the next day before this day ends and deciding to relate with what’s coming with a sought outcome in mind has made a tremendous difference in the quality of my life and as well as its output. In 2014, I decided tomorrow today 364 times, with the longest streak being 356 days in a row.
Verdict: You read that one right. I was a little over a week away from a perfect year and blew it. How do I know? I slept through a 6am meeting because I failed to look at my calendar and decide how I was going to show up. Bummer. Hard to say it was a fail of a year though but my aim is perfection in this category and will definitely continue it.

Surprises: Although not on my Daily Method list, I was really pleased to adopt a few more bonus habits along the way. The included…

Getting involved as a Coach on Coach.me
Joining a Breakthrough Team
Hiring a coach

New commitments:

Moving forward, I’ve decided on a couple adjustments to my daily method.

First, I have decided to reset all streaks to zero to start out the new year. This helps hold off my perfectionism and I lie to myself less when I take the streak seriously while not making it the point. The streak is just feedback and I want it to reflect reality. This is a good meta-habit.

Second, on the recommendation of a great post by Austin Kleon, I decided to log every day. I won’t say much more than that here but I would recommend you check out Austin’s thoughts on the matter. It’s an easy way to stay awake at the metaphorical wheel.

Third, I’ve decided to overcome my fear of disappointing people. To do this, I aim to intentionally disappoint someone I am not committed to, at least once a week. This one’s really experimental but I am committed to no longer being a people pleaser. Yuck.

Fourth, I’ve decided to become a chef (see Four Hour Chef link below). To prove this happened, I’ll be making 2 meals a week for my family, every week, for a year. This would break my record of 3 meals in 18+ years of marriage (not kidding). I know… I know. It also should give Tami a long overdue break. My first meal (Osso Buko) was a massive Christmas Day success. Let’s see how the long sure and steady race takes me and the family.

Fifth, I’ll drink 32 ozs. of water every morning.

Sixth, I’ll be publishing 2 articles and 1 podcast minimum each week.

Seventh, my overarching commitment this year is to excellence in every conscious thing I do. This one again is more meta, but a nice filter to run my actions through.

Books & Tools I especially appreciated this year (affiliate links)…

On good habits…

– It Starts with Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig

– The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

– Daily Rituals by From Knopf

– WeaveWriter’s 30 Day Writing Challenge by our own WeaveWriter team

On rapid learning…

– Four Hour Chef by Tim Ferriss

– Four Hour Body by Tim Ferriss

– The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin

On getting the important things done…

– The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

On setting yourself up to win (regardless of circumstance)…

– Antifragile by Nassim Taleb

– Die Empty by Todd Henry

– So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport

– Ctrl-Alt-Delete by Mitch Joel

– The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau

– Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull

Mobile Apps I use everyday…

Habit List – elegant app for tracking streaks in a custom way
Drafts4 – best note capturing mobile app I’ve ever found
Calendar (native iOS) – use it everyday
Omnifocus – best GTD solution out there
Overcast – best podcast aggregator
iTalk – best audio recording app I’ve found
TapeACall – allows you to tape a call seamlessly – be sure to ask permission before hand!
Asana – great group planning software -> it’s how we put on GO
Noisli – love this little writing and productivity sound app
Day One – just a gorgeous writing app that understands markdown
Audible – it’s how I have books read to me
Calm and Tara Brach – getting grounded is core to my life these days and this is a great place to start
Coach.me – Want inexpensive coaching, start here
Evernote – still the gold standard in keeping notes in the cloud
Passbook (native iOS) – starting to get useful
Google Maps – pretty bomb proof
MileBug – I use it every time I get in my car – saves me a ton of grief at tax season
Grocery iQ – now that I’m becoming a chef, this is how I keep track of my grocery store expeditions
Mailbox, Dispatch and Acompli – so many GREAT mailbox options – I love these three
Buffer – it’s how I do social
Hangouts – it’s the new Skype – incredibly versatile
Spotify – best in class so far
1Password – couldn’t live online without it
FitStar – it’s how I work out most days
Whole Life Challenge – this is a new deal I’m trying and I’d love for you to jump in with me if you’re curious
Amazon – it’s how I shop – the scan feature is fantastic
TripIt Pro – I live by this app when I travel
Phone (native iOS) – sometimes I even make calls with my phone

Desktop Apps I use everyday…

Omnifocus – see above
Messages (native OS) – I rarely text on mobile anymore – too cumbersome – using integrated Messages on my mac is incredible
Airmail 2.0 – my desktop email client of choice
Calendar (native OS) – see above
Chrome – best browser I use because of…

Chrome Extensions I love…

1Password – see above
Simple Pomodoro and TimeDoser – keeping me on track
Clearly – reading without distraction
Pocket – capturing what I want to read
Buffer – see above
Hangouts – see above
AdBlock – because I don’t like ads I didn’t ask for




Evernote – see above
Day One – see above
Scrivener – still the best long form writing app
TextExpander – couldn’t live without it
Creative Cloud Photography with Lightroom & Photoshop CC – Adobe still owns this market and I love this new more affordable solution they offer – incredible value

What did I miss? Hit me up on Twitter and let me know. Cheers to 2016!