I’ve been travelling for the past 3 years. It’s been hard for me to stick to habits or maintain a routine because my environment changed so often. The only thing I was able to maintain was meditating twice a day: once in the morning and once in the afternoon.
Now that I’ve settled down for 2024, I yearned for stability and decided to build and explore how I can establish healthy habits.
First Iteration: Get the Ball Rolling!
From January 1 to June 1, I kept it simple by implementing what I believed was the path of least resistance.
I created a morning routine over the first half of 2024 that looked like this: Mouth hygiene* > journaling > exercise > meditation > shower
Why these activities? It’s just things I remembered from all the “life hacks” I’ve read or listened to over the years. Tongue scraping removes ‘ama,’ or toxins, that the body tries to expel (Ayurveda). Journaling, inspired by The Artist’s Way, seemed beneficial. I used to enjoy a short yoga flow during COVID, and I kept meditation and cold showers (inspired by Huberman).
I also kept my afternoon meditation, and before going to bed, I would read. So that makes 3 routines: Morning, Afternoon, and Evening.
Second Iteration: Overkill
From June 1 to September 30
I read the book Miracle Morning, and it gave me a lot of insight into Hal Elrod’s conviction on how to approach and execute a “good” morning routine.
With new knowledge in hand, I decided to tweak my routine to implement his version of things and see what came out of it!
New Routines
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My new morning “miracle” routine became: Mouth hygiene > journaling > exercise > meditation > visualization > affirmation > shower > reading
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I also decided to formalize my afternoon meditation to incorporate physical and spiritual exercise: Qi Gong sequence > Fitness sequence > Meditation
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My evening routine became: Write my daily note > gratitude > stretch > shower > read
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I even added a lunch routine: Hangboard workout > Lunch while watching a course (e.g., computer science or electrical engineering) > Guitar
Needless to say, I might have gone overboard! By the end of the day, I felt drained and unproductive, despite having packed it with activities. What I discovered is that putting too many moments in the day cuts the flow. A good chunk of my concentration was dedicated to executing the routines, leaving less energy for my “main” tasks: consulting gigs and personal projects.
Don’t get me wrong—I’m happy I went to the extreme. I had the time and opportunity to go ballistic, which helped me calibrate for the next iteration.
Third Iteration: Balance
I decided to change my mindset on how I approach tasks. Instead of habits, I would see them as mini projects (I won’t dive into this topic here; I’ll create a separate article for it!). With this change, I ended up removing my lunch routine and trimming down my afternoon and evening routines.
My approach was: “Things I want to be doing every day for the rest of my life.” If it’s not a “hell yeah,” then I put it aside. I want this to be the core of what I can bring with me throughout the year, wherever I am. I realized that focusing on fewer things was more impactful than trying to do it all, so I decided to simplify.
Morning (1 hour)
Mouth hygiene > Journaling > Run or Yoga > Meditation > Visualization > Affirmations > Learning (right now it’s reading 2 kids’ stories in Spanish)
Afternoon (40 minutes)
20 minutes of Fitness (Pilates, Kettlebell, or calisthenics) > Meditation
Evening (50 minutes)
Write what I did today in my daily note > Decide what I will do tomorrow > Gratitude > Shower > Read
That’s a total of 2.5 hours I invest in myself every day for my mental, physical, and spiritual health. I believe it’s the right amount of effort to see an impact over time without overwhelming myself. Plus, it leaves plenty of time for my consulting gigs, personal projects, and nurturing my relationships (significant other, friends, family).
Things I Improved
- Before I go to sleep, I set up everything for my morning routine so there’s zero friction.
- e.g., lay out the yoga mat, decide which yoga video I want to do, and have it ready on my laptop.
- I transitioned from pen-and-paper journaling to using Rocketbook, scanning my entries weekly, and leveraging ChatGPT for OCR and corrections.
- I consolidated my daily notes into a master page that holds all entries, instead of creating a new page for each day.
- Incorporating “what I will do tomorrow” into my routine instead of only logging what I did today makes it much easier to track progress and crush the next day. It’s a great cycle!
Wrapping Up
What started as a quest for stability has become a driver of constant growth toward the person I want to be. Given my tendency to sprint rather than pace myself for a marathon, this foundation helps me strike a balance between steady progress and bursts of short-term effort.
I already see the benefits, even one year in. Looking back at who I was at the start of 2024 and who I am now, the changes from doing a little bit every day are mind-boggling. For example, I understand myself so much better because of the journaling, and the affirmations have been a reminder of why I am excited to wake up every morning! I’m stoked to see how it evolves over time.