@basilesamel wrote about his micro-habits program, which inspired me to share mine too. I previously shared about some of the keystone habits that I’m building as part of my million dollar goal project, centred around:

• sleep
• meditation
• health and fitness
• downtime for deloading, reviews & reflection
• deliberate practices for deep work

I translated all that into a daily weekday schedule:

11.30pm: Bedtime

08.00am: Wake routines - wash up, yoga, meditate, bathroom

09.00am: Workout - alternate between running or the 7min workout. On days when I do the 7min workout I save time and can leave earlier.

10.30am: Recovery, shower, prepare to get out

11.30am: Commute to one of the cafes I frequent for work. Listen to podcasts while on the move.

12noon: Lunch (breaking fast for intermittent fasting)

1.00pm: Work - task review (top 3 tasks to complete), reading for first hour, then deep work. Use mindfulness bell with 20/20/20 rule for eye breaks, and standing desk to have some movement.

6.00pm: Commute back home. Continue on podcasts while on the move.

7.00pm: Dinner, family time

8.00pm: Food consumption stops for intermittent fasting to start. Household chores.

9.00pm: Writing on 200wad

10.30pm: Shut down laptop and phone to reduce bluelight sources before sleep. Shower (the decisive habit-forming moment for sleeping on time).

11.00pm: Wind-down, chat with wife, some light reading, or short night meditation

11.30pm: Sleep

Some things I learned after a few weeks on this micro-habits program:

Plan obsessively, implement fluidly

I use the schedule as a rough guide. I run my schedule, it doesn’t run me. I run it  based on things that unfold day by day, even as I try to follow the schedule. About the first week or so when I just started, I would run my life to the minute. Any deviation would make me upset, like as if I had failed. But I realised that doing that wasn’t serving me or helping me get closer to my goals, because it caused too much tension on a daily basis, and more importantly, I often needed extra buffer time and flexibility to adaptively respond to the needs of my body, my mind or the business on a daily basis. For example, some days I would feel more tired (especially during the first days on keto diet), so I would sleep in more so that my body gets enough rest. My priority isn’t sticking to schedule, but having enough rest to maintain my health. 

Not everything needs to be tracked

I was listening to James Clear (author of Atomic Habits, whom I based my habit system on) on the Indie Hackers podcast and he mentioned that you don’t have to track every habit. Some habits can just run on its own once you habitualize it. Others which are more critical or still in process of developing might need a more watchful eye. Which are higher priority and need more improvement/review? Just like not being over-rigid about the schedule, I felt like I didn’t need to track every habit for 1% improvement. Some habits, like intermittent fasting, can be left to run on its own after I managed to install the habit firmly. No need to track streaks, cross it out on the calendar or anything. What I find needs daily flexible monitoring is sleep. What started out with alarm clocks had evolved into trying to wake up naturally by daylight (usually by 8am). That way, I know I have had enough sleep. Other habits I try to bring the 1% improvement mindset to are fitness (1 extra rep per week), deep work (try new experiments, learn something new daily, do something delightful/playful/weird once in a short while), and reviews (review monthly, quarterly, yearly with a push to up the bar).

Have breaks to ease the pressure

I taper off the pressure on Saturdays by just having a morning run, but none of the work in the middle of the day. Sundays are strictly rest days for me. So I wake up anytime I want, no workouts, no work. Nothing. I found I often looked forward to the weekend, as an immediate reward for a job well done of sticking to the program on weekdays. That helps emotionally. Will also take a weekday off on days when I need to do a quarterly review, and at least a week off for annual reviews.

Stability so that there’s room for randomness

I like the stability of a daily routine, so that I don’t have to spend precious cognitive resources thinking what to do every single day. I wear a minimalist wardrobe, frequent the same few cafes and eating joints, and do mostly the same things pretty regularly. It’s actually easy to assassinate me if I’m ever someone important. But often I start to get bored after a few weeks or months on the same routine, so within the foundational pillars of these activities, I try to add in some variety. Some randomness is good. More antifragile. Bored going to this cafe? Let’s check out someplace new for a change and use a different commuting route. Tired of the prolonged heat wave in Singapore? Ok let’s book a short trip to Bali and half-work, half-play. Stuck on a difficult work task? OK let’s do something else other than the top 3 tasks of the day. It can wait one day. Too much serious content consumption from books and podcasts? OK let’s listen to music instead, and read fiction or out-there alternative theories of human history. Queasy with too much fatty, keto foods? OK let’s go visit this new keto bakery/cafe and treat myself to some sweets.