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Having rules for yourself

November 24, 2022

Yesterday I listened to Joe Rogan’s conversation with Steven Pressfield (author of the War of Art). It’s a brilliant, wide ranging conversation on many things. What stood out for me, was their discussion on why it’s important to have rules for yourself.

I’m a big fan of having rules for my life. In fact, the rules I have for myself are now becoming deeply ingrained habits. When I describe them to others, I often get a surprised look. I mean, I get it – it really does sound like a lot when I say them out loud. But, it also doesn’t seem like a lot to me, because I’ve become normalised to it.

  • I don’t drink alcohol.
  • I sleep over six and a half hours a day.
  • I eat within an eight hour window (usually between 1PM and 9PM) – fasting for sixteen hours
  • I drink a maximum of two cups of caffeine a day, and never after midday
  • I drink at least two litres of water every day
  • I take supplements every day (vitamin c, multivitamin, fish oil, vitamin d, quercetin, zinc and magnesium)
  • I eat over 120 grams of protein a day

The above rules are virtually non negotiable. I hold myself accountable to them and track them daily.

(See, I really do track them daily!)

I say virtually non negotiable, because I’m not perfect. Shooting for perfection isn’t realistic. It’s also not how I want to live my life. The 80/20 is where you find the sweet spot for most of the rewards – but with the flexibility to have some fun and stay sane too. It took me a very long time to learn that.

My life is so much better for having these rules. I feel great. I’m in good health. I’m at a weight I am happy with. I have better mental health. Overall, they help contribute to a happier and more productive life.

But, what’s important is I know my rules. I know why I have each one. I don’t have to go through the mental gymnastics each day – wondering and debating what types of things I should probably do. I don’t have to wait for, or rely on hitting rock bottom to find the motivation to do these things. I just do them. It’s who I am.

So, whilst on the surface it looks like a lot of discipline, it’s actually incredibly liberating. As Jocko Willink says, Discipline = Freedom.

I’ve also started to re-read Daily Rituals: How Artists Work this week. What another great reminder of how important rules and routines are. It’s not a coincidence that some of the most successful and productive artists of all time had self-imposed daily rituals and rules for their life.

So, here’s the big question. Do you have any rules for yourself?

If you don’t, consider coming up with one rule that would help you live a happier and more productive life. Commit to it. Track it. Keep plugging away until it literally becomes who you are. You may just find this becomes an inflection point that leads you towards many other positive changes in your life.

And as usual, if you want any help with anything like this, hit me up.


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Filed Under: Life

Daily Habits: October 2022 (a wall of green and a diet breakthrough!)

November 3, 2022

October was everything I could have hoped for. My goal was to have six habits (alcohol, sleep, fasting, caffeine, water and supplements) over 80% for the second month running. Mission accomplished – and fairly easily:

click here for full size image

My goal for November remains the same as October – six habits (alcohol, sleep, fasting, caffeine, water and supplements) over 80%. That will give me three months in the green, and the confidence that these habits are nailed. It feels great to be within touching distance of this.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my diet too. Last month I decided to drop paleo as a focus to track. I went for a fuzzier ‘eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar’, with a few exceptions. I quickly realised this wasn’t useful to hold myself accountable to. It’s too broad and too ambitious.

Diet is a difficult one for me. I find it tricky to describe how I want to eat in one metric. And actually, in contrast to the other habits, it’s more important to be consistent as an average over a week or month, rather than each day. But, I NEED a daily metric to help me build the right habits and behaviours.

Recently, I’ve also been thinking about how much protein I want to consume daily. I’ve landed on somewhere between 0.7g and 1g per pound of bodyweight. For me, that’s between 120 and 175 grams of protein. The days I hit at least 120 grams of protein, my diet looks good. But, when I am well below that, my diet looks off.

Most people won’t eat over 100 grams of protein without being intentional about it. It’s actually quite hard to do. It requires you to get a decent headstart on the day. If you’re low on protein by late afternoon, forget about eating over 100 grams.

And then it clicked. Having a goal around how many grams of protein I want to consume is a very nice and simple metric for me. It’s a great focus in itself (helps build muscle, recover more quickly etc.). But, importantly, it helps to drive a lot of other good decisions – being more intentional, food choices, starting the day off right etc.

Yes, I want to ultimately be someone who eats ‘meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar’. Yes, I ultimately want to eat a diet that’s high in protein, low in carbs and high in fat. Yes, I want to mostly cut out processed foods. But, it’s a step too far for now. I need to bring it back to a smaller step that will help me build the right set of behaviours that I can then build on top of to get to where I want to be eventually.

So, my diet goal for November is to eat 120 grams of protein per day at 80% consistency. I know if I can build consistency for this, everything around it will get easier. 120 grams at 80% consistency is going to be stretching for sure – but doable if I focus on it enough.

Let’s do this.


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Filed Under: Health, Life

A proven way to make positive health changes when you’re at a low point

October 12, 2022

Now and again, I speak to someone who is desperate to make changes to improve their health.

Usually, the motivation behind this is a feeling of hitting a low point. We’ve all been there. That dreaded feeling of having enough of living a certain way. You’re overweight. You’re not happy with what you see looking back at you in the mirror. You feel sluggish and tired most of the time. You seem to pick up colds and viruses too easily (and have a hard time shaking them off). You start to worry about running into health problems later in life.

Whilst the moment of feeling at a low point isn’t nice – it’s very powerful. If I could bottle it, I’d be rich beyond my wildest dreams. It’s a rare inflection point that can drive you to take action to make big improvements in your life. But, it’s what comes after that feeling that determines whether any of that action leads to permanent change.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve hit that low moment for my health. I’ve also lost count of the number of times I’ve then sprung into action, but failed to make permanent changes.

In the last eight months, I’ve found a way of making health changes that stick. Just look at the difference below:

This has caused me to think about what advice I could give to someone that is at that low point with their health, and wants to make changes.

I now keep my advice to only two things. The first is around the approach. The second is more practical.

Approach:

You have to resist the temptation to try and make too many changes – or too big a change. This will almost definitely lead to failure. It’s very hard to resist this temptation. When you’re at a low point, you’re desperate to turn things around. That usually leads to wanting to make big changes, fast. But, what you need to do is the opposite – make small changes, over time.

Rather than build the discipline of doing new things, you actually have to work harder on the discipline of letting mostly everything stay the same – whilst focusing on one or two small changes. The changes I’ve made over the last eight months were made systematically – one at a time. But, combined, they add up to a whopper level of change.

Almost every month, I focused on only one or two things. I had to accept, that whilst the rest would still be measured, they would not be a focus. I had zero expectation of seeing a result. And you know what most people don’t realise? The things you chose not to focus on – actually end up improving anyway. This is because the momentum of creating positive change is infectious.

The bottom line – small changes, over time, add up to very meaningful and permanent changes over the long term. I know this is mentioned in almost every piece of self help type advice – but rarely do people actually do it that way.

Practical:

When it comes to health, I now always give the same advice. If you’re at a low point, the chances are you’re sedentary and eating badly. So, I would suggest making one small change to each of those.

And I really do mean small. It’s not going to feel enough – and that’s the litmus test. If it doesn’t feel enough, that’s probably about right. It needs to be easy enough for you to have a high probability of being consistent with it. Being consistent with the change is actually more important than the change itself. Remember, your goal at this point is to build consistency and momentum.

When it comes to being sedentary, I almost always advise to start walking. Why? It’s free. You can do it anywhere. Almost anyone can do it. The risk of injury is super low. And it gets you outside. It’s the perfect choice to build consistency and momentum. Of course, it won’t feel enough. You’d probably rather commit to a more ambitious gym or running schedule. Stop yourself in your tracks. Remember, you’re looking for easy and small. You’re looking for consistency and momentum.

Even with something as simple as walking, you’ll likely still need to temper your ambitions. It’s probably not a good idea to set a goal of walking for an hour every day. A better goal might be to walk three times a week for 30 mins. Or, twice a week for an hour. If you end up doing a bit more – that’s icing on the cake. Remember, your modest goal is more than you’re doing now. And importantly, it’s something you have a high chance of being consistent with. There will be plenty of time in the future to build on top of this and be more ambitious.

When it comes to diet, you want to find a change that will be somewhat challenging – but also small enough that you can be confident you can be consistent with it. It’s probably not a good idea to decide to do 30 days of paleo. That’s a gigantic lifestyle change that would be very hard to achieve. Even eliminating desserts might be too big a goal – particularly if you’re already eating them most nights. A better goal might be to eliminate a certain food you know isn’t good for you (i.e I am no longer going to eat crisps). Or perhaps reducing something you do regularly (i.e reducing desserts to only weekends).

The hardest thing about all of this is deciding on goals that are small, and achievable. Every fibre of your body will want to do the opposite. But you know deep down (in your heart, and from experience) this will not lead to success.

Once you’ve identified the small changes you will make to being active and your diet – commit to making them for 30 days. If at the end of 30 days you’ve been 80%+ consistent, pick another one or two small changes to make. You might want to be more ambitious with the changes you’ve just made (i.e go from desserts only at the weekend, to now once per week). Or, you might want to try something entirely new. And then commit to another 30 days. Your goal now becomes to maintain the two you have at 80%+, as well as establishing the new ones.

If you were not consistent enough, or lacked the confidence in maintaining the consistency – go for another 30 days. Then, when you’re successful, you have permission to tackle new changes.

I’ll leave you with one final suggestion that will greatly increase your chance of success. Create a physical, visual chart to track your progress. This is literally how I built 80%+ consistency with six health health habits, over eight months.

If you need any help, or have any questions, hit me up!

Filed Under: Health, Life

Daily Habits: September 2022 (Whoa, I didn’t expect this!)

October 1, 2022

September’s results are in.


It’s officially a SMASH – far better than I could have hoped for!

If you remember, August was a write off. I was on holiday for a big part of it, so I let go of any expectations. I guess I had something to prove to myself in September. Was I going to allow a dip in August to derail me? Or, was I going to come back strong?

Before we jump in, here’s a quick recap of my goals for September:

  • Get the habits which I previously considered in the bank (i.e easy to keep at over 80%) back to over 80% – no alcohol, intermittent fasting, caffeine, water and supplements.
  • See where sleep and paleo fall and then plan my goals for October.

Here’s how September looked:

click here for full size image

WHAT A MONTH. Every single habit is over 80% – including sleep which wasn’t even part of my goals! I even hit an average sleep of 7.12 hours – a record for me. September was by far my best month since I started tracking my habits. I reckon even Goggins would be proud!

I don’t really have much to say about each habit – other than I just put my head down and focused on doing really well in September. And it paid off.

I’m AGAIN reminded about the power of physically and visually tracking my daily habits. Almost every day it helped nudge my self awareness and behaviours into a better place. It’s life changing.

So, what will I focus on for October?

Simple. I want the same.

I need to prove to myself September wasn’t a lucky month. Ideally I need three months of being in the green for those six habits (alcohol, sleep, fasting, caffeine, water and supplements) to feel like I have them NAILED. At the rate I’m going, there’s a decent chance I can achieve that this year. Only after I’ve achieved this, will I consider adding in anything new.

Let’s address the elephant in the room – my diet. I’m desperate to tackle it. Recently, I’ve been reflecting on how I want to eat. I’m starting to change my view a bit. Paleo is too strict for me to be consistent or happy with. I’m realising that having it as a goal is actually causing some unhealthy eating habits. I’ll write about this soon.

What I’m likely to do is follow CrossFit’s nutrition recommendation:

Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar.

I definitely want to avoid ultra-processed foods. But wait, that just looks like paleo right? Well, the big change I want to make is incorporate (in moderation) some cheese, milk, greek yoghurt, oats – perhaps even a small amount of potato. So, still very clean, but with a bit more leeway.

The trick is in defining a rule set that I can clearly hold myself accountable to, so I can track my progress against it. I still have some work to do to figure that out.

For October, I’m going to officially drop paleo as something I’m tracking. Instead, I’ll track (but importantly have no goals for) myself against the crossfit recommendation – along with infrequently allowing some cheese, milk, greek yoghurt, oats and baked potato. That’s still too fuzzy for my liking. I mean, what exactly does ‘some fruit’ or ‘little starch’ mean? But, for now I’ll use my best judgement when it comes to daily tracking. And I’ll decide on a clearer set of rules before November starts.

October, let’s go!


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Filed Under: Focus, Health, Life

Why you HAVE to be consuming podcasts and videos

September 28, 2022

I’ve been consuming podcasts and videos more than I’ve been reading for a few years now.

It’s a change I’ve been feeling increasingly uncomfortable about. Reading books has impacted my life in a big way – yet here I am reading significantly less. Podcasts and videos feel like a shallower version of reading – yet I’m consuming them alot (probably 10-15 hours a week).

I’ve come to realise that podcasts and videos can be incredibly powerful though – just in a different way to books.

I find podcasts more tactical. They often inspire me to make immediate changes in my life. This type of immediate change helps me iterate on my behaviours and habits regularly.

I find books are generally more useful for understanding broader themes. These themes tend to shift my thinking at a macro level, but in a much slower way. If an idea or a theme clicks for me in a book, it’s like a seed has been planted. And then over time, this helps to change or inform new beliefs – which then leads to an actual shift in how I live my life.

Here are a few examples of how podcasts and videos have helped me make immediate, tactical changes in my life recently:

The Foot Ability Protocol by Ben Patrick (Kneesovertoesguy)

I’ve been aware of Ben Patrick for a while. I watched his interview with Joe Rogan. Since then, I’ve kept up with him on Instagram and YouTube. I also bought his Knee Ability Zero book. That said, I hadn’t yet incorporated any of his ideas into my training.

His recent video The Foot Ability Protocol got my attention. He shared a very simple routine that includes the foundational exercises he often recommends for good foot and knee health.

This felt like something really easy I could fold into my training once or twice a week, and would be very beneficial to do. And I’ve done exactly that. Eventually. I’m going to buy a drag sled so I can add some extra stimulus for backward walking.

1870 – Max Lugavere – The Joe Rogan Experience

The Max Lugavere interview with Joe Rogan is possibly one of the best well rounded conversations on metabolic health I’ve listened to. It inspired a few immediate changes in my health habits.

Joe and Max talk about the benefits of the sauna and cold exposure and Joe’s sauna and cold routine.

  • Sauna: 20 mins
  • Cold plunge: 3 mins
  • Sauna: 20 mins
  • Cold plunge: 3 mins

Always starting with the sauna, and ending with cold.

The benefits of hot and cold exposure aren’t new to me. I just haven’t found a way to incorporate it into my life. And then it clicked. My local outdoor swimming pool has a sauna. If I were to use that, I could then use the pool for cold exposure (it’s currently 15 degrees celsius, and gets down to 4 degrees celsius in the winter). It’s a perfect way to get cold and heat exposure.

Four days later, I turned up at the swimming pool at 7.30AM on a Sunday morning. I did the above routine and it felt amazing. It was such a nice way to start the day. I plan to do this at least once a week going forward.

Joe and Max also talked about oral hygiene (benefits of flossing and concerns around fluoride and mouthwash). This caused me to stop using mouthwash and start using a fluoride free toothpaste. I also intend to start flossing each night too.

The conversation around dairy fats is also well timed, as I’m currently re-evaluating my diet. I’m already starting to be more flexible in incorporating some cheese, milk and greek yoghurt into my diet.

Metabolic Flexibility and Longevity by Crossfit Health

I’ve been doing time-restricted fasting for many years. I keep to an 8 hour eating window and a 16 hour fasting window, which I achieve by skipping breakfast. I have my first meal of the day around 13.00 / 14.00 and almost always train before that in a fasted state.

I am very inflexible on this. That’s because once I start eating, my appetite starts to ramp up and I end up feeling the temptation to snack and graze throughout the day (and often do!). By skipping breakfast I am essentially pushing this out. I also love the efficiency of not having to think about food until the afternoon.

However, the panel in the video defines metabolic flexibility as ‘being able to optimally switch from one fuel source (carbs, fat etc.) to another’. Essentially you want your body to be able to cope and be efficient with various states of training and fasting. When you do one thing all the time (i.e skip breakfast and train fasted), your body only gets very good at doing that.

It made me realise that I need a bit more variation if I want my body to be metabolically flexible. I’ve already started to add some variation into my fasting and have done a couple of unfasted training sessions. As I suspected, it didn’t feel great – a sign that I probably have some work to do to be more metabolically flexible.

The above are just three examples of how podcasts and videos have helped me change some of my habits and behaviours for the better.

We literally have access to some of the smartest people on ANY topic you can imagine – and for FREE. If you’re not consuming podcasts and videos regularly, you really are missing out on opportunities to be inspired and better educated – and to become the best version of yourself.

A final tip. You must become a good curator of the podcast and video channels you subscribe to. You have to really care about your information diet and be willing to put in the effort to have it serve you. It’s SO easy for podcast and YouTube feeds to become noisy and overwhelming. I might write up some ideas for how to do that well in a future post.


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Filed Under: Health, Life

How to solve hard problems (and how to get good at it)

September 11, 2022

Being good at solving problems is one of the most valuable skills you can build.

It helps you think through and make good decisions in your life. You can help friends with their problems. You’ll also be able to help companies save a lot of time and money – making you very valuable to them.

But, how do you get good at solving problems?

That’s something I’ve always struggled to give advice on. I like to think I’m a good problem solver. But, I haven’t been able to think about it in a systematic way that can lead to pragmatic advice – until recently.

There are two parts to it – how to solve a problem and how to get good at it.

Let’s take the how first. Solving a problem seems to go through three main phases:

How to solve a problem

1. Becoming aware of a problem

This is your starting point. You become aware of a problem through directly experiencing one, or seeing others struggle with one.

You’ll likely start to have some ideas for what’s causing the problem, and how to solve it. Almost always, you’ll be tempted to act fast. But, one of the most common mistakes is to come to a conclusion too quickly. This is what causes people to solve symptoms, instead of getting to the root causes of a problem. Don’t do that. Discipline and patience are key for this stage.

Push away the noise and look at the situation calmly. Sit back and organise your ideas for what the problem is, what is causing it and how you might solve it. You’ll have specific ideas, as well as some areas that need exploring further. A list of people you want to speak with. Research you need to do. Start to organise your ideas and pull together a high level plan of how you intend to dig in further.

2. Working through the problem

This is where the real work gets done.

Start talking to people. Look at things more deeply. Do any research that’s needed. Start working it all out.

The biggest thing to remember at this stage is that you have to keep an open mind. This quote by Paul Graham sums it up well:

“expect 80% of the ideas in an essay to happen after you start writing it, and 50% of those you start with to be wrong”

He was talking about writing (which lets face it – is problem solving), but the same applies for problem solving. It’s natural to have an early instinct for what the root cause is and how to solve it. In fact, the better you get at solving problems, the easier it is to see what’s happening. That’s fine, and your instincts might be right. But, you want to avoid simply building a case around your instincts. Try and keep your early instinct to one side and let things unfold how they need to.

I’ll warn you now, working through a problem can be painstaking and frustrating work. You will find yourself lost at some points, wondering if you can ever bring things to a close. Sometimes you’ll question whether you can get everyone onto the same page for what is wrong. It can be a messy process. But, don’t give up. Push through it.

Eventually, some themes will start to stand out. The root causes will become clearer. You’ll also start to see which things are only symptoms. You’ll have specific ideas for solutions. Let these ideas unfold and slowly start to organise your ideas. I find it useful to start writing a document so you can lay them out and organise them well.

Keep talking to people as your clarity builds. If you’re on the right track, this will all start resonating with people in your discussions.

At some point, you’ll experience a moment of clarity where everything will start to feel directionally correct.

3. Strip it back and find elegance

You should now have a strong sense of the root causes, solutions and have identified what are only symptoms. Almost always, what you have is too complicated.

You now have to fight to strip it back to something which is simple and elegant. It’s the 80/20 principle. That is, 80% of results are driven by 20% of effort.

Perhaps you have three root causes, but it’s two – or even just one, that really counts. Perhaps you have five different solutions to a root cause, but two of them squarely solve it. The other three are icing on the cake and will probably distract from the two that really count.

Simplify. Strip back. Edit. You want to finally look at what you have and be proud of how simple and elegant it is – almost a work of art.

Ideally you’ll end up with four things:

  1. problem
  2. succinct root cause(s)
  3. clear solution(s) to the root causes
  4. symptoms / other considerations & notes

The first three are obvious. It’s worth giving a bit of context for why you should also have some thoughts around symptoms and other considerations. Solving a problem is never as clean as identifying the root cause and solution, and then everyone agrees. There are often a bunch of symptoms which people are convinced are the actual root cause. In some cases, there are also other root causes which are tangential. You should acknowledge these if you want others to accept your root cause analysis.

Below is a slide I actually used as part of a presentation to an Executive team:

I covered the root causes and solutions first, and then finished with symptoms and other problems to be aware of. BUT, with a clear warning that they should not fall into the trap of becoming distracted by them. If you do this right, you’ll find people will be able to compartmentalise these from the real root causes. It will also strengthen the buy in for your your root cause analysis.

How to get good at solving problems

How to solve a problem is one thing, but how do you actually get good at it?

The answer is straight forward. You have to get the reps in. Like everything in life you want to be good at – you have to repeatedly practice it. There are no short cuts or hacks.

The more you expose yourself to hard problem solving, the better you will get at it. Force yourself to go through the three phases, time and time again. Eventually, it will feel the natural way of going about things.

Something I only realised in writing this article is that my time at Jagex was a university in problem solving. I was just starting my career and was thrown entirely into the deep end. I was helping to run a game and company that was in the beginning stages of exponential growth. Everything I was doing was for the first time. I was constantly solving problems around people and processes. I made lots of mistakes, but gradually began to get very good at solving problems. Jagex forced me to get the reps in.

What if you don’t get a lot of hard problems in your life or work? Well, I don’t think that’s true for most people. Problems are all around us, in all sorts of shapes and sizes. You simply have to notice them.

Here are some examples of how to see more problem solving in your life:

  • Whatever you’re trying to do in your life, make an effort to explore it deeply. Don’t be lazy and stay at the surface level. For example, perhaps you’re wondering about how you can eat healthier? Make it your mission to build a real point of view. Follow lots of experts, listen to podcasts and read many articles. Drag out the common themes and put together a first version of something to try that’s built around a solid amount of research.
  • Do you have something you need to explain to someone? Instead of doing it on the fly, sit down and write it out. Think through how you want to say it – exactly what, in what order, what do you want to finish with?
  • Do you have an important email to send? Don’t just write it and send it. Write a first draft. Leave it a day. Come back to it and re-write it. Edit it down to something that you’re really proud of. Share it with some colleagues and ask for their feedback. Edit again, based on the feedback. Really make it the best it can be.
  • If you need to buy something, don’t make a surface level buying decision. Dig deep and research it. Look at all the options. Whittle it down into a well researched decision. My friend Barry finds it amusing how long it takes me to make a buying decision. That’s because I treat it like I’m solving a problem.
  • Have a side project. It’ll force you to explore and decide all types of things.
  • Start writing and sharing your ideas in public – it’s a brilliant way to build a point of view on something. It forces you to think, research, organise your ideas and edit them back to something which is elegant.
  • Invest. If you don’t think deeply around your strategy for investing, you’ll become unstuck quickly.

If you can stay aware of the three phases and force yourself through them enough times, you WILL get good at solving problems. And soon enough, it becomes the natural way of thinking about things and making decisions.


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Filed Under: Leadership, Life

Daily Habits: August 2022 (Uh oh, have I lost it?)

September 4, 2022

Let’s get straight to the point – August was a write off.

I expected it to be. I was on holiday for ten days, so I decided beforehand to still track my habits, but let go of any expectations.

Here’s how it looked:

Ouch.

Oh No Fire GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

I’ll make a few brief comments on each habit, and then get to my goals for September.

  • No Alcohol – I’ve been sober for 13 and a half months, so didn’t expect this to drop below 100%.
  • Sleep 6.5HR – the hot weather we had in the UK, my daughter not sleeping well and late nights on holiday were the main causes for a low 52%.
  • Paleo – I ate what I wanted on holiday, as well as the period before and after – hence a very low 16%.
  • Intermittent fasting (16 hour fast, 8 hour eating window) – I ate a very big breakfast every day on holiday, but held my consistency before and after – managing a fairly decent 45%.
  • Caffeine (max 3 cups, before midday) – same as above, I held my consistency before and after holiday, settling at 61%.
  • Water: 2 litres – this was a habit I tried to keep up whilst I was on holiday, and I did exactly that – 84%!
  • Supplements – I held my consistency before and after holiday, and took about 5 days of supplements with me on holiday – managing a good 68%

As I said above, not great – but as expected.

As I look forward to September, I’m reminded of the TWO most important things in building consistency with my habits over the last six months:

1. Visually track progress on a daily basis

2. Focus on one habit at a time

It’s the second one I really need to pay attention to as I build towards all habits being at 80%+ for the end of the year.

With that in mind, I’m going to keep it super simple in September. My goal is to get the habits which I previously considered in the bank (i.e easy to keep at 80%+) back to over 80% – no alcohol, intermittent fasting, caffeine, water and supplements. I’ll see where sleep and paleo fall and then plan my goals for October. Even though I have no goals with them, I am quietly confident they will improve.

Being on holiday has also given me a bit of time to reflect and think about where I want to take my health habits over the longer-term. My goal is to get all of the above habits to 80% by the end of the year. If I am being realistic, even if I get there, it will be coming in hot. So, I’ll need to spend at least the first three months of next year resisting the temptation to add in anything new. I need to prove to myself that these are in the bank and easy to maintain at over 80% – however long it takes.

That said, once I have achieve this, I have a few ideas for other habits to focus on:

  • Mobility exercises
  • 150g protein per day
  • Increase sleep to 7 hours
  • Reduce caffeine to 2 cups per day

Whilst it’s tempting to add these types of habits now (even just to track them), I know it’s the wrong thing to do. It will distract and overwhelm me.

OK, let’s do September 👊


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Filed Under: Focus, Health, Life

Daily Habits: July 2022 (in a strong place now)

August 2, 2022

I’ve been tracking my health habits on a daily basis for six months now. It’s been so powerful, I can’t imagine ever not doing it.

Here’s a recap of my goals for July:

  • Eat paleo – meat, fruit, vegetables and nuts (50% of the time)
  • Everything else, 80% or over – no alcohol, sleep 6.5 hours, intermittently fast (8 hours eating and 16 hours fasting), maximum of three cups of caffeine before midday, two litres of water and taking my supplements.

And, here are the results:

Overall, I’m really pleased with July. There were quite a few positives and also a few things to focus on improving.

I’ll start with the positives:

  • Not drinking alcohol is hardly a thing for me now. I had a few social catch ups in July and I found it effortless to not drink. I also hit my one year alcohol free in July.
  • Caffeine, Water and Supplements are also now firmly established daily habits. I suspect if I dropped the tracking altogether, I would easily continue to maintain 90% + consistency.
  • Intermittent fasting under new stricter rules (only water and black coffee in my 16 hour fasting period) reached over 80% consistency for the first time. And, it felt easy. When I missed, I made a conscious decision on that day not to fast – it was never the result of me losing concentration or failing due to willpower. I’m confident I can easily maintain 80% + consistency going forward.

Now, for the areas to improve:

  • Paleo came in at 45% consistency – a little shy of my 50%+ goal. That said, there are a few positives to take from that. Firstly, it was pretty close. Secondly, I proved that last month’s 47% wasn’t a fluke. Thirdly, I found a better consistency on weekdays, where I was able to eat paleo for three or four days back to back. And lastly, I managed to eat paleo on a Friday one time! So, even though I fell short of my 50%+ goal, there’s a lot of progress that gives me the confidence I can get into over 50% territory soon.
  • Sleeping 6.5+ hours dropped to 68% consistency – my lowest score since March. This was disappointing, and I need to tighten this up. That said, July had some unusual challenges. It was HOT in the UK and this made it much harder to sleep. I also had a few things going on with my daughter and dog that disrupted my sleep. So, I feel I can tighten up (earlier nights, better night time routine and waking a bit later) over the next few months and soon get to a solid 80%+ consistency.

So, overall, I think I’m in a really strong place. And, I need to keep reminding myself that where I am now compared to 6 months ago is night and day.

That brings me to August and also thinking about where I want to be by the end of the year.

Let’s start with where I want to be by the end of the year. That’s an easy one. I want to be 80% + consistent on all of the above habits I am tracking. To do that, I have to maintain the five habits already at 80% consistency – no alcohol, intermittently fast, caffeine, water and taking my supplements. I don’t think that will be challenging. And then I have to get my sleep and paleo to 80% +. That will be much more challenging and will likely take the rest of the year five months) to achieve.

Now onto my goals for August. That’s a tricky one. I have a 10 day holiday in August where it wouldn’t be enjoyable or sensible to try and achieve the same level of consistency with my habits. So, I’ve decided to take August off. I will still track my habits, but will let go of any expectations. The main things I will push to keep at a decent level are sleep and water. There’s a good chance I can keep these at 80%+, but let’s see. Everything else is bound to drop significantly. And then in September, we start again!


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Filed Under: Health, Life

No Alcohol: One Year

July 16, 2022

I was on the phone to a medical specialist earlier in the week. They asked me if I smoked or drank alcohol and I said ‘no’. It felt good to give that answer with no hesitation.

I wrote about my journey after 60, 90 and 250 days. And honestly, I don’t really have too much different to say compared to 250 days.

I feel great. Not a hangover in sight. Better weekends. I have more confidence. I have less anxiety – especially at the start of the week. I’ve had a complete transformation with my health habits (see below). I weigh less and am more at ease with my physique. I’m confident that I’m healthier (we’ll find out when I take a new set of bloods in August). Also, I do not miss the mental gymnastics that come along with trying to manage my alcohol limits – which I always eventually broke.

Perhaps the best way I can describe it, is that it feels as if a weight has been lifted.

So, where do I go from here?

I suspect I’m going to be alcohol free forever. There’s too much to risk by trying to get to a place where I can have a couple of drinks on a special occasion, a few times a year. That said, I’ll keep an open mind. I prefer to be self aware of the benefits and risks – and from there, continue to make whatever the right decision for me is.

By the way, this is where my habits are for July so far:

I’m on track for a record month. I KNOW this would not be possible if I was drinking. It’s this and less anxiety that are my biggest reasons for staying sober right now.

If you’re thinking about giving up alcohol, I’d be more than happy to chat and share what’s been useful for me.


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Filed Under: Health, Life

Daily Habits: June 2022 (oooh, that was close!)

July 1, 2022

I’ve become almost obsessed with tracking and improving my daily habits over the last five months. I can’t remember what inspired me to do it, but I’m glad I did. It’s been life changing.

Before we dive in, here’s a quick reminder of my goals for June:

  • eat paleo – meat, fruit, vegetables and nuts (50% of the time).
  • Intermittently fast (8 hours eating and 16 hours fasting) under new stricter rules (80% of the time).

I also wanted to maintain the other habits I’ve already established at 80% – no alcohol, sleep 6.5 hours, maximum of three cups of caffeine before midday, two litres of water and taking my supplements.

Here’s how I did:

On the face of it, that doesn’t look great. I failed to get Paleo over 50%. I failed to get my intermittent fasting over 80%. My sleep slipped below 80%.

That said, it was very close. There are a bunch of things to be happy about:

  • Whilst my paleo consistency didn’t hit 50% or over, I made a very significant improvement from last month. Things are heading in the right direction.
  • Whilst my intermittent fasting consistency didn’t hit 80% or over, it was super close at 77%. I also have to remember, it’s only been two months of holding myself to a much stricter set of rules (only water and black coffee in my fasting period).
  • Whilst my sleep dipped below 80%, it wasn’t by too much (73%). I also managed to keep my average sleep nice and high at 6 hours, 56 mins.
  • All other habits I wanted to maintain are sitting nicely over 80%.

If you’ve been reading my articles for a while, you’ll know that I avoid goals. Instead, I prefer to establish a direction I want to head. From that perspective, I’m heading in the right direction with everything. I have to remind myself that my progress won’t be linear and there is more to learn. And ultimately, my overall progress over the last five months is more than I could ever hoped for.

As for what to learn from June, there are a few things that jump to mind.

  • Events that take me out of my routine, tend to knock me off course. For example, I went to visit my Mum for three nights at the beginning of the month. My daughter also had a weekend of birthday activities towards the end of the month. I lost my consistency too much over these periods. I need to plan better for these type of things. I don’t have to be perfect in these periods, but it makes sense to at least think about damage limitation.
  • Sometimes I just get a bit lazy with my habits and forget. Taking my supplements is a good example. There’s no reason for that to be under 100%.
  • The fix for my sleep is to be more disciplined with getting to sleep earlier. I naturally wake up very early and then find it hard to go back to sleep. I also have a dog and a daughter that helps with that. So, if I go to bed late, there’s a very good chance I’ll struggle to get my 6.5 hours in.

That brings me to my goals for July. They will be exactly the same as June.

That’s because I see my next big milestone as being able to get paleo to 50% or over and everything else 80% or over. And not just one month – for a few months. I want it to feel natural and effortless. I’m close. It feels like I’m starting to find a baseline with these habits. But, it could take the rest of the year for it to settle into a consistent baseline, which I’m totally fine with.

So, just a recap on my July goals:

  • Eat paleo – meat, fruit, vegetables and nuts (50% of the time).
  • Everything else, 80% or over – no alcohol, sleep 6.5 hours, intermittently fast (8 hours eating and 16 hours fasting), maximum of three cups of caffeine before midday, two litres of water and taking my supplements.

Let’s go. 👊


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