My Personal Experience with Habit Formation

Over the past year, I have successfully broken several detrimental habits. For instance, after struggling with alcohol for 15 years, I decided to stop drinking. Additionally, I eliminated caffeine to enhance my sleep quality and manage anxiety. Remarkably, I noticed significant improvements in my life after just 10 days of making these changes.

Interestingly, this principle works in both directions. During the pandemic, when my local gym had limited hours and required booking specific time slots, I opted for the 6 a.m. session. This meant waking up at around 5:30 a.m. While it was challenging initially, I soon found it difficult to imagine not going to the gym at that hour. What started as a struggle transformed into a habit.

The Momentum Factor

I often refer to this analogy, as it effectively illustrates the concept. In my favorite self-help book, the author Darren Hardy invites readers to visualize themselves as children on a playground trying to spin a metal merry-go-round. Initially, it requires significant effort to gain momentum. However, once it’s moving, only a gentle push is needed to keep it going. This analogy applies to various life endeavors, be it going to the gym or writing online. Once you establish a habit, the momentum can lead to remarkable outcomes.

Rekindling My Writing Passion

After noticing my caffeine and alcohol habits shift toward avoidance after about 10 days, I realized this week that I've rekindled my addiction to publishing content online. Whether on my blog or YouTube channel, I now feel a compelling urge to create. Ideas come to me unexpectedly, reminiscent of my previous cravings. Just the other day, while driving, several post ideas popped into my mind, including this one, which materialized on Day 10 of my "Publish Every Day" initiative.

What about you? What habit do you aspire to initiate or terminate? Trust me, you can expect noticeable changes much sooner than anticipated.

Publish Every Day Goal Tracker: Day 12

I’m currently experimenting to see if I can generate enough income to retire from the daily grind within a year by publishing daily across various platforms and investing my earnings.

• Target income for comfortable retirement: $250 CAD per day
• Earnings on Day 12: $35.06 (writing), $3.00 (YouTube), $0.33 (dividends) — Total: $38.39

Progress Chart:

Recent Publications

Here are the posts I shared over the last two days:

• An article about the pride of being an early-stage online creator.
• A piece discussing how NFL star Tom Brady taught me that caffeine isn't necessary for workouts.
• A tweet promoting my latest YouTube video.

Video Description: This video dives into my journey of overcoming internet addiction and how I healed from being constantly online.

Video Description: Matthew Perry shares his remarkable survival story and explains why fame didn't resolve his issues.