What are good habits to start with?

[c_wave_arts]

I've backslided many times because I tried to be consistent with more than one habit. For my life, I've decided on two options that I could start with: meditation (the "do nothing" technique) and exerting emotional labor (the "One simple rule for acing life" video).

Which one would be a good one to start with in general? I feel that emotional labor allows you to make time to meditate and meditation makes the pain of emotional labor easier to manage, so both are necessary. I'm leaning on the side of emotional labor.

For those starting out, have any of you implemented one habit and stuck with it? If so, how was the experience? Have you backslided?

 

[Shin]

Expect to backslide a lot.

Also, don't just look at what you are doing now, but what you AREN'T doing anymore.

The number of bad habit you still have is more important than the number of healthy habit you practice/do.

[Mu_]

19 hours ago, c_wave_arts said:

I've backslided many times because I tried to be consistent with more than one habit. For my life, I've decided on two options that I could start with: meditation (the "do nothing" technique) and exerting emotional labor (the "One simple rule for acing life" video).

Which one would be a good one to start with in general? I feel that emotional labor allows you to make time to meditate and meditation makes the pain of emotional labor easier to manage, so both are necessary. I'm leaning on the side of emotional labor.

For those starting out, have any of you implemented one habit and stuck with it? If so, how was the experience? Have you backslided?

 

I think these are interesting questions, but need more context.  What are you looking for, and perhaps what are you dealing with that makes you want to look for this thing?

[K VIL]

Healthy eating

exercise

sleep (eh dont practice this one myself )

meditation or reflection or self inquiry

blog youtube channel or some form of production to begin with

yaa

[Epiphany_Inspired]

I struggle with this too... I really don't know the answer... but if I'd guess... I'd say maybe starting with ones you could succeed with might help build confidence to tackle the more challenging habits???... but maybe that's ass backwards???... who knows... but I'm wishing you the best new habits that stick, because they are meant for you, they suit your higher-self/goals, and get you on the right path  

[Jack River]

Understanding habits/pleasure. No habits are wise?

[c_wave_arts]

@Epiphany_Inspired Update: I'm tackling both emotional labor (as consistent as I can. In my opinion, this is hard to quantify, because there are levels) and meditation. It's interesting because for me, meditation and emotional labor complement each other. Meditation helps with tolerance of emotional labor (like you said, doing the things that "suit your higher-self/goals, and get you on the right path"). The more you do it, the clearer the vision becomes. The tricky part is staying with the habits you choose.

Before, I tried meditation/visualization one after the other, but since I backslid the first time with both habits, I thought now just the meditation to start. The emotional labor habit I don't see as a habit. I use it whenever I need to, as much as I can, so it's on and off with that one.

Edited November 5, 2018 by c_wave_arts
clarification

[Equanimitize]

The way I see it is that Meditation is the meta habit that will help all other habits. So, if you're not meditating you should start yesterday in my opinion. It will give you the awareness to focus on all other habits. 

The second thing I'll say is its important to build a solid foundation so that all others aspects of your life become easier and have more stability. Diet, Exercise, and Rest for me is foundational. 

Lastly, once you actually OWN the habits you can always tinker and optimize each set of habits. There will always be backlashing, the idea is to recognize it for what it is and keep moving forward. Also, sometimes certain things will not get as much attention as others depending on your current situation, for example if you are trying to start your entrepreneurial journey then other things may take a back seat because all your resources may be going into this specific aspect of your life-again once this becomes optimized go ahead and optimize your other habits and/or install other habits. This is a life long journey of evolution, enjoy the process! 

[Naviy]

@c_wave_arts Isn't this a good list from Leo's "Start Here" page?

Quote

 

Most Important Habits To Build:

These habits produce high-yield results, although not immediately. They take time to snowball, but once they do, life becomes much better. Always install 1 habit at a time.

Daily Meditation (especially strict mindfulness with labeling)

Daily Reading / Audio Books

Strong Morning Routine

Very Clean Plant-Based Diet

Daily Self-Inquiry

Daily Journaling

Taking Notes, Commonplace Book

Eliminating Hard Addictions

Eliminating Soft Addictions

Daily Concentration Practice

Psychedelics (done for spiritual growth, not recreationally)

Research

Attending Retreats/Workshops

Doing Self-Help Courses

Finding Your Life Purpose

Sitting And Strategizing About Your Future, Making Plans

Shadow Work

Yoga

 

+

I think what helps not to backslide - to reinforce your motivation. Watch inspiring videos and movies on topic of growth, sacrifice, meditation, etc., read books and articles, biographies.

Edited November 5, 2018 by Naviy

[Elysian]

Meditation and shadow work

Don't ignore unhealthy habits 

[Artaemis]

When I backslide and drop all habits I start over with Do Nothing meditation. It clears compulsion and mind fog which are some of my most predominant issues for me in implementing other habits and keeping consistency. 

Edited November 8, 2018 by Artaemis

[c_wave_arts]

It seems as though meditation is definitely the one to start with for habits.

On 11/5/2018 at 9:14 AM, Naviy said:

@c_wave_arts Isn't this a good list from Leo's "Start Here" page?

+

I think what helps not to backslide - to reinforce your motivation. Watch inspiring videos and movies on topic of growth, sacrifice, meditation, etc., read books and articles, biographies.

Haha yeah I should've seen that. I wanted to hear from people's experiences. And watching inspiring videos definitely helps!

 

On 11/5/2018 at 8:36 AM, Equanimitize said:

Lastly, once you actually OWN the habits you can always tinker and optimize each set of habits. There will always be backlashing, the idea is to recognize it for what it is and keep moving forward. Also, sometimes certain things will not get as much attention as others depending on your current situation, for example if you are trying to start your entrepreneurial journey then other things may take a back seat because all your resources may be going into this specific aspect of your life-again once this becomes optimized go ahead and optimize your other habits and/or install other habits. This is a life long journey of evolution, enjoy the process! 

I've been using my intuition as a tool to customize my habits, like my meditation habit. It's been going well. I totally understand you when you talk about the entrepreneur example.

[c_wave_arts]

On 10/1/2018 at 1:13 PM, Mu_ said:

I think these are interesting questions, but need more context.  What are you looking for, and perhaps what are you dealing with that makes you want to look for this thing?

Since I backslided with all of my previous habits, I had to start from the beginning. I really only wanted to implement one habit and stick with it (which is now meditation), but felt that exerting emotional labor was also something I should do alongside meditation (I know that emotional labor is basically our whole lives, but I mean it in the sense of pushing yourself in accomplishing more than you would in a day, week, etc.).

More than three habits at a time is too much to start with, so I asked this question to see which one habit people implemented successfully before implementing the next (it was really between meditation and emotional labor, but if people started out with other habits aside from these, then that's ok) . Also, I wanted to hear people's experiences in doing this, if they backslided and how it happened, etc (I'm starting to learn that people's responses will be individualized and what could work for one at one stage may not work for another).

Hope that provides enough context! I am happy to clarify further if you need!