For years I followed Tim Ferriss’ slow carb diet. One of the features of that diet is consuming 30 grams of protein upon waking up.
After a while following this diet, mixing a protein shake in the morning became automatic, thoughtless.
Habits and rituals often seem like they require massive amounts of self control.
I admire early birds who wake up at 5AM, run 2 miles and finish a blog post before others get up from bed. I wonder: how do these freaks of nature do it? They must be so disciplined.
But I think about my habit of visiting Facebook whenever I’m trying to focus, or taking a shower at night. For better or worse, those are automatic.
Once solidified, habits can provide much-needed structure in the chaotic lives we lead.
Good habits make life easier. Those freaks of nature wide awake in the morning actually depend on their 5AM ritual and other rituals conducted the night before. They know too well that sleeping in one day until 7AM, then 6AM the next, will make them tired and subject to the same mediocre habits that govern most of their peers.
It’s been almost 2 years since I’ve read the 4-Hour Body. I’ve pretty much had the same diet these past two years: every meal consists of meats, veggies and/or beans. One cheat day a week. Don’t drink calories.
My friends either say that my diet is boring, or that it must take a lot of self discipline to eat the way I do.
The truth is, I need to eat like this now. This ritual makes it brainless for me so I don’t need to expend energy thinking about what to eat next.
I find freedom in this structure, as opposed to the dietary prison others assume.
What rituals do you have that give you necessary structure in your day-to-day?