How To *Really* Pick Up (And Keep!) Those Habits

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The 10almonds Team

The Healthiest Habit-Building

Why was that book “Atomic Habits” called that? It wasn’t just because it’s a catchy title…

Habits are—much like atoms—things that are almost imperceptibly small, yet when stacked, they make up the substance of many much larger and more obvious things, and also contain an immense amount of potential power.

About that power…

Habits are the “compound interest” of natural human life. Every action we take, every decision we make, makes our life (often imperceptibly) better or worse. But getting even just 1% better or 1% worse at something every day? That’s going to not just add up over time… It’ll actively compound over time.

Habits will snowball one way or the other, good or bad. So, we want to control that snowball so that it works for us rather than against us.

Thus, we need to choose habits that are helpful to us, rather than those that are harmful to us. Top examples include:

  • Making healthy food choices rather than unhealthy ones
  • Moving our body regularly rather than being sedentary
  • Having a good bedtime/morning routine rather than a daily chaotic blur
  • Learning constantly rather than digging into old beliefs out of habit
  • Forging healthy relationships rather than isolating ourselves

We all know that to make a habit stick, we need to practice it regularly, with opinions varying on how long it takes for something to become habit. Some say 21 days; some say 66. The number isn’t the important part!

What is important

You will never get to day 66, much less will you get to day 366, if you don’t first get to day 6 (New Year’s Resolutions, anyone?).

So in the early days especially, when the habit is most likely to get dropped, it’s critical to make the habit as easy as possible to form.

That means:

  • The habit should be made as pleasant as possible
    • (e.g. by making modifications to it if it’s not already intrinsically pleasant)
  • The habit should take under 2 minutes to do at first
    • (no matter if it takes longer than 2 minutes to be useful; it’ll never be useful if you don’t first get it to stick, so make your initial commitment only 2 minutes, just to get in the habit)
  • The habit should have cues to remind you
    • (as it’s not habit yet, you will need to either set a reminder on your phone, or leave a visual reminder, such as your workout clothes laid out ready for you in the morning, or a bowl of fruit in plain view where you spend a lot of time)

What gets measured, gets done

Streaks are a great way to do this. Habit-tracking apps help. Marks on a calendar or in a journal are also totally fine.

What can help especially, and that a lot of people don’t do, is to have a system of regular personal reviews—like a work “performance review”, but for oneself and one’s own life.

Set a reminder or write on the calendar / in your diary, to review monthly, or weekly if you prefer, such things as:

  • How am I doing in the areas of life that are important to me?
    • Have a list of the areas of life that are important to you, by the way, and genuinely reflect on each of them, e.g:
      • Health
      • Finances
      • Relationships
      • Learning
      • Sleep
      • Etc
  • What is working for me, and what isn’t working for me?
  • What will I do better in this next month/week?

…and then do it!

Good luck, and may it all stack up in your favor!

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  • Stay off My Operating Table – by Dr. Philip Ovadia

    The 10almonds Team

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    With heart disease as the #1 killer worldwide, and 88% of adults being metabolically unhealthy (leading cause of heart disease), this is serious!

    Rather than taking a “quick fix” advise-and-go approach, Dr. Ovadia puts the knowledge and tools in our hands to do better in the long term.

    As a heart surgeon himself, his motto here is:

    ❝What foods to put on your table so you don’t end up on mine❞

    There’s a lot more to this book than the simple “eat the Mediterranean diet”:

    • While the Mediterranean diet is generally considered the top choice for heart health, he also advises on how to eat healthily on all manner of diets… Carnivore, Keto, Paleo, Atkins, Gluten-Free, Vegan, you-name-it.
    • A lot of the book is given to clearing up common misconceptions, things that sounded plausible but are just plain dangerous. This information alone is worth the price of the book, we think.
    • There’s also a section given over to explaining the markers of metabolic health, so you can monitor yourself effectively
    • Rather than one-size-fits-all, he also talks about common health conditions and medications that may change what you need to be doing
    • He also offers advice about navigating the health system to get what you need—including dealing with unhelpful doctors!

    Bottom line: A very comprehensive (yet readable!) manual of heart health.

    Get your copy of Stay Off My Operating Table from Amazon today!

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  • Hummus vs Guacamole – Which is Healthier?

    The 10almonds Team

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing hummus to guacamole, we picked the guacamole.

    Why?

    First up, let’s assume that the standards are comparable, for example that both have been made with simple whole foods. The hummus is mostly chickpeas with tahini and a little olive oil and some seasoning; the guacamole is mostly avocado with a little lime juice and some seasoning.

    In terms of macronutrients, hummus has slightly more protein and fiber, 2x the carbohydrates (but they are healthy carbs), and usually slightly less fat (but the fats are healthy in both cases).

    In terms of micronutrients, the hummus is rich in iron and B vitamins, and the guacamole is rich in potassium, magnesium, vitamins C, E, and K.

    So far, it’s pretty much tied. What else is there to consider?

    We picked the guacamole because some of its nutrients (especially the potassium, magnesium, and vitamin K) are more common deficiencies in most people’s diets than iron and B vitamins. So, on average, it’s probably the one with the nutrients that you need more of at any given time.

    So, it was very very close, and it came down to the above as the deciding factor.

    However!

    • If you like one and not the other? Eat that one; it’s good.
    • If you like both but feel like eating one of them in particular? Eat that one; your body is probably needing those nutrients more right now.
    • If you are catering for a group of people? Serve both!
    • If you are catering for just yourself and would enjoy both? Serve both! There’s nobody to stop you!

    Want to read more?

    You might like: Avocado Oil vs Olive Oil – Which is Healthier?

    Enjoy!

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  • How To Avoid Self-Hatred & Learn To Love Oneself More

    The 10almonds Team

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Alain de Botton gives a compassionate, but realistic, explanation in this video:

    The enemy within

    Or rather, the collaborator within. Because there’s usually first an enemy without—those who are critical of us, who consider that we are bad people in some fashion, and may indeed get quite colorful in their expressions of this.

    Sometimes, their words will bounce straight off us; sometimes, their words will stick. So what’s the difference, and can we do anything about it?

    The difference is: when their words stick, it’s usually because on some level we believe their words may be true. That doesn’t mean they necessarily are true!

    They could be (and it would be a special kind of hubris to assume no detractor could ever find a valid criticism of us), but very often the reason we have that belief, or at least that fear/insecurity, is simply because it was taught to us at an early age, often by harsh words/actions of those around us; perhaps our parents, perhaps our schoolteachers, perhaps our classmates, and so forth.

    The problem—and solution—is that we learn emotions much the same way that we learn language; only in part by reasoned thought, and rather for the most part, by immersion and repetition.

    It can take a lot of conscious self-talk to undo the harm of decades of unconscious self-talk based on what was probably a few years of external criticisms when we were small and very impressionable… But, having missed the opportunity to start fixing this sooner, the next best time to do it is now.

    We cannot, of course, simply do what a kind friend might do and expect any better results; if a kind friend tells us something nice that we do not believe is true, then however much they mean it, we’re not going to internalize it. So instead, we must simply chip away at those unhelpful longstanding counterproductive beliefs, and simply build up the habit of viewing ourselves in a kinder light.

    For more on all this, enjoy:

    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    Take care!

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  • Peaches vs Plums – Which is Healthier?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    The 10almonds Team

    Our Verdict

    When comparing peaches to plums, we picked the peaches.

    Why?

    Both are great! But there is a clear winner out of these two botanically-similar fruits:

    In terms of macronutrients they are very similar. Peaches have slightly more protein and plums have slightly more carbs, but the numbers are close enough to make no meaningful difference; they’re both mostly water.

    They’re also not too far from each other in the category of vitamins; peaches have more of vitamins B2, B3, B5, E, and choline, while plums have more of vitamins B1, B6, B9, C, and K. They’re equal on vitamin A, by the way, and the vitamins they do differ in, differ by around the same margins, so this category is a clear tie.

    When it comes to minerals, however, peaches win easily with more copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc. The two fruits are equal on calcium, and plum is not higher in any minerals.

    While they already won easily because of the mineral situation, it should be noted that peaches also have the lower glycemic index. But honestly, plums are fine too; peaches are just even lower.

    So: enjoy both, but if you’re going to pick one, peaches boast the most!

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Take care!

    Don’t Forget…

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  • The End of Old Age – by Dr. Marc Agronin

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    The 10almonds Team

    First, what this book is not: a book about ending aging. For that, you would want to check out “Ending Aging”, by Dr. Aubrey de Grey.

    What this book actually is: a book about the purpose of aging. As in: “aging: to what end?”, and then the book answers that question.

    Rather than viewing aging as solely a source of decline, this book (while not shying away from that) resolutely examines the benefits of old age—from clinically defining wisdom, to exploring the many neurological trade-offs (e.g., “we lose this thing but we get this other thing in the process”), and the assorted ways in which changes in our brain change our role in society, without relegating us to uselessness—far from it!

    The style of the book is deep and meaningful prose throughout. Notwithstanding the author’s academic credentials and professional background in geriatric psychiatry, there’s no hard science here, just comprehensible explanations of psychiatry built into discussions that are often quite philosophical in nature (indeed, the author additionally has a degree in psychology and philosophy, and it shows).

    Bottom line: if you’d like your own aging to be something you understand better and can actively work with rather than just having it happen to you, then this is an excellent book for you.

    Click here to check out The End Of Old Age, and live it!

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  • Puritans Pride Resveratrol vs Life Extension Resveratrol – Which is Healthier

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    The 10almonds Team

    Our Verdict

    When comparing Puritan’s Pride Resveratrol to Life Extension Resveratrol, we picked the Life Extension Resveratrol.

    Why?

    It contains not only more resveratrol per serving (250mg compared to Puritan’s Pride’s 100mg), but also contains other goodies too. Specifically, each capsule also contains:

    Whereas the Puritan’s Pride softgels? The other top ingredients are soybean oil and gelatin.

    Want to check out the products for yourself? Here they are:

    Puritan’s Pride Resveratrol | Life Extension Resveratrol

    Want to know more about these supplements? Check out:
    Resveratrol & Healthy Aging
    Fight Inflammation & Protect Your Brain, With Quercetin
    Berries & Other Polyphenol-rich Foods
    Fisetin: The Anti-Aging Assassin

    Enjoy!

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

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