Hey Friend,
Seven years ago, I started a new habit.
Beginning my day with a cold shower.
I can’t remember exactly why I started it. A coaching colleague of mine said a group of us made a pact to start doing it. Perhaps we were inspired by the message of doing hard things, things that are uncomfortable?
Whatever the reason was, it’s something that stuck.
I’ve now gone 2,560 days in a row of having a cold shower every morning.
There are many health benefits to cold showers which I won’t mention here. But the main reason I do it is to build a great relationship with discomfort.
It also sets the tone for my day. And it’s something I can still do even on my worst days.
I remember one morning when I was knocked for six by COVID. It took a woolly mammoth amount of energy just to drag myself out of bed. And somehow, I still put myself under that cold shower.
I’m a bit of a weirdo, I know.
But that’s the thing with habits.
Once they’re formed, it’s harder for you not to perform your habit, then to perform it. Because it’s now part of your identity.
The hardest part is having the self-discipline to perform a new action long enough for it to become a habitual.
I feel this has been my greatest superpower.
My ability to build new habits and break old ones.
The thing with habits is, the good ones are painful in the short-term, but extremely rewarding in the long-term. And vice versa for bad habits. They’re pleasurable in the short-term, but extremely damaging in the long-term.
“The chains of habit are too light to be felt, until they’re too heavy to be broken.” – Warren Buffett
I never used to read. I never used to meditate. I never used to drink water. I never used to go to the gym. I never used to invest. I never used to plan my days. I never used to practice gratitude. I never used to stretch. I never used to step outside my comfort zone. I never used to track my finances. I never used to floss my teeth. I never used to write these newsletters. I never used to have uncomfortable conversations. I never used to feel my emotions.
All of these (and so much more) were new habits I built one by one over the years that have shaped me into who I am today.
But even more important, were the destructive habits I had to break.
I used to kill my brain cells and get myself into trouble binge drinking every weekend. I used to watch trashy TV every morning. I used to wake up and scroll my phone in bed starting my day in reaction mode. I used to numb myself watching p0rn to escape my feelings of anxiety. I used to lie to myself and others, staining my soul. I used to play the victim and believe life was happening to me.
Your life is a reflection of the habits you’ve accumulated.
Which is empowering to realise. Because it means you can completely alter your life with a new set of habits.
It doesn’t happen instantly…
But as I mentioned a couple weeks ago, seven years is a significant milestone in investing because it’s when you start to really see the benefits (or consequences) of compound interest.
The same is true for your habits.
What’s been the most transformative habit you’ve built or broken over the past seven years?
Drop me a reply and let me know.
