Building Great Habits, Iteration, Prioritising Money vs. Time, Question Of The Week
The Contrarian Letter
Building Great Habits
“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” - John Maxwell
Iteration is important to set yourselves up for success. To really understand what iteration and consistency means, you will not get a better example than Robert Kraft who has run 8 miles every day consistently for more than 45 years. He ran every single day through hurricanes, broken bones, food poisoning and every difficulty that one can face in 45 years. The world knows about him today only because he was consistent for 45 years. No one would have cared if he took a day off. There is a book written about him as well titled “Running With Raven”. If you happen to read it, do let me know. If you do not, please do watch this video.
Success is a result of great habits. How do you then build habits that can completely change your life? Here are a few ideas from the book The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy -
Awareness is important to building any new habit. One idea to stay aware is to write down everything you do. For example, if you want to eat more healthy, carry a small diary with you and always write down what you are eating before you eat that thing. This will make you more aware and less prone to eating things that are not good for you.
The art of subtraction is wildly sold today. You are asked to always think about reducing. Instead, invert this idea and think about addition. Instead of thinking about what to take out of your life, think about what to take in your life. Instead of focusing on what you must sacrifice, focus on what can add value to your life.
Accountability is a great way to build good habits. You can get a coach (I have done that with running and have never been more consistent), start talking about your habits on social media or through blogs, or have an accountability mentor or a friend who you can report to every few days. Trust me, this works.
We give up quite early when it comes to building new habits. It’s extremely hard. I know. Every day is a challenge. Right now I am struggling with building the habit of practicing Spanish daily on Duolingo. One thing I do every day is write down the habits I want to practice daily in my to do list. That ways, I am reminded about it atleast two to three times a day.
I want to know what is one habit that you have been successful in making it a part of your life and another that you are still struggling with. Do care to reply :)
Some Great Reads
On Time, Money, & Health - The deal is that we are mortal beings. Since can only slow ageing, not stop it (or so I hope). Wasting the best years of our lives just saving money may not be a great idea. Learn to spend too.
Go Big, Then Stop - Something that is contradicting to the above post. I have myself gone big at savings during my early years. One mistake that I did not make is that I never bought a new house for myself. Buying a house in your 20’s is a big blunder honestly. You can definitely achieve a balance by spending money on experiences and saving simultaneously too. I did speak my mind on this top in a recent youtube video - How To Invest Money In 20’s
Question Of The Week
I did receive a few (very few) responses to last week’s question and the one I picked is from Paras Desai.
The question was “What is the one thing about money that you absolutely disagree with”? to which Paras responded “I completely disagree with bargaining with vegetable/fruit vendors and the notion that it leads to a lot of saving in the long term.”
I agree with Paras here. I never understood why do we hassle for a few bucks with street vendors who work really hard for their livelihood but are happy to pay a significant amount of money at malls and five star hotels. I personally believe that we should be generous with folks who have to depend on daily income to run their life. Give. Always give. Because we are entitled to receive only that which we are prepared to give.
This week’s question-
“What are the top three things that most people should do but they do not?”
In Other News
I finally released the first episode of the podcast. You can listen to it on the following platforms -
Spotify | Youtube | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Pocket Casts
Do share your feedback.
I also released a follow up video on Public Provident Fund that I think you must watch -
Take care, stay safe. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Cheers!
The savings rate calculator was downloaded more than 400 times over the weekend after I made it free for a day. 15 people gave five star ratings. If you are interested, you can buy it here.