Habits to start in 2024
Plus motivational models to help keep those habits!
Greetings! It's almost 2024, which is bonkers—2023 took forever. Recently, I've been helping my friends build better habits, so I figured I'd write this week's article about 5 habits you should consider starting in 2024.
- Brush your teeth twice a day. It's surprising how many people don't do this despite the importance of dental hygiene. I used to not do this, which is silly of me, because it takes 4 min/day maximum. You only get one set of teeth for your entire life, and you can avoid all sorts of problems if you just brush your teeth consistently.
- Write a journal entry every day. Again, surprising that people don't take 5 min/day to do this, because journaling is one of the best ways to preserve your memories. You don't even have to use paper and pen—I use plaintext files on my computer, and they work extremely well for me.
- No short-form video platforms. That means no TikTok, no YouTube Shorts, no Instagram Reels, no Spotify TikTok-style-feed, no Snapchat Spotlight, no Reddit TikTok-style-feed, no Twitter TikTok-style-feed, no Amazon Inspire[1], and no other stupid platforms that just mimic TikTok. In my experience, short-form video platforms are the fastest way to waste your time and obliterate your attention span for almost no benefit. Thankfully, the solution is simple: just remove all the apps from your phone and wait. It'll be tough for the first few weeks, but it's worth it. I promise.
- No screens from midnight to 6am.[2] Sleep is so important—don't let screens disrupt it easily! If you have trouble maintaining this habit, ask your friend to setup parental controls on your devices.
- No soda or drinks that are purely sugar. Liquid calories (especially liquid sugar) is obviously not good for you, and in 99% of cases, water is the best beverage. If you're a regular soda drinker, save your money and your health. Just don't drink soda.
Motivational models to help you keep those habits:
- Buy a physical calendar and choose a day to start your habit. Then, complete that habit successfully for the next 60 days. Mark a physical X on each day that you complete the habit.[3] Once you've reached the 60-day mark, continuing the habit will seem natural, almost easy, so you don't have to keep track anymore.
- Grab a friend who wants to complete the same habit that you do. Picture a 'pot' with $0 in it on day one. Every day, there are a few scenarios: if both of you succeed, add $1 to the pot. If neither succeeds, reset the pot to $0. If one succeeds while the other doesn't, the loser pays the winner the value of the pot. It's a fun way to motivate each other.[4]
The important thing for a new habit is to make sure the success threshold is very clear. Here are some examples:
Working Out
- "Workout more" is poorly worded. What does 'success' even mean here?
- "Workout at the gym" isn't much better. Is there a time constraint? How often should one work out?
- "Workout 3x per week at the gym" is slightly better. But for how long?
- "Workout 3x per week at the gym, where each workout has to be at least 30 minutes long" is very clear.
Less Gaming
- "Spend less time playing video games" is, again, very poorly worded.
- "Spend less time playing video games on weekdays" is better, but still unclear.
- "Play 1 hour or less of video games per day on weekdays" is much better.
Have a great 2024—and try to pick up a new good habit too!
Seriously, Amazon? ↩︎
Except for emergencies, of course. ↩︎
If 60 consecutive days seems difficult, consider how easy Habits 1-5 are to adopt. Are you really not good enough to build a habit for just two months? ↩︎
For example: consider Abigail and Bernard, who both decided to start the challenge on January 1st, 2024. If they both successfully complete their habits for January 1-15, but Bernard fails on January 16th (and Abigail succeeds), Bernard has to pay Abigail $15. ↩︎