HACKER Q&A
📣 cracadumi

Valuable habit you've stuck with? What was key to making it stick?


Valuable habit you've stuck with? What was key to making it stick?


  👤 Quinzel Accepted Answer ✓
Turned my afternoon unhealthy snack time to an apple and a walk to the car after work by parking 1km away from the work place and putting an apple in my bag so everyday I have instantly got an apple, and am also forced to walk.

Morning me (that wakes up full of good intentions and motivation) sets up strategies for lazy afternoon me so lazy afternoon me can still be lazy but achieves the minor goals morning me see out to achieve.


👤 owebmaster
Intermittent fasting. The key to make it a habit was to learn that what we call hunger nowadays is not really hunger, is just space in the belly to eat more, it is fine to stay 5 days without eating and not feel weak.

👤 japhyr
A long time ago I had trouble waking up without hitting snooze a bunch of times. So I started setting my alarm for the latest possible time I could get up and still get to where I needed to be. I aimed to get up the first time I woke up naturally in the morning.

That was a life changing moment for me. I started waking up so much more rested, and without immediate morning stress. I got up later than I used to set my alarm for, but much earlier than I used to actually get up. Alarms that interrupt deep morning sleep are so hard to deal with.


👤 munksbeer
Flossing my teeth. I can't remember where I read it, possibly on here, or reddit, but a post suggested a good way to get started.

I set my goal to floss one tooth a day. And the trigger for it was always before I could brush my teeth I need to complete that one goal, and then give myself a big smile and raise my arms in triumph. And then I could brush my teeth.

I did that for a few days and found that it was quite easy to stick to. I then started flossing a few more teeth, until I was doing them all. That was six years ago, and to this day I floss every night. Sometimes I'm very tired, but my goal remains the same, floss one tooth, so some nights I just floss one tooth, but most of the time I do them all.


👤 duttish
Working out.

For me the key has been two things, remove thinking and at least five minutes.

- Find a programme, doesn't really matter which one as long as it's one you can follow for at least six months.

- Set the days you're working out.

- Pack or prepare everything the evening before.

Less thinking is less opportunity to go "Hmmm, I'm tired. I'll do it tomorrow". Just follow the programme. On those days do that amount of reps of those exercises.

The five minutes thing is that I always do at least warm up and then five minutes more. After that I'm allowed to stop, but at that point I'm changed, at the right place, warmed up and doing it. 39/40 times I do the workout.

My brain is ridiculously easy to fool, it's quite convenient.


👤 rozenmd
Working on your own thing two hours before work, every work day.

The key is to wake up earlier, have a coffee, and just show up. Even if you don't feel like shipping, just write down your thoughts. Consistency keeps the habit going.


👤 eimrine
Chatting on English forums instead of just using my mother language. Dvorak keyboard made this possible.

👤 alganet
Smoking cigarettes is quite a comforting habit I developed. The nicotine makes it stick.