Exploring Deep Habits (Home Edition)
Have a more meaningful life outside of work, both for yourself and for others. Start now.
Hello there!
How do we cultivate a deep life in a world that's constantly vying for our attention? This is a question that's been on my mind a lot lately, and I'm excited to share my thoughts with you in this edition.
As I experiment with my habits and fine-tune my routines, I'm eager to share the valuable insights I've gained. I hope that the advice I offer will resonate with you and prove to be a worthwhile addition to your life.
In this edition, I'll be discussing some practical suggestions for making your life outside of work more meaningful. These are not just theoretical concepts, but four habits that I've found to be incredibly useful, especially after listening to Cal Newport’s podcast.
Here’s what we will cover:
📒 Using single-purpose notebooks — a tool to set up the appropriate context for our brains when doing deep work.
🧠 Taking daily thinking walks — a daily space to wrap your thoughts around specific topics of interest.
📵 Not posting on social media — a way to realize that you don’t have an online audience and spend less time with your phone.
💥 Doing something hard — a tool for building discipline and focusing on results in the long term instead of instant gratification.
Before we begin, you should know that I recently published another article covering similar suggestions to apply to your life at work. If you find any value in exploring new deep habits, read below 👇.
And with that out of the way, let’s dive into today’s topic!
Deep Habits at Home 🏡
When I started this newsletter, my target audience was people working at the intersection of Computer Science and Software Engineering. As I write more and progress in my work as a software engineer who also likes to write and teach, I find more and more value in things I learn outside the scope of what I have chosen to be the topics of my professional life.
Because of this, I decided to start writing for a wider audience: people who could benefit from my thoughts on algorithms and software and from my newly discovered passions for personal growth and living a deeper, more meaningful life, both for yourself and for others.
One of the things that has resonated with me in the past few months is how little habits add up and can make a significant difference when you look at the big picture. The sole fact of not worrying too much about instant achievement but instead dedicating effort to more challenging endeavors that give you some future reward can rewire the mental framework of how you perceive life and work.
These four basic habits, while not heavy hitters in the realm of behavioral tools, are remarkably simple to incorporate into your daily routines. They are not daunting or complex, and you can easily adopt them to enhance your life outside of work.
📒 Single-Purpose Notebooks
You should dedicate a single-small notebook to work on any challenging problem. This problem doesn’t have to be related to work but to your personal life. These include things like reflecting on something that happened yesterday or how you want to overhaul your business in the future months.
Why do you need to implement this? Well, whenever you think about that problem, you have a single place to write it down and prevent it from slipping your mind or getting lost between a bunch of notes. Since you have a single place where you work on this particular problem, you can go on excursions to some place and think about it, bringing nothing more than a simple notebook.
Go to a café or a park, sit by the beach, or do whatever you prefer. Just bring that notebook in your pocket. Over time, having this place where you have worked on a particular issue will start playing a pivotal role in its solution. You would have built a centralized knowledge base on a specific topic without something else intruding in the way.
This tool will give you five times more mind power because you can start working on a problem right away instead of scheduling time for it. No fresh idea will escape if you always have your single-purpose notebook around.
I take advantage of this by having a notebook on my office desk that I use to work on the current task I’m trying to make progress on with my software development team. I also have a notebook for solving hard algorithmic problems when participating in competitive programming contests, preparing problems for competitions, or coaching people who want to get better at programming.
Our brains love structure and crave context.
🧠 Thinking Walks
You should take thinking walks, preferably every day. Go out and think about something, whether it is profound or not. It can be a fantasy, something you are excited about, something you like about your life or something you don’t.
But don’t sit, don’t drive, walk. Preferably walk in nature, enjoy the weather, and experience the wind changing in your skin. Walking is one of the best ways of thinking, and we have been doing it for generations. Thinking while walking is one of the best ways of facing your interiorities and growing.
One benefit of this thinking activity outdoors is that you don’t have screens around. You won’t be seeking the dopaminergic reward of finding a screen that entertains you right after achieving something moderately complex. You are outside, by yourself, with your thoughts.
Thinking about the benefits of the walk itself is a good transition into doing this activity. Moving is something we humans have evolved to do. It comes so naturally to us that we don’t even think about it after we are infants. So, you could say that at the end of the day, you aim for a 30-minute walk, which then leads you to think about whatever topic you want to think about during the walk.
The critical detail here to distinguish is that to go for a thinking walk, you should leave your phone behind and not listen to music. Just focus on your thoughts. Practice the art of self-reflection.
📵 Don’t Post on Social Media
Never post on social media unless you have to. Even if you are a public figure who uses social media for a professional purpose, you should have a schedule for posting and probably have someone do it for you.
What is the issue with posting? Well, it is with the posting that addiction begins to flourish, and you get in the mind state of caring about, in Cal Newport’s words, “the anxiety of they like this, the euphoria of they do, the pain of they don’t. “ Social media works on algorithms designed to grab your attention, and posting will warp your understanding of the world based on primarily algorithmic decisions.
When consuming content on social media, it is ok to do so with specific things you like. This is very different from doom-scrolling. Searching for this particular comedian, news reporter, or musician you like is similar to listening to your favorite podcast or subscribing to your favorite newsletter. In the intentionality of searching for something you already know is of your liking, you can extract the most value.
I have fallen into the trap of posting on social media before, and it did not end well. Now, I focus solely on writing this newsletter for people who find value in what I write instead of trying to game some algorithm in all different platforms. The latter is a rabbit hole, and the former is a fountain of joy.
💥 Do Something Hard
Discipline is practice. It does not come with character as a trait; it is not a feature you can turn on and off. The more you practice hard things, the more comfortable you will be doing hard things. The best way to practice discipline is to do something hard, then another one, and another one after that.
If you want to start building up your discipline, start modestly. Don’t go all-in on improving your fitness or growing your business. Don’t make it too easy. It needs to be something hard, something that makes you think before getting into it, something that causes some friction.
Physical things can work well for starting. You will go for a challenging workout for 20 minutes daily, or a run, a hike, or a swim. You can say that you will not drink alcohol for a month, or won’t eat food with excessive added sugar from Monday to Friday. In the long run, all these things will be good for you, but they will be hard at first. Focus on the benefits you will eventually get, and don’t seek any immediate reward.
Your hard endeavor can also be intellectual, like learning a new skill in your profession or something crafty, like building something in your backyard or a ship model. You can find your flavor.
And that’s it for today! If you are finding this newsletter valuable, consider doing any of these:
1) ✉️ Subscribe to the newsletter — if you aren’t already, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
2) 💛 Make a one-off contribution — thanks to all of you who have contributed to support my writing. If you feel like you are not ready for a paid subscription, consider leaving a one-off contribution if you enjoyed this post.
3) 🍻 Read with your friends — this newsletter grows because readers share it. I don’t use social media too much to advertise my writing. I’m counting on you!
Have a great day! ☀️
Alberto