Growing bulletproof habits — part 2 — a summary

Below you’ll find conclusions from the full Bulletproof habits article.

To set a lasting habit you need to follow the below guides.

Eliminate whims

Decide what you want — not what you’d like to have or be, not what you need to have to keep up with your friends, your neighbors, or with the current fad, but what it is that you truly desire. Focus not as much on possessions as on what you love doing.

Prioritize

Make a list, (on paper, in a file, or in your head) of your duties and your past time activities, and try to eliminate as much as possible (I advise keeping house cleaning on the list though). Keep in mind your main goals when you prioritize and reserve most time for the tasks that lead to achieving them.

Plan

Book time for what’s important. Treat it as your sacred time. However, be careful not to book too much time for developing your passions or fulfilling your life goals — If the remaining time is not sufficient to complete your duties, you will either neglect your every-day responsibilities or feel guilty for not sticking to your planned schedule. Either way, you’ll end up frustrated.
Break down your goal into tasks or activities that need to be done to achieve it, and put them on your schedule.

Eliminate obstacles

Analyze in what situations you fall back into undesired habits, and plan other desired reaction upfront. If you reach for sweets when you’re under stress, prepare upfront other conditioned response like: “When I’m stressed I reach for a glass of water”, or “When I feel stress is coming, I’ll take a short quick walk”. It can be anything as long as the replacement activity is also pleasurable for you. If you know that you eat doughnuts on your way from work because you pass your favorite bakery on your way home, your new condition can go like: “Next time when I’ll be hungry I choose another way home” (prepare new way upfront then), or “Next time when I pass this bakery I’ll think of something pleasant that I’ll do at home after arrival”.

Visualize

Every day in the morning and in the evening visualize achieving your big goal. Use as many senses as you can — what you will feel, touch, see, hear, or smell. See yourself reaching your planned destination. The Law of attraction will do wonders if you combine visualization with taking small steps every day in achieving what you visualize.

Strengthen yourself

Energetic and resilient people reach their goals. To have energy your body needs to be rested, well-nourished and your mind needs to be sharp and focused. More on how to achieve it can be found in other articles.

Don’t give up

Life can surprise us at any time. Unexpected visit, broken pipe, a project that needs to be finished earlier, and so on. If once in a while you cannot stick to your plan, because of an unexpected event that is beyond your influence, don’t get hard on yourself. Welcome life as it is, treat what came as an exception, be grateful for experiencing it, and come back to your plans afterward.

Come back to this list frequently to set your habits in stone.

With love, clarity, and purpose
-AG-