Reddit reviews Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

In my opinion: Nutrition is for losing (or gaining) weight and making sure you recover properly.

Cardiovascular training (literally heart and blood-vessel training) is for heart, vascular and lung health so you can run after a bus or take a flight of stairs without feeling like you are going to die. It helps you think more clearly, resist depression, and reduces risks of some of the most deadly diseases (heart attack, stroke, etc.)

Resistance training is for gaining or maintaining lean body mass and strength. This helps you look better naked, keeps your bone mass up, and as you get older, helps you recover more easily from slips and falls. It also is good for your metabolism: it helps with insulin sensitivity and each pound of lean mass burns 2-3x as much energy as a pound of fat, and it takes up less space.

Finally, stretching/mobility training will help you keep your youthful ranges of motion, reduce stiffness and pain, and reduce injury potential.

You need a balance of these four elements to be truly fit.

To answer your specific questions:

1. Yes, you have to maintain a calorie deficit to lose weight. There is no way around this. However, focusing on satiety (the feeling of being satisfied) will help. In my experience, foods that help with satiety without being high in calories are a. water b. fiber and c. protein. Fat can also help a meal stick with you, but a little goes a long way. Pure carbs (stuff with very little fiber) are tricky. This leads us to foods like lean meats, vegetables, fruits, and legumes (beans) and away from sugars and refined carbs (especially those with fat and carbohydrate together like cake, pizza, pastas, bread and butter, etc.). People have lost weight on all kinds of diets, so experimenting with what works for you is good. Tracking your calories and macronutrient (protein/fat/carbohydrate) intake with something like myfitnesspal.com can help. There are more "advanced" methods but starting there can help your basic awareness of when and what you're eating, and you can start to make tweaks and adjustments from there.
   
   
2. It's OK if you can't do purely running. Consider swimming, riding a bike, rowing or a low-impact alternative like an elliptical machine. If you have health insurance, consider seeing a doctor/physical therapist to give you specific ways to work with/around your limitations. Simply losing some weight can help with all kinds of orthopedic (bone-related) issues.
   
   
3. Lifestyle advice. It's about taking small steps and building habits. I recommend trying to break a sweat at roughly the same time every day. Do something laughably easy at the beginning, like going into the gym and doing a warmup, then leaving. The point is consistency by showing up over time. Find a program or work with a personal trainer who will design a program for your abilities, and stick with it. I personally recommend something that you do either every day (7 days a week) or at least 5 days a week during the work-week (Monday through Friday), purely because it's actually easier than going 3 days a week because you get into a habit of going at a specific time every day. You will have to carve out time for this, there are no two ways around it, but that time can be early in the morning, during lunch, or after work. If you join a gym, find one between home and work to help reduce the issues of going before or after work. Finding a program you can do at home is great as well and can help with logistical issues. You want to be there when your baby graduates high school and college and gets married, so you're investing in your future. I highly recommend the books "Atomic Habits" by James Clear, as well as "The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg with more help on those fronts.
   
   
4. Lifestyle part 2, diet. I recommend doing a weekly or twice-weekly session of food preparation. If you have a 5-day a week workout habit, you can set aside two days to go shopping for healthy food and prepare healthy food in bulk. (Slow cooker and sous vide can help here, as well as the basic stove and oven.) Having a good breakfast, lunch, and dinner (or whatever meals match your plan) on hand will reduce the urge to grab something quickly for those meals, and it will force you to plan ahead, which really helps you stick to those decisions later. If you have trigger foods (like chips or pastries or something) don't bring them into the house. This doesn't mean that you can never eat your favorite food ever again, but it does mean that you want to have 80% or more of your nutrition match the goals that you have. Then when you have the food you like, you will enjoy it more.
   
   Sorry, I started in on this post and it got away from me. Hopefully you find some useful nuggets in here.
   
   TL;DR: You need to have a balance of nutrition, cardio, resistance, and mobility training. You have to have a calorie deficit to lose weight, so focus on foods that fill you up without a ton of calories. There are tons of cardio options that aren't running that will be easier on your joints. Lifestyle change is about changing your habits. Doing food prep really helps make losing weight easier.

Understand the reason why you procrastinate. It is not about self control. This article breaks open the one of the biggest underlying reasons why people procrastinate:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/25/smarter-living/why-you-procrastinate-it-has-nothing-to-do-with-self-control.html

People procrastinate as a way of regulating their mood. Something about their condition or about the task they are procrastinating is causing them discomfort that they might not even be able to articulate, and procrastinating is a way of dealing with that discomfort in the moment.

One possible way to deal with this (not this specific thing you're procrastinating on, but the big picture) is that you may need counseling or to do other things to help your health to overcome depression or whatever hidden discomfort is causing you to procrastinate. I myself found that when I did not sleep well, I was chronically tired and depressed, but I didn't recognize it, because I masked it with caffeine. Caffeine doesn't give you the missing motivation back. It just keeps you wide awake and not wanting to do the things you need motivation to do. In a lot of cases, insufficient sleep is a major contributor to depression and anxiety.

I fixed my sleep problem to a large extent, using a weighted blanket, sensory deprivation (ear plugs and eye mask when I sleep), black-out curtains, blue-blocker glasses in the evenings, "dark room mode" of Flux (a screen dimming app for MacOS), and red LED light bulbs to light my room at night so I would actually get sleepy. (Now I just need to fix the schedule of my sleep; it's a work in progress.) That really helped.

Exercise also helps address depression, way more than I understood. See the book titled "Spark: the revolutionary new science of exercise and the brain".

When I reduced my depressive symptoms and improved my sleep, I felt a lot less prone to procrastinating.

Another great book on how to improve yourself and overcome things like procrastination is "Atomic Habits". This is a fantastic book. It explains that self transformation and improvement is not about revolutionary changes, but about establishing habits that get you a little bit of improvement but keeps you on a consistent trajectory of improvement. There's a lot of great stuff in there about procrastination.

If you can't seem to read books all the way through (a problem I had), try listening to the audio book while commuting. This has made a huge difference in my life. I actually finish books that I start now that I use audio books.

EDIT—

Of the various things that motivate people, fear only goes so far. After a while, concern over possibly ruining your life won't motivate you. I know this first hand, because I've procrastinated to the point of harming myself, and knowing that harm would come didn't motivate me to act. There is a much more potent set of motivators, and this won't be easy, but you need to find these and figure out how to view your work through these.

The most potent motivators are purpose, passion, and joy. In the grand scheme of your life, you need to find your purpose, develop a passion, and cultivate joy. There's an old parable about three men laying bricks who are asked what they are doing. The first one says "I'm laying bricks". The second says "I'm building a church". The third says "I'm building the house of God." Of these three, who do you think will do his best work and persist when the going gets tough?—The one who sees a grand, transcendant purpose in every brick he lays.

If you can't find a purpose in the task you are doing, step back. Some folks do boring work that is not rewarding in and of itself, but their "why" is their family. That is their purpose, and to provide for their family, they keep on keeping on. If you don't have a family, make a promise to your future self, and make bettering yourself your purpose. And if that won't do, seriously search for other work to do that you can get a sense of purpose from. I've heard of people who weren't responsible, but who got a dog or some other pet that then gave them a purpose, because that pet gave them joy, and they wanted a good life for this pet they loved so much. These are the stories where someone rescues a dog, but really, the dog rescued them just as much as they rescued it. Love makes all the difference here.

Think of something you take delight in, something that brings you joy, and if what you are doing can be thought of in terms of serving and pursuing this thing that brings you joy, the motivation from your delight may be able to help you overcome that heavy unspoken weight of apathy that causes you to procrastinate.

This book called Atomic Habits is about this subject. It explains how habits work and how you can create simple strategies to improve your habits by taking advantage of how your brain works. Could be interesting if you want to improve this area of your live.

https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-Proven-Build-Break/dp/0735211299

Yes 100%. It's all about building the habits. Dig into James Clear's stuff on the topic. This is a good one to start with. His book Atomic Habits is great and worth picking up.

Pick your poison:

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Adult ADHD: Targeting Executive Dysfunction by Mary V. Solanto

The Art of Procrastination: A Guide to Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging and Postponing by John Perry

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear

James Clear's Atomic Habits is a year old but it has over 1k plus reviews with an average of 4.8 stars - https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-Proven-Build-Break/dp/0735211299

>Video games, junk food and porn. But no attempt at ever forming a romance, no dating, no online dating.

You've developed a very nasty habit, and you need to rewire your brain. This can be done, but you'll need some will power to overcome this. James Clear's book, Atomic Habits does a good job explains how habits form and how you can change them.

If you're watching porn, stop it right now - it's ruining your life.

> The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it’s impossible to turn back.

The Iron and the Soul

First thing is first, how often are you going to the gym? You can't have a healthy mind if you don't have a healthy body. How are you training? Are you doing 5X5? Are you on 5-3-1? Start learning the basic lifts, I recommend you start with 5X5 for one month to get the techniques down, then move on to something like 5-3-1 or Grey Skulls, the r/fitness wiki is a gold mine of information. Learning how to do this properly (with the right diet) will change your life. Try the Boring But Big 3-Month Challenge.

We're sexual beings, it's important for our physical and mental well being to have a healthy sex life. If you're terrified of talking to women then you might need to start with the basics, look up this or this. Cheesy pick up techniques don't work, so don't waste any time or money on learning them. The key here is to know yourself, what you want and be honest (most people don't know what they want).

Loneliness has the same impact on mortality as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, making it even more dangerous than obesity

How often do you socialize with friends and peers? Do you have someone to talk to, to air your problems to, to bounce ideas off? We're social creatures and having a good social group is part of a healthy lifestyle.

Cobra Kai - ...the method of fighting your pansy ass generation desperately needs.

Tyler Durden on Life

The Three Things We All Need for a Happy Life: Someone to love. Something to do. Something to look forward to.

Oh, I probably shouldn't have said that. I certainly understand the process of deliberative practice and have a copy of Colvin's Talent is Overrated. I should have been more clear. I am an advanced beginner and am still in what James Clear refers to as the "showing up and putting in your reps" phase. As such, I will be trying to deliberatively practice while 'showing up and putting in my reps.' But I will definitely be looking for opportunities for improvement along the way so I don't reinforce bad habits. All would be easier if I had a teacher who was interested in technical exercises and advise me on which exercises to do when certain issues in my playing are revealed. But as it is, I have to do my deliberative practice in a more organic way without any wise guides along the way. I feel like I should be having a 2nd teacher for 30 min/week piano lessons who only focuses on technique and directing me on technical exercises! Maybe some day when I am at the intermediate stage.

Eating good is a habit thing, I found this Art of Manliness episode on habits quite helpful. I plan to read the related book, Atomic Habits by James Clear.

i haven't read it! but, i have a vague idea about james' ideas -

try this book - https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-Proven-Build-Break/dp/0735211299/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1539869719&sr=8-1&keywords=atomic+habits&linkCode=sl1&tag=entsblo-20&linkId=5baf637cef17daa3cea23582ed3689d3&language=en_US

Congratulations on your insight, and on working out again. I totally agree that our thoughts are often more burdensome than the thing itself and mindfulness definitely helps a lot with that. People looking to make life changes might also want to read up on some of the new psychology of habit formation. Like Atomic Habits or The Tamed Course. There's ways to automate the good habits we want, like pairing with a reward, that will bypass much of the save-your-energy procrastination tendencies we all have.

I have three of them. Meditations, Tao Te Ching, and Man's Search for Meaning.

I read Tao Te Ching many years ago. I think it was above my reading level at the time as I can't recall much about it. I wasn't really paying attention to what I was reading or properly digesting it.

I have the Gregory Hays' version of Meditations. It's up next after I'm done Flow. So far Flow mentions quite a few things I recognize from Stoicism. Directly mentions Diogenes in the first chapter.

Man's Search for Meaning will probably follow shortly after Meditations.

I've only heard of the Bhagavad Gita, so that's as familiar as I am with it. I assume it's a book of wisdom or something like that from India.

I do make notes of the books I read, so if you'd like I can forward them to you when they're ready. Currently putting together some for How to Read a Book, The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance, and Atomic Habits.

There are some great books out on this stuff.

The Power of Habit: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business https://www.amazon.com/dp/081298160X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Uk-WCbESHTEER

Atomic Habits: Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones https://www.amazon.com/dp/0735211299/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Xl-

https://youtu.be/szgoDIkimNU

https://youtu.be/U_nzqnXWvSo

Oh I typed all this for you my dude but these dastardly bullies caused you to delete it.

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Hope it benefits you or another ENTP stoner:

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What caught my eye was the Myers-Briggs test: I also (usually) test ENTP. Just wanted to say I think the Reddit subs seem to do it a serious disservice:

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A) It is a management tool. It is not meant to enable some rando's life as a lovable eccentric. You should be shoring up the weaknesses it shows, not jerking off to how creative you think you are (not that you can stop yourself amirite? Ha!), and

B) It is not a tarot card reading of your soul. I get profiled regularly, by professionals, using whatever method is in vogue at that moment and while I absolutely see the value in the tests, it is limited, it is contextual and it will vary over time.

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It is not so much "revealing" your personality as a prediction of how your behavior will manifest in a given context. MB being particularly general. For example, all my ENTP result tells me is that RIGHT NOW, I likely have too many projects going on and/or am managing my time poorly.

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So based on your results, I would recommend you get out of your comfort zone and focus on active productivity exercises. Far from being something unsuited to you: they are likely just what you need. Anytime I dial this in tight, my life has a night and day improvement.

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7 Habits is the granddaddy of course.



Unchained Man has a great time management system. Actually he refers back to Covey's 7 habits and explains why and how he updated the principle for a digital era. The rest isn't "bad" but its pretty standard 4HWW/TRP/Digital nomad type stuff. You could literally read Chapters 8-11 and get a great deal of benefit.

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4HWW fuck I hate this book. And it's probably dangerous for lazy fucks. But Ferriss has nuggets of good advice on productivity and time management.

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More conceptual reading:

Do the Work;

The War of Art;

The Power of Habit;

Rework;

On Form - some tips, although heavily weighted to glorify salaryman life;

One Minute Manager;

Extreme Ownership has helped a lot of dudes here. Personally I despise wading through the military waffle for two or three pages of content but the message of owning every aspect of your life and not accepting low standards from yourself or others is good (Hint: that means after you quit weed, (after a reasonable interval) you can and should expect your lazy wife to too).

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Corporations have invested a great deal of time and money in training me but honestly most of the valuable things I implement are on that list.

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Atomic Habits is on my current reading list. Check out this post (and comments) with some concepts from it.

https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-Proven-Build-Break/dp/0735211299

Recently bought a self help book of sorts from a gentleman who writes amazing newsletter articles about organizing your life.

He covers alot, not just organization and beating procrastination; things like raising self esteem, and overall get-better/better-yourself things.
The writing is a perfect, as its foremost functional realistic approaches, sprinkled with self rationalized motivation, all wrapped in clear and concise writting.

So glad his first book was a big hit in the public eye.


Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones https://www.amazon.com/dp/0735211299/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_AFe-BbS97AWAN

>Atomic Habits

This one? https://www.amazon.com/dp/0735211299?tag=amz-mkt-fox-us-20&ascsubtag=1ba00-01000-org00-win10-dsk00-smile-us000-pcomp-feature-scomp-wm-5&ref=aa_scomp&pldnSite=1