TJ Walker shares two habits he tracked: he graduated from automatically answering unexpected calls after eight months, and fired dream tracking after a month when it proved unhelpful. The point is to regularly evaluate which habits actually work and which ones to drop.
Chapters
Sometimes you have to say goodbye to certain habits. They either graduate a success or they're not doing anything for you. You get rid of them. For the last eight months, I had as a daily habit goal to not answer my phone automatically. I found it very disruptive. It would upset my ability to concentrate. There's the switching cost. So for eight months, I've been tracking that. I have not answered the phone unless it was from a call I was expecting, and I'm happy to say, conquered that problem. I'm no longer answering the phone call unless I'm expecting it. So that's a case of habit success. I graduated. I no longer have to think about it. It's kind of like brushing my teeth or washing my hands after going to the toilet. On the other hand, a month ago, I started the habit of tracking my dreams, writing down what I dreamed about. I did it for a month. Half the time I didn't remember. It didn't really do much for me, so I got rid of it. Scrutinize your habits.