So its been about 3 weeks into my new habit of drinking as much water as reasonable during the day. Whether its lugging around a gallon, 1.5 L , or regular 16 oz bottles of water at school or in my car, I have experienced a few pros of drinking water. Like my friend said at the gym, I did feel a new found energy throughout midday. Being a sucker the afternoon naps, ranging from 30 minutes to crazy 3 hours naps (not kidding), I enjoyed the surplus of energy I felt from drinking water and not the short energy burst and crashes of energy drinks. I still enjoy a nice and shortened naps though.

I also noticed I “pissed like a race-horse” the first week. I also found that when I make it a goal to drink as much water as I can, I get addicted to drinking more and more water, which kind of gives me pleasure, if that makes sense. I also saved about 10 bucks a week from not having to buy Sobes or energy drinks as frequent (I limited myself to 2 energy drinks a week).

These 30 days are wrapping up, and beginning the new month of April, I will choose a new habit to try out. I will definitely keep this new habit chugging as much water as reasonable throughout the week.

I frequently visit the website and blog of Steve Pavlina, and rediscovered an older post of something I found interesting. The blog post titled 30 Days to Success explains a great way to form new habits. Perform your new habit for 30 days straight, and then decide whether you would like to continue the habit or not after. The great thing is that after 30 days the habit will obviously be easier to maintain than starting it again. Pavlina also writes that you will not only break the addiction of the old habit during the 30 days, but the 30 days of success with the new habit will give your more confidence to continue the streak.

While working the closing shift at the gym I work at, I noticed a Sunday night regular come in with a huge gallon, maybe 2, of water. Already having drank at least 3/4 of the bottle, I asked him about it. While playing collegiate tennis a few years back at a nearby university, he started a competition among his friends of who could drink the most water each day. Turns out its a habit he has continued today, as he is now a tennis coach at another college. He also explained the numerous benefits of the habit as he admits feeling like his body is cleansed out each week by drinking the amounts of water he does.

So incorporating the 30 days to success program Steve Pavlina promotes, I will start tomorrow by drinking as much water as reasonable while breaking the habit of wasting a couple bucks a day on buying Sobe or energy drinks. I will buy a gallon or so container of water each Monday, then refill it daily for the rest of the week. I will track my progress on this blog while I also encourage you to try out the 30 days to success/New habit program for yourself.

So I’m officially launching a new project and picking up a lost habit = recycling. Getting this idea from a blog I came across recently, The Found Money Jar, I will recycle plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and glass bottles. At the end of each week I will organize what I have collected into the 3 specified categories, and take them to the neighborhood recycling center for cash. I will start a new cash fund, labeled “Recycling to Riches”, and track its progress. I will put all the funds collected from recycling towards investments in the stock market or towards a mutual fund. Once I collect enough funds to invest with, I will also track those results here on the blog. I look to only spend a couple hours a week on this project, and its way to not only save some cash and put it towards an investment, but also to do my part in the community. Working part time at a gym and drinking Sobe daily also makes more sense for me to recycle.

So far today, just walking around the house and cleaning out my car, I have collected the following:

• Plastic Bottles: 4
• Aluminum Cans: 4
• Glass Bottles: 2

Once I cash in my first batch of recycling, I will post the earnings here, and track the progress of the investments.

Men’s natures are alike; it is their habits that separate them. ~Confucius, Analects

A new year has just kicked off, so it seems appropriate to set some goals into place. Among the hundreds of goals flooding my mind this week, there was one that is most apparent; breaking down the bad habits and develop new ones.

Throughout the past few months I have recognized that my habits, which seem so small since I have programmed them into my subconscious for the past years, ultimately dictate my life and represents my character. I have been attending a social group that meditates and incorporates Buddhist practices into everyday business and stressful situations, and I have noticed the same message constantly.

“Free of Attachment” – in my perspective, means for myself or anyone to be free from negative habits, prejudices, bias, stress, the list goes on and on. One the of key reasons to practice meditation is just to free yourself from everything and just “be”. Still learning to “just be”, I have realized that habits can make or break a person. Countless times I find myself sluggishly hit snooze on my alarm clock, wasting 15 minutes that I could spend, who knows, doing push-ups or making myself an actual breakfast. Instead of wasting time exploring Wikipedia, I can plan my next day or hang out with friends and family. Eliminating and freeing myself from these bad habits and forming new good habits in their place is my goal.

One big reason for this specific goal is replacing the bad habits with good habits that will better service my overall perception in everyday life. One of the books I’m currently reading, Having it All, by John Assaraf, states that “seeing is not the same as perceiving”. According to Assaraf, the brain collects what we see, and whether the images are familiar or not, any information we don’t need, is basically thrown out from our consciousness.

“Our beliefs and habits act as filters that get in the way of truth and possibilities.” Another point I liked, “We talk, act, and pretend out the prejudices of our beliefs.” Our prejudices and beliefs dictates our self-esteem, our personal relationships, and even our mental and physical health. Our conscious mind takes in about 11 million pieces of information! And we are actually only aware of 40-2,000 pieces. Our habits condition our brain to drop out and not even see or recognize the other 10 million + information.

Keeping that in mind, I want to eliminate the negative habits that are fixed into my subconscious and form new positive habits that will allow myself, or my subconscious, to perceive and pick up more important information relevant to my goals, tasks, or situation at the time. Tim Ferris, author of the 4-Hour Workweek, promotes Selective Ignorance, where I should focus on the real important information that matters or info that is relevant, and ignore all the millions of crap information thrown at us from all directions. For more information on using Selective Ignorance as a tool, read about RRS – Really Simple Syndication – for the internet, from Ryan Holiday’s post. I need to follow this advice, and stop taking in or paying time and attention to irrelevant and unimportant info that I seem to draw myself into courtesy of my bad habits.

Like watching stupid videos on YouTube due to my bad habit of procrastination, and spend time taking in important info relevant to my goals and educating myself, now courtesy of my new positive habit = starting this blog.

To sum it up, my ultimate goal for 2008 is to replace my bad habits and condition new positive habits that will allow my subconscious to perceive and recognize the important and relevant info of the 11 million pieces thrown at me daily. With more efficient perception, I can be open to more possibilities and be more creative, and be free from my past prejudices and negative habits. To top it off, I’ll incorporate Selective Ignorance into my daily life to cut out the crap and focus more on the good stuff that benefits me. I believe that habits can either make or break a person. We all have some negative habits, and I think it is always important to recognize them, eliminate, then replace them with new positive habits. Equipping myself now with the right positive habits will allow myself to conquer and accomplish any of my goals and dreams.

Quote of the Day relevant to the post:

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”