A few days ago, I read an interesting post by John Sowers, who was guest-posting on the blog of Donald Miller, a favorite author / storyteller of mine. In his post, John Sowers discusses "Finding your Keystone Habit." This was particularly interesting to me, as I've been using what time I have lately in a mad attempt to discern who I have become at this point in my life, who I am interested in becoming in the next few years, and how to bridge the gap between that vision and my current reality.
At any rate, the article discusses, as you might guess, "Keystone habits", which basically are those specific changes which can trigger a chain of other changes in your life. As he says, "Keystone habits set off a chain of internal events, giving us willpower and momentum to do other things. Over time, these keystone habits form other habits, and we become completely different people."
So I've been reflecting over my keystone habits, and already a few have emerged this year. The most prominent for me thus far in 2013 seems to be maintaining a set sleep schedule, and sticking to a set bedtime without procrastinating and staying up later than I need to. I perform better on my rotations, I can see medical problems and solutions more clearly, and I feel energized enough to exercise, which is another keystone habit that I always seem to come back to. Whenever my time gets crunched, exercise has historically been something that I am quick to give up to fit other things into my schedule, but really it should have a much higher priority in my life.
See the original blog post by John Sowers here
Sleep is so key to everything it seems! I've recently stopped drinking caffeine after 2pm (okay maybe 3pm sometimes) and I end up waking up the next day feeling a lot less tired. Like the idea of 'keystone habits'. :)
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