Better Habits
Iāve been here before (2018 post) - trying to re-balance and reset where I spend my energy. To get to a better place physically and mentally Iām going to have to involve better habits and reverse my brainās adaptation to instant gratification and dopamine. I am fully aware that most of my prior attempts to ābe goodā have come crashing down once those activities became inconvenient or I lost motivation.
It feels dumb, but the moment that it clicked for me how to get away from YouTube was watching a YouTube comedian do an over-the-top 30-day health challenge with a buddy. (I will not be adding ice plunges) Watching this guy do things like run a mile, turn off screens, and do 100 push-ups reminded me how far I have fallen from being able even to start those kinds of activities; activities that I once took for granted as a better-adjusted, younger person.
I am a little over two weeks in to this recent attempt, so success is uncertain. Here is 1) a review of my recent April 2025 new techniques, 2) the habits I am trying to build, and 3) my method for sticking to them.
Review of April Techniques
April revolved around changing app settings and discovering YouTube blocking apps. The problem is that there isnāt a consistent app across all my sources of YouTube, so I often find myself slipping and still consuming YouTube algorithmically. However, the attempt showed that I could make changes. Slack notification time ranges helped. The UnhookĀ plugin and Brick app (brick.app) were beneficial. The experience has taught me that the biggest control I have is just to move my phone and Apple Watch off my person. I donāt need a dumb phone. I need to implement NO PHONE for some portion of the day.
Yes, I need something like intermittent fasting ā¦ but for YouTube and algorithms.
The Habits
Here are the new things Iām trying to stick to. Iām trying not to add new things too quickly.
- Waking up earlier every day (6:30 AM), even on weekends
- Immediately stretching and moving for 30 minutes - even if that workout is just walking around my neighborhood
- Having a morning wake-up checklist that i stick to.
- Ending screentime at 8:00 PM .. more on this later
- Having a going-to-bed checklist that I stick to.
- Getting consistent sleep, with a goal of 8 hours a night.
Sticking to Them
To achieve these behavioral changes I need to hack my brain. My approach hinges on how I do my personal spending allowance. For years Iāve done a monthly deposit of my free spending cash. Iām now making that contingent on following habits. So effectively .. Iām using loss aversion and shameless bribery to keep myself engaged in this process. Hereās what I have so far.
- Wake up alarm and pre-staged workout clothes. The small act of setting up my workout clothes is helping.
- I have rigged my digital automation tool to release my personal spending allowance when it detects my workout time in Strava.
- Visual Reinforcement. I have a dashboard of my data ā¦ because of course I do.
- Bathroom magnet board - I start and end my day at my phone charger in my half-bath. Iāve put up a magnet board with my checklists and visually track my daily compliance with day of the week magnets. At the end of the week, if I have all seven daily magnets completed, I give myself an allowance bonus. That isnāt automated, but it forces me to look at the Google Spreadsheet ledger that tracks all of this, causing more visual reinforcement.
The funny part is Iām more motivated and Iām saving money, as the payment rate so far isnāt adding up to my old personal allowance.
The newest hack is something that I am calling āAnalog OāClockā. At 8:00 PM, I put my phone on its charger and I switch to an analog watch. From there until bedtime I only engage in activities that were possible before 1998. No algorithmic feeds. No doom scrolling. I can play a video game, or watch a movie or a specific show Iāve queued up if I have nothing else to do, but Iām trying to avoid binge activities. Most evenings Iāve journaled, read a book, or worked off one of the many queues of more curated and intentional content that I was never getting to.
The Opposition
I feel better, and I feel like Iām making progress deprogramming my brain from algorithms. The question is can I keep this up during the usual events that derail attempts to be good: work travel, seeing my friends, and holidays?
Only one way to find out.