6 ways we started 2020 in the most optimal way
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Fi and I are always experimenting with ways to improve our lives, and yes we know it's a huge cliche - “new year, new you”….
This year, we’ve been on a mission to better our habits. And persist with them.
They say that it takes at least 21 days to form a habit so January seemed like a good a time as any to try to develop the habits we have been passionate about developing. We said to ourselves, even if we only stick at it for 1 month, that's a decent 1/12th of the year we’ve been self improving - not bad in our eyes.
Let’s take a look at some of the good habits we’ve formed (or in the process of forming) that’s made us start our year in the most optimal way.
1. Team meetings
We actually started this last year. We began having fortnightly team meetings which have turned into something that we get extremely excited about.
Why?
Well mainly because we get to spend some time together in our favourite public house enjoying a refreshing pint of German beer.
Who needs any more reasons than that?!
But scheduling in a pint means we regularly get to discuss ideas for our lives, businesses etc. Anything to enhance and co-ordinate our lives and discuss issues.
We sit there with a notes app open and everything that crops up we write down. We get so much value from it and religiously have it in our calendar to do together.
It’s also useful for breaking up the monotony of eat, sleep, work repeat…
…All of the best ideas come from conversations in the pub, don't they?
Dry January - no thanks
2. "TV Banuary" - we cut out TV for January
Yes! It’s true. And we even managed to inspire some of you Happy Home Club subscribers to do the same.
We used to be big TV fans, watching an hour or two episodes per night. These days we're pretty selective and normally don't really have the time or intention to do that anymore.
However there are occasional evenings where we sit and watch Netflix, youtube – or worse – spend time on our phones and the time just slips away. During January we gave that up. We haven’t touched that remote control once (apart from to polish the coffee table!) and we were amazed with the benefits.
3. We're accepting that we love the odd pint here and there
Had a messy Christmas period? Ate too much? Drank like a fish? And now the "I’m never drinking again!” / dry January stuff comes along…
Sounds familiar doesn't it?
It's becoming a vicious cycle isn't it?
Well screw it, OK?! This year we're breaking the cycle and drinking through January! Our abstinence rebellion peaked during a snowboarding holiday mid Jan in Bulgaria where a big beer is £2.50. How could we NOT?
**We realise this is an unconventional take and other approaches to alcohol consumption may be advisable (!) Don’t hate us.
4. Yoga and meditation
Yoga and meditation ending up in a post like this is the biggest new years resolution January cliche of them all, but considering we both began these two prior to January, we saw no reason to stop.
If you need information on the benefits of either of these then where have you been? But we're already reaping the benefits of both of them, including increased mental clarity, and general feelings of well being.
We bought one of these yoga mats to get rid of the excuse that our knees hurt on our hard floors! We can confirm that they are a bit of a game changer in comparison to the thin piece of tat we used to own. It’s definitely helped Fi hold poses for longer and not huff and puff so much !
Thick and comfy
5. Bedroom phone ban and intentional device use
Ever noticed you scroll through your phone more than you used to?
Perhaps you're a victim of ‘Compulsive Device Use’.
We did some research on this recently and although we won't get into the detail here, it’s safe to say that we are more scared than we were before about this hidden compulsion that society has unwittingly fallen into.
This January we've banned devices from the bedroom, we've actually had a few slip-ups because you know "we're busy" but we've found that reading a book instead really does improve sleep quality.
There's all sorts of theories about the light that comes from the device itself, and newest evidence suggest that it may not just blue light that is the issue.
6. We tested a new planning process
We have grand plans (which are currently top secret) to create a process to help make the most out of life (in general!). We tested the process early in January and think we’ve got a good draft of it created now. It really helped us get clarity about what we want to achieve over the coming months and it’s something we’re excited to share with our readers to help them grab life proactively and positively. Exciting times ahead.
So what’s next for 2020?
We’ll be meeting up for our regular team meetings to ensure we stay on track with our shorter and medium term aims and habits and we’ll be sure to keep the blog updated with how we are doing and any new experiments we are doing.
We hope by sharing some of the ways that we’ve optimised the start of our 2020, some of you may be inspired to follow suit. We would certainly welcome any comments, feedback and suggestions from you.
