Ask HN: Valuable habit you've stuck with? What was key to making it stick?
4cracadumi155/1/2025, 7:25:49 AM
Comments (15)
japhyr · 1h ago
A long time ago I had trouble waking up without hitting snooze a bunch of times. So I started setting my alarm for the latest possible time I could get up and still get to where I needed to be. I aimed to get up the first time I woke up naturally in the morning.
That was a life changing moment for me. I started waking up so much more rested, and without immediate morning stress. I got up later than I used to set my alarm for, but much earlier than I used to actually get up. Alarms that interrupt deep morning sleep are so hard to deal with.
paulcole · 6m ago
I do the opposite.
I set my alarm for the time I want to be up (in my case as early as possible) and always get up within one snooze.
The life-changing “trick” for me is to just go to bed when I’m tired (which varies day to day). This is in contrast to having a “bedtime.” Some nights I tuck in at 7PM and others I’m up to 10 to 11PM and still pop right up at 4:30AM every day (even weekends).
Quinzel · 2h ago
Turned my afternoon unhealthy snack time to an apple and a walk to the car after work by parking 1km away from the work place and putting an apple in my bag so everyday I have instantly got an apple, and am also forced to walk.
Morning me (that wakes up full of good intentions and motivation) sets up strategies for lazy afternoon me so lazy afternoon me can still be lazy but achieves the minor goals morning me see out to achieve.
rozenmd · 2h ago
Working on your own thing two hours before work, every work day.
The key is to wake up earlier, have a coffee, and just show up. Even if you don't feel like shipping, just write down your thoughts. Consistency keeps the habit going.
alganet · 3h ago
Smoking cigarettes is quite a comforting habit I developed. The nicotine makes it stick.
farseer · 2h ago
I am assuming the OP meant, non self destructive habits :)
alganet · 2h ago
All habits are self destructive.
pfffff · 1h ago
Certainly not all habbits are destructive, you seem to confuse habbit with addiction. Addiction to smoking will give you cancer, you can deny it but after 30-40 years of doing this your lungs will tell you, that consequences are severe no matter what you keep telling yourself :) I lost family members to cancer due to cigareres and they were denying it pretty much till the end.
alganet · 1h ago
I'm not denying. I know the risks of smoking and that I will suffer a lot.
Do you understand and accept the risks of your habits?
card_zero · 1h ago
I have a habit of reading while I eat. Explain how self-destructive? I don't want to shoot this theory down, it was an interesting thing to claim.
alganet · 54m ago
I don't know, honestly. Is that even a habit?
I used to eat watching stuff. Eventually I recognized it as a bad thing. In my case, it distracted me from the food and whatever I was watching. I ultimately dropped this practice and I enjoy my meals way better.
You can see it as a destructive thing, right? Whether it applies to you or not, I wouldn't know.
When I said all habits are self-destructive, I meant that they are conditioning. It's a little part of you that now is in auto mode.
Of course that my example, cigarettes, is also bad for my health. However, the conditioning is mostly chemical (I think), related to nicotine. It was also a way of saying "yeah, I know smoke bad", and a way to make people think of other potential harmful habits (gossip, drugs, promiscuity, stalking, drinking, cheating, etc) and how these things can go hypocritical very fast.
owebmaster · 1h ago
You got one thing right: accepting that your addiction is destructive.
You got one thing wrong: thinking that self-harm is normal and other people's habits are also destructive. Try to change the cigarette in the morning for a 1 hour walking and you yourself you figure out how wrong you were.
alganet · 51m ago
I don't think it's normal.
It is valuable to me though.
People with schizophrenia (like me) have a long historical association with tobacco smoking. I'm not using this correlation as an excuse. It's just a fact.
Of all things that I perceive as harmful, cigarettes are the least offensive to me. Even though I know that it will bring me pain.
eimrine · 4h ago
Chatting on English forums instead of just using my mother language. Dvorak keyboard made this possible.
owebmaster · 1h ago
Intermittent fasting. The key to make it a habit was to learn that what we call hunger nowadays is not really hunger, is just space in the belly to eat more, it is fine to stay 5 days without eating and not feel weak.
That was a life changing moment for me. I started waking up so much more rested, and without immediate morning stress. I got up later than I used to set my alarm for, but much earlier than I used to actually get up. Alarms that interrupt deep morning sleep are so hard to deal with.
I set my alarm for the time I want to be up (in my case as early as possible) and always get up within one snooze.
The life-changing “trick” for me is to just go to bed when I’m tired (which varies day to day). This is in contrast to having a “bedtime.” Some nights I tuck in at 7PM and others I’m up to 10 to 11PM and still pop right up at 4:30AM every day (even weekends).
Morning me (that wakes up full of good intentions and motivation) sets up strategies for lazy afternoon me so lazy afternoon me can still be lazy but achieves the minor goals morning me see out to achieve.
The key is to wake up earlier, have a coffee, and just show up. Even if you don't feel like shipping, just write down your thoughts. Consistency keeps the habit going.
Do you understand and accept the risks of your habits?
I used to eat watching stuff. Eventually I recognized it as a bad thing. In my case, it distracted me from the food and whatever I was watching. I ultimately dropped this practice and I enjoy my meals way better.
You can see it as a destructive thing, right? Whether it applies to you or not, I wouldn't know.
When I said all habits are self-destructive, I meant that they are conditioning. It's a little part of you that now is in auto mode.
Of course that my example, cigarettes, is also bad for my health. However, the conditioning is mostly chemical (I think), related to nicotine. It was also a way of saying "yeah, I know smoke bad", and a way to make people think of other potential harmful habits (gossip, drugs, promiscuity, stalking, drinking, cheating, etc) and how these things can go hypocritical very fast.
It is valuable to me though.
People with schizophrenia (like me) have a long historical association with tobacco smoking. I'm not using this correlation as an excuse. It's just a fact.
Of all things that I perceive as harmful, cigarettes are the least offensive to me. Even though I know that it will bring me pain.