Habits are funny. Does your mind wander a lot? Mine does. Especially when I brush my teeth where I recently had an epiphany.
I sometimes scroll aimlessly on my phone or walk around the room.
Those two minutes seem
to either fly by or go at a snail’s pace. How do I know it’s two minutes? My electric (battery-powered) toothbrush tells me.
Running in four 30-second segments, the toothbrush vibrates when it’s time to move on to another section of teeth.
Why is this important? I had a thought when my mind was wandering while brushing my teeth the other morning.
What if I could utilize this time more effectively, but without impacting the quality of the brushing?
Related: Check out this great author on the topic of habits – James Clear.
Brainstorm
I, assumingly like most people, brush my teeth twice a day – once in the morning and once in the evening.
There might be a third time in there some days, but that’s the general schedule.
That comes to:
- 4 minutes a day (2 minutes x 2 brushing sessions)
- 28 minutes a week (4 minutes x 7 days)
- 1,456 minutes a year (28 minutes x 52 weeks)
Let’s just call it roughly 24 hours, or one day a year, that we spend brushing our teeth.
One day a year doesn’t seem to matter a lot in the grand scheme of things. Or does it?
My “Ah-Ha” Toothbrush Moment
I realized that a small allotment of time over a series of sessions, spanning across multiple days, is meaningful.
3 New Habits
Despite my not performing all of these during toothbrush time, I’ve started to slowly incorporate these into my daily routine.
If I don’t do them every day, that’s okay; I just try to keep moving.
The goal is to build a positive habit and strive for consistency.
Related: Post-March Madness: 5 (Plus) Ways To Find Balance
Habit #1) Toothbrush Standing Quad Stretch
I could utilize other stretches, but this one keeps me standing upright.
More importantly, I can still brush my teeth effectively.
I do one leg for 30 seconds and then alternate to the other leg.
Repeat on each side, so a total of two 30-second stretches per leg.
I also engage my core by “pulling my belly-button into my spine” which helps deepen the stretch (and improve posture!).
While I do other stretching throughout the day, this one is really hard for me to NOT do. No excuse.
Total Time = 2 minutes per session
Habit #2) Getting Out of Bed to Get Sh*T Done (GSD)
If I have a purpose or need to be somewhere, I move quickly.
If my first work meeting is later in the morning and work emails are pretty slow, I’m not moving.
I want to change this one and it’s an easy fix: make a schedule and/or create a meaningful objective.
Overall, I dislike fixed meetings and rigid templates. Though structure can help maintain discipline, I find it can be ineffective and unmotivating.
I’d rather have a deadline or set of tasks I need to complete and get them done on my own time and terms.
However, the crucial step is already identifying that overall objective and then, subsequently, having a plan to make it happen.
Although there is still nothing wrong with lounging in bed on random days!
Total Time (on most days) = 5 minutes per session
Habit #3) Ten Pull-Ups
My girlfriend recently got a pull-up bar, which is now hanging in the closet doorframe.
In between work meetings and calls, I’ll do random reps and sets throughout the day.
Without a plan, I’m not being very effective, so I started doing ten reps right when I wake up.
I’ll still do others throughout the day, but there is no magic number.
I do this to work on a serious problem within my fitness routine: I hate pull-ups.
Total Time = 1 minute per session
Related: Orangetheory Fitness: How to Win (Your Personal) Dri-Tri
Making it Count
We spend so much time in our lives doing meaningless things; I’m extremely guilty.
That’s okay; we all need to unwind and relax and find a balance – just don’t make “doing nothing” your norm.
Start building small changes today; they’ll start to pay balanced dividends over time.
It almost takes nothing to get started; you just need to take the first action and keep at it – like brushing your teeth.
It might not yield the perfect or best results, but it’s better than you were before.
Hopefully, you’ll reduce the likelihood of cavities making your teeth rot out.
Just start brushing. Then you can worry about how to get better and make yourself more effective.
Readers, what are trying to improve? What habits have you found helpful?
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When I read the headline I honestly didn’t get the connection, but, after reading the full article the light clicked on. Many ways to say it but this one is indeed unique. Given the times we live in, easy to forget how to allocate time for self (and others) improvement. Thanks for some brain material to consider.