One Habit Every Semester

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” - Will Durant [1]

Starting in 2018, I thought it would be a good idea to leverage the semester system at Waterloo—where we alternate between school and an internship every 4 months—where I’d focus on implementing one habit a semester. On average, it takes more than 2 months before a new behavior becomes automatic [2], thus 4 months should be plenty of time. And once I implement it now, it becomes a habit that stays with me forever.

Overall, this has been an incredible practice. I’ve done this the past few terms to great success.

For Winter 2020, I’m writing everyday, and so far it’s been awesome. Hopefully it’s a habit that I can keep up for a long time.

Notes

[1] This quote is commonly misattributed to Aristotle.

[2] How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world

March 5, 2020 · Habits


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