Intro to Week 1: Extreme Discipline

Week 1: (7/24-7/31) Introduction: beginning the happiness project, gradually starting to recover from my CapeTownian mayheim. Unlike for some others, happiness and well-being for me is a conscious choice, one that takes a lot of effort. I’ve found that I need a heavy amount of self-discipline and activity to feel good. I am not okay being a lazy slob. Organization soothes my mind and helps me feel somewhat peaceful. I’m gonna experiment with a restrictive/heavy discipline experiment. It’s not an everlasting guideline, just a first experimental effort to increase my happiness. For one week (7/24- 7/31), I am going to follow a very strict behavioral routine—one with a lot of planning and self-imposed structure to see if it brings me any happiness. **I am completely aware that this may seem a bit Nazi-ish, but it is merely an experiment. Rules: Health: • No sweets/desserts • No snacking (extra-meal eating) o No eating out of containers/fridge • 2 nalgenes of water each day • track calories 2 times that week • Exercise: • 10,000 steps each day • run 5x in the week • abs 3x in the week • One alternative exercise (kayaking, hiking) Weekly Activities: • No TV (unless with friends) • Read/journal before bed • Cook 1 Giada meal • FB—total 30 mins/day • No buzzfeed/thought catalog • No shopping • No buying snacks/coffee • No alcohol • Listen to audiobook/music as much as possible • Bike once • No tinder • No linkedin stalking • No FB stalking (only for communication purposes) • Check email less frequently • One nice thing per week (email, letter) • Re-connect in some way with an old friend (email, phone, skype) Daily activities • Go to bed before 12 each week day • Wake up before 7:30 each week day • Sleep in pajamas, brush teeth, wear retainer • Morning: brush teeth, wash face, put contacts in o 5 minutes of abs • Take meds first thing in the morning • Make bed/ clean up clothes off the ground • Mood tracking- 3 thoughts, 3 mood ratings, 1 picture • With no activities—actively schedule time o I.e. from x-x, I will do Y o Add all job activity (interviews, interesting companies, grad school ideas) to job document o Apply to 5 jobs • At some point before the next day (morning, night before)→ plan out rough outline of the daily plan