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The simple secrets to happiness. Turns out a better life rests on habits.
Maclean's ^ | February 27, 2015 | Aaron Hutchins

Posted on 03/03/2015 9:19:20 AM PST by rickmichaels

After every trip to the bathroom when he’s at home or in a hotel room, BJ Fogg will get down on the ground and do two push-ups. Then he’ll wash his hands. It sounds kind of weird, if you stop to think about it, but Fogg doesn’t think about it anymore. It’s a habit he has worked to develop over the past two years to help get in shape. Now, the push-ups come automatically and he gets a surge of energy each time. Often he doesn’t stop at two. On some trips, he might do 10 or 25. “I probably did 50 or 60 push-ups yesterday,” he says.

Fogg is perfectly placed to train himself into a healthy habit. He is an expert on the subject, having studied human behaviour for 20 years, mostly at Stanford University, where he’s the director of the Persuasive Technology Lab. From his research, he’s learned that the best way to automate a new habit is to set the bar incredibly low. Ergo, just two pushups. “You pick something so small, it’s easy to do. Motivation isn’t required to do it,” he says. Even though he’s become much stronger, he says, he’ll never raise the minimum. The goal remains two push-ups, and anything more is a bonus. “If you want to maintain the habit, you will always be okay with just doing the tiny version of it,” he says.

(Excerpt) Read more at macleans.ca ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 03/03/2015 9:19:20 AM PST by rickmichaels
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To: rickmichaels

Bookmark


2 posted on 03/03/2015 9:29:42 AM PST by thesearethetimes... (Had I brought Christ with me, the outcome would have been different. Dr.Eric Cunningham)
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To: rickmichaels

Bookmark for later.


3 posted on 03/03/2015 9:32:20 AM PST by wally_bert (There are no winners in a game of losers. I'm Tommy Joyce, welcome to the Oriental Lounge.)
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To: rickmichaels

Good idea...


4 posted on 03/03/2015 9:32:21 AM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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To: rickmichaels
Yea I am doing push ups at 2am in a hotel $hitter.
5 posted on 03/03/2015 9:35:26 AM PST by mad_as_he$$
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To: rickmichaels
Habits? OK....habits like getting up at 06:30...showering...brushing teeth...going to work...coming home...mowing the lawn...not beating the wife or kids...not doing drugs....

Yah,that could work.

6 posted on 03/03/2015 9:36:27 AM PST by Gay State Conservative (Obama;A Low Grade Intellect With Even Lower Morals)
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To: rickmichaels
The simple secrets to happiness

Turns out a better life rests on habits

David Hume would agree with that. He believed that what we want is determined by our desire to live according to rational principles or to recognize the dictates of necessity and act accordingly. And habit, which is a frame of mind that associates certain effects with certain causes or actions teaches us this.

7 posted on 03/03/2015 9:37:41 AM PST by mjp ((pro-{God, reality, reason, egoism, individualism, natural rights, limited government, capitalism}))
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To: mad_as_he$$
Yea I am doing push ups at 2am in a hotel $hitter.

I had more than my fill of push ups at Fort Knox oh-so-many years ago.I've never done another one since.I exercise...but no push ups.

8 posted on 03/03/2015 9:38:54 AM PST by Gay State Conservative (Obama;A Low Grade Intellect With Even Lower Morals)
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To: rickmichaels

great stuff


9 posted on 03/03/2015 9:51:43 AM PST by Diago
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To: Gay State Conservative

So he does two pushups after he does #2? Does he do a one handed pushup after #1?

He must not drink beer. After five or six, gets tough to get up off the floor (whether you got there on purpose or otherwise).


10 posted on 03/03/2015 9:52:53 AM PST by FirstFlaBn
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To: FirstFlaBn

Push ups like “mobile planking”...good for shoulders...sciatic......cardio....


11 posted on 03/03/2015 10:00:58 AM PST by therapsida (i)
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To: rickmichaels

12 posted on 03/03/2015 10:31:24 AM PST by Organic Panic
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