30 habits that (quietly) transformed my life

I tested 30 habits that hardly anyone talks about. No 5am alarms, no cold plunges, just tiny habits that quietly transformed my life. The scary part, most people waste years ignoring them. Habit 1. Never go to zero. This is my hero habit. I found this random Reddit comment like three years ago, and I'm not even exaggerating when I say it probably saved my life. The idea is simple. No matter what happens, don't let a day go to zero. Zero pages read. Zero words written. Zero minutes working out. I avoid these zeros as if my life depended on it. On days when I feel like absolute garbage, I do the absolute bare minimum to avoid zero. Read 1 page. Write 1 sentence. Do one push-up. Here's why this work. It's not really about productivity. It's about identity. You can't be a writer if you never write. You can't be someone who cares about their health if you have too many zero movement days. You can't maintain friendships if you never reach out. Some days you get 1% instead of 100%. That's still infinitely better than zero, because the secret isn't doing things perfectly. It's just never completely giving up. Habit 2. The 2-minute thing. Okay, you probably know about the 2-minute rule, right? If something takes less than two minutes, just do it now. But I flipped it completely backwards. When I want to start a new habit, I literally only commit to doing it for two minutes. That's it. Want to start reading? Two minutes. Exercise? Two minutes. Learning Spanish? Two minutes. Now I know what you're probably thinking. Two minutes is nothing. That's not going to change anything. That's exactly the point. Your brain looks at, I'm going to read for an hour every day and goes, nah, we're good. But two minutes, your brain's like, fine. Whatever. I started with literally setting a timer for two minutes and reading one page of some random book about productivity. Five years later, I've read like a hundred books. The crazy part is, I spend less time thinking about this habit than I do choosing what to watch on Netflix. Habit three, screenshot. This one's going to sound super weird, but hear me out. I screenshot everything and I mean everything. Interesting article, screenshot. Random quote, I see screenshot. Weird thought I have at 2am, I literally texted to myself and screenshot that too. Then I share it with myself on WhatsApp because apparently I'm my own best friend now. My phone storage is basically a digital junk drawer at this point. My mom sees my camera roll and thinks I'm having some kind of breakdown. But here's the thing. All those random screenshots have turned into this weird external brain for me. You know how you have those moments where you're like, I read something about this somewhere, but I can't remember where. Yeah, that doesn't happen to me anymore. I've literally built entire videos from just scrolling through my screenshot collection and being like, oh yeah, this connects to this other random thing I saved three months ago. It's not about being organized. It's about not trusting your brain to remember good ideas when you need them. Habit for, get weirder. Most people try to completely reinvent themselves overnight. Like they wake up on first January and decide they're going to be a completely different person. I decided to just get like 1% weirder every day, not better, not more productive, weirder. I take a different route to the coffee shop order something I'd never tried before. Talk to the person in the elevator instead of staring at my phone like a normal human being. My co-workers thought I was going through some kind of midlife crisis. But after doing this for like a year, I realized something. I actually liked who I was becoming. The old me would never have started this YouTube channel. The old me was too worried about looking stupid. Turns out the opposite of where it isn't normal. It's boring. And boring people don't change their lives. The goal isn't to become some completely different person. It's just to expand what feels comfortable until being uncomfortable becomes That doesn't make sense, you know what I mean. Habit five, phone down. When I'm talking to someone my phone goes face down. I know revolutionary, right? But seriously, this tiny thing completely changed how people interact with me. They started saying I was a better listener. Started having these deeper conversations. My brain stopped looking for the next notification hit and started actually paying attention to the human in front of me. It's wild how much better relationships get when you give someone your actual attention instead of your leftover attention. This is that zero thing again. Zero attention to my phone means non-zero attention to the person I'm with. Habit six, two breaths. Before I check any notification, email, text, whatever. I take two deep breaths. That's it, two breaths. Sounds stupid, I know. But it creates this tiny little buffer between something happening and me reacting to it. Instead of immediately jumping into, oh crap, what now? Those two breaths let my actual thinking brain come online. I've sent way fewer regrettable text since I started doing this, which honestly was probably annoying my friends less so win-win. Who knew that slowing down for literally two seconds could make you respond faster and smarter? Habit seven. Water first. I drink water before any other drink. Want coffee? Water first? Want a coke? Water first. Started doing this because I was chronically dehydrated and kept getting headaches. But the weird side effect is that it makes me actually think about what I'm drinking. Half the time after I drink the water, I'm like, actually I don't even want the soda anymore. I accidentally lost like 10 pounds just from not mindlessly drinking liquid calories. Oh and if you have heart or kidney issues, probably check with your doctor before doing this. I'm not a medical professional, I just drink a lot of water. Even if I don't drink anything else all day, I never have zero water. Habit eight. And then what? This one saved me from so many terrible decisions. Whenever I'm about to do something or not do something, I ask and then what? At least three times. Want to skip the gym today and then what about tomorrow? And then what happens to my routine? And then what does this pattern look like in a month? Thinking about quitting my job without a backup plan? And then what happens to my rent? And then what about health insurance? And then what if it takes longer to find something than I think? Most people think one step ahead. This forces me to think like three or four steps ahead. The third and then what? Is usually where I realize the real cost of whatever I'm about to do. It's like having a really annoying friend who keeps poking holes in your bad ideas, except the friend is you. Habit nine. What if instead of why me? When something goes wrong and let's be honest, something always goes wrong. Instead of going, why does this always happen to me? I try to ask, what if this is exactly what I needed? Someone gives me harsh feedback? What if this is exactly the blind spot I needed to see? A proposal gets rejected? What if this is pushing me towards someone better? Look, I'm not saying everything happens for a reason or whatever. Sometimes life just sucks and there's no deeper meaning. But choosing to look for possibilities instead of just wallowing in the suck, that's been pretty helpful. Habit ten. Count to ten. When something really annoys me. Like genuinely makes me want to say something I'll regret. I count to ten before I respond. Sometimes I count really slowly. This has saved me from so many stupid arguments on Twitter. Which in honesty is probably like 90% of what it is for. Your emotional brain needs a hot second to chill out, so your thinking brain can remember that maybe, just maybe responding to that comment with a paragraph about why they're wrong? Isn't the best use of your day? Even when I'm triggered, I give myself non-zero time to think. Usually prevents me from looking like an idiot. Habit eleven. Future me check. Before I make decisions I ask, what would the person I want to become choose? Not who I am right now. Who I'm trying to become? I started this with big stuff. Like when I was deciding whether to start this channel, but now I use it for tiny daily things too. Future me is healthier, so I'll choose water over coke. Future me is more focused, so I'll close the multiple browser tabs I have opened. Every choice is basically a vote for who you want to be. Most people accidentally vote against their future self. Habit twelve. Energy check. Before I say yes to anything I ask myself, is this going to give me energy or drain it? Social event with people I don't really like? Energy drain. Working on a video I'm excited about? Energy boost. Favor for a friend who always asks but never reciprocates? Hmm. This isn't about being selfish. It's about being realistic about your limits so you can actually show up for the stuff that matters. I'd rather do three things really well than ten things while feeling like garbage. Habit thirteen. Ask curious questions. In every conversation I try to ask one question I'm genuinely curious about. Not networking questions. Not small talk. Something I actually want to know. My cousin does this naturally and I always wondered why talking to him was so interesting. Then I realized he's not trying to be interesting. He's just really interested in other people. Turns out when you're genuinely curious about someone they reciprocate. Habit fourteen. One real compliment. Every day I give one genuine compliment. Not fake networking stuff. Not nice weather comments. Something real that I actually notice. This rewired my brain to look for good things instead of defaulting to criticism all the time. There is a side effect though. I apparently compliment people even when they're not around now. Which my friends find weird but whatever. Habit fifteen. Say their name. I use someone's name once in every conversation. Not in a weird salesy way. Just naturally. People like hearing their name. Makes them feel like you actually see them as a human instead of just background noise. Even in quick interactions saying someone's name once makes it feel more personal. Habit sixteen. Check your assumptions. I've gotten in the habit of actually asking people what they're thinking instead of just assuming I know. How are you actually doing? What's on your mind lately? Is there anything I should know? Most relationship problems aren't actually about what happened. They're about the stories we made up about what the other person was thinking. Even when things seem fine, one check in question can prevent bigger problems. Unless you are married and did something wrong, hum. Habit seventeen. Small trust deposits. Every day I try to do one small thing that builds trust with someone. Things like showing up when I say I will. Following through on tiny promises. Remembering something they mentioned last time. Trust gets built in drops and lost in buckets. Most people focus on the big gestures but ignore the little daily deposits. These tiny investments have opened doors I didn't even know existed. Habit eighteen. New goal, new money bucket. Every time I set a goal I open a separate investment account for it. Want a new car? Car fund? Want to travel more? Travel fund. Want to start a business? Business fund. Having to put actual money towards something makes it feel real instead of just wishful thinking. If I'm not willing to invest money in a goal, I'm probably not that serious about it. Habit nineteen. Make checklists. If I do something more than twice I make a simple checklist for it. Packing for trips, morning routine, video editing process. Just bullet points in my phone. Nothing fancy. Prevents me from forgetting steps and having to think through the same process over and over. My brain can focus on the creative stuff instead of trying to remember the mechanical stuff. Surgeons use checklists, pilots use checklists. I'm not too proud for checklists. Habit twenty. Think systems, not goals. Instead of setting goals, I build systems. Want to lose weight? Build a system for eating better. Want to be more productive? Build a system for managing energy. Goals are about what you want. Systems are about the process that gets you there. You don't rise to your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Systems work even on days when you don't feel like it. Goals require constant motivation, which let's be honest, is exhausting. Habit twenty one. Ship small things. Instead of trying to make everything perfect, I focus on making the smallest thing that's still useful. One tip, one insight, one quick video. While other people spend months perfecting their masterpiece, I ship fifty okay things. Habit twenty two, one thing at a time. I decided to rebel against multitasking. One conversation without checking my phone. One meal without watching something. One walk without a podcast. Multitasking is fake. Your brain doesn't actually multitask. It just switches back and forth really fast, which is exhausting. Doing one thing at a time isn't slower. It's deeper. And depth is where the good stuff happens. Habit twenty three. What else does this apply to? When I learned something, I asked, what else does this apply to? Learn about psychology? That applies to marketing, relationships, parenting? Learn about writing? That improves thinking, communication, clarity? Most people learn random facts that don't connect to anything. I try to learn frameworks that explain everything. One principle that works in 10 areas beats 10 tips that only work in one area. Habit twenty four, input output balance. For every hour I spend consuming content, I spend at least 10 minutes creating something with it. Reading, write about it, watching, make something. After 22 years of formal education, I realized that learning without doing is just entertainment. Most people are input junkies. They consume endless content, but never create anything with it. Habit twenty five, conscious breathing. I do this at least three times a day. Inhale for four, hold for seven, exhale for eight. I do this when I wake up. Then when my energy crashes in the afternoon. And finally, before bed, I also do it at times when I'm anxious about something. One cycle takes like 20 seconds, but completely changes how I feel. Best part? Nobody knows I'm doing it. It's like my instant calm button that works anywhere. Habit twenty six, micro breaks. Between big tasks, I take a two-minute break, walk around, stretch. Look out the window, just not work for a hundred and twenty seconds. Most people go full speed until they crash. I take tiny breaks to prevent the crash. Even when I'm swamped, I give myself non-zero reset time. Habit twenty seven, negative loops breaker. When I get stuck in negative thinking, I do this. Name five things I can see. Move to three different spots. Do one focused activity for three minutes. It's not about stopping negative thoughts. It's about giving my brain something else to do. Your mind is like water. It needs to flow somewhere. Give it a better direction. Habit twenty eight, analog hour. One hour every day, no screens. Reading actual books, writing with a pen, walking without podcasts. This taught me something kind of depressing. I'd forgotten how to be bored. Habit twenty nine, sit with boredom. When I feel bored, instead of immediately grabbing my phone, I sit with it for two minutes. Just be bored. Boredom is where ideas come from. But we've optimized it away with infinite scrolling. Some of my best insights happen when I'm just staring at the wall thinking. Boredom isn't the enemy. It's information. Habit thirty, daily affirmations. Every morning, I say my affirmations like they're the most important thing I'll do all day. Not fake, I'm amazing at everything stuff. Real things I want to become. Things like I'm someone who creates value. And I'm someone who follows through. This rewired my internal voice from critic to cheerleader. Most of us are our own worst enemies. This habit makes me my own best friend. Remember, your future self is built by today's micro habits. Choose wisely. Choose to never go to zero.