The Plaid Mentat

What are my good habits?

After my last post, I started thinking about what my good habits were. I could also write about my bad habits, but I find that bad habits are harder to think about because they can tend to be more subconscious. Also, I want to like writing, so I think I’ll write about my good habits instead.

Below, I’ve compiled some of what I think of as good habits. These are changes that I’ve made in my life that I hope have a net gain. How do I judge this? Well… …It’s completely subjective. It’s whether I think it’s a net gain, and that’s what matters to me right now. Feel free to disagree in the comments.

Bussing to/from Work

  • Primary positive change: Avoid parking at work (I have to pay for parking).
  • Other positive changes:
    • Save on gas and car maintenance.
    • Read/Write on the bus.
    • Increased daily physical activity (I have to walk to/from the bus stop at both ends).
  • Negative changes:
    • Less free time (it takes longer to bus than it does to drive).
    • Eating out more (because I have less free time, I don’t want to use it cooking).
    • Stay later at work more often (since the bus is on a fixed schedule, it’s easy for me to miss a time, then resolve to keep working until I can catch the next… …Sometimes this happens more than once. This also leads to less free time).

Overall, I think it’s a net win even though the reduction in free time compounds upon itself quite a bit.

Taking an evening walk

  • Primary positive change: Stay in shape by maintaining a modicum of daily exercise.
  • Other positive changes:
    • With the bus ride and the daily evening walk, it’s easy to get 10,000 steps/day or 30 minutes of exercise in. This nets me $25/month from my insurance with the University.
    • It helps me unwind after a long day.
    • I get to spend time with my wife, usually we talk a bit during these walks.
  • Negative changes:
    • I have less free time – I typically carve out an hour for these walks.

I really enjoy walking, and I find that it’s typically a very good trade for my free time.

Weekly Game Day with Jessa

  • Primary positive change: Spend more time with my wife. Since I’m out of the house most of the day, I like to spend some quality time with Jessa when I can.
  • Other positive changes:
    • Play games more often – I like games, but I don’t make time for games unless I am being social. When I have a weekly game day, I get to make the excuse of not only playing them but doing so competently.
    • Set aside time to relax – this isn’t something I get to do a lot, so actually reserving time to relax is something I value.

I don’t have a negative here – spending time with my wife doing something (I hope) we both enjoy is totally worth it.

Weekly Game Day with Ian

  • Primary positive change: Spend time with people. If I don’t make an effort to do this, I very quickly become something of a hermit. This gets me out of the house, and even meeting some new people.
  • Other Positive Changes:
    • Play games more often – Whoa, two game days a week! This is probably the most planned game time that I’ve had since about half-way through my undergraduate.
    • Standing gaming agenda – We’ve been playing Warmachine/Hordes and (more exciting) the Lord of the Rings LCG.  The fact that this is a regularly scheduled game where we are playing the same game every week is pretty awesome for me.
    • Weekly hike – not only do we play games, but we also almost always take a hike.  More walking, more exercise, and I feel good about it.
  • Negative Changes:
    • Less time on the weekend – A full day on Sunday out and about gives me less time to recharge.  If something comes up on Saturday, this can make for some long stretches without a rest.

This has been pretty great, and a good use of my weekend slice (so long as I don’t have anything on Saturday).

Monthly Game Day at My House

  • Primary Positive Change: More social gaming – Mind.  Blown.  I actually get a fair amount of gaming in.
  • Other Positive Changes:
    • Host friends at my house – I like to have friends over and play games, I like to feed my friends junk food and soda, and for the introvert in me, this is much better than going out.

Ok, so maybe I’ve drifted away from what I was really talking about, but when I started thinking about positive changes in my life that I’ve attempted to make regular occurrences, these were on the top of my mind.  They’re all good, so I think the bill fits.