Our mission is to break routine.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
> - Aristotle in *Nicomachean Ethics*
The detrimental things we do routinely.
I formed my TV habit when I was young. One of my earliest childhood memories was sitting down with my family for an afternoon to binge on television. In that house there was the one TV, whereas today I'd guess we have 5; nope, after a physical count it's 8. That number doesn't include the iPad, iPod, and iPhone each capable of streaming the same content. And let's talk content; alongside this increase in viewer accessibility, providers are producing more high quality series. Some of my favorite closed-series include House, The Office, and Psych. Each of the three are an average 8+ seasons of 150+ episodes and at an average of 42 minutes per episode total 18,900 hours of entertainment. In a single 24 hour day I don't know the total number of hours I spend passively consuming multimedia, but it feels excessive. And while it's entertainment that's relatively harmless, the effect is similar to excessive consumption of junk food; detrimental to my health and well being. To counter act these external forces conspiring against my better judgment, I'd like a tool that offers me control of habits I form or let atrophy.
Learn to breathe and everything will follow.
Leo Babauta, author of the blog Zen Habits, shares patterns that have helped him simplify his life. In his own life he was able to find happiness while raising 6 kids, quitting smoking, and running marathons. The majority of his posts discuss how to develop sustainable change within yourself and improve your well being. He highlights the importance of restructuring a seemingly impossible challenge into smaller collection of manageable activities that are enjoyable. He advocates daily training sessions to avoid procrastination and using a 3 day interval to reflect on what does and doesn't work. He celebrates just doing the habit in whatever way possible. He reminds you to forgive yourself when you fail, that you're human, and that you have the opportunity to begin again.