Remember Joanna Jast and all those tips she gave you on how to improve focus and concentration while you work on memory improvement?
Good news.
Joanna's back with a new book called Hack Your Habits and in this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, we've got her here to talk about it.
As always, I've got the interview transcript for you below and would love to hear your comments and questions in the discussion area below. Enjoy!
Why You Don't Have To Have It All Mapped Out To Get A Handle On Your Habits
Anthony: You go into your personal story in the introduction. Why do you think you faced so many challenges and what was the turning point?
Joanna Jast: It's interesting you're asking me this question. I actually thought about it the other day on my way to work. And – I don't really have the answer. I suppose it's the combination of many factors: my temperament – which is like emotional and behavioural building blocks for personality and to large extend is hardwired, inborn, so my temperament, my upbringing, the environment I grew up in, the challenges I faced in life and the solutions to those challenges I chose to follow etc.
I haven't got it all 'mapped out', but I think the key reasons why I've faced so many difficulties is my low threshold for boredom, poor ability to delay gratification, my self-compassion, which drives many of my willpower failures with: 'But you deserve it, Joanna… you've had such a bad day'.
The turning points? There have been quite a few. But if I was to choose the key turning points that led me to create my own system for building better habits, it would be the following three:
The first one the day when my study routine was born. It was actually accidental – I wrote about it in my book Laser-Sharp Focus. It was the moment when I decided to stop trying to study in the evening, sitting on the sofa or on the bed and start doing it in the morning, at my desk.
To cut a long story short, I suddenly realised not only how much more productive and effective my study sessions became, but also how much happier I became – with better grades, more energy and time to do other things in life.
Now, 20 years later, looking back at what happened, I realise that back then I created a study routine, which over the years became my productivity and now writing routine that has transformed my life. My study routine happened to be one on those keystone habits – habits that create a ripple effect throughout our life, creating space and energy for more healthy habits to emerge and grow stronger, ultimately transforming our lives.
How The Secrets Of Behavioral Economics Can Improve Your Life
The second turning point was the day when I heard about Behavioural Economics for the first time. It was during a lecture on marketing. I went home, did more research, read books, articles, did a course and… fall in love with the approach. I thought this could be something that would work for me. So I started experimenting with various behavioural economics strategies. Initially, I applied them to sort out my finances – so paid off my debts and started saving money. Then, I started experimenting with my exercise routine and eating habits.
And the third pivotal point was, when I refined my exercise routine, my running routine to incorporate all the lessons I'd learnt about human nature and my own difficulties in forming habits, and particularly – my previous failures in establishing a reliable exercise routine. I used many of the behavioural economics strategies I'd learn about when doing it. And now I've got a ru
Published on 9 years ago
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