1289: [Part 1] A Helpful Guide To Lifestyle Experiments by Anthony Ongaro of Break The Twitch on Self Development

This is Optimal Living Daily, Episode 1289, a helpful guide to Lifestyle Experiments, Part 1 by Anthony Engaro of Break2Twitch.com, and I'm Justin Mollick. Happy Saturday and welcome to one of the only podcasts in the world where articles and vlogs are read to you for free with permission from the authors and award-winning podcasts thanks to you. I have a bit of a longer one for you today, I'm breaking this article into two, the second half will be read for you tomorrow. We're getting near the end of the month, so make sure you're on my weekly newsletter mailing list for giveaways, monthly challenges, life tips, quotes, and more, you can find that at oldpodcast.com.

For now, let's get right to it and start optimizing your life. A helpful guide to Lifestyle Experiments, Part 1 by Anthony Engaro of Break2Twitch.com. Feeling stuck can be the absolute worst. You know you're really not happy with your current circumstance, but also might not know where to start to get unstuck.

With millions of solutions out there, there's no shortage of offerings for things to buy, diets to try, and quick-fix answers to your problems. Most often, the answer requires nothing but a little bit of science, lifestyle experiments, to be exact. Over the last few years, I've tested dozens of lifestyle experiments to see how the change would influence my and Amy's life. In fact, you could call our rounds of decluttering and downsizing as several lifestyle experiments, ones that led to the eventual launch of this website, and massively positive life changes over the following years.

So sound interesting? Let's get into it. A lifestyle experiment is just like a science experiment, but instead of science, you're experimenting with changing your lifestyle to see how it may improve or worsen your circumstances. Once a conclusion is reached, you can choose whether to continue that lifestyle change.

Lifestyle is a way a person or a group lives. Experiment is a scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery, test hypothesis, or demonstrate unknown fact. In this post, I'll walk you through everything you need to know to successfully execute a lifestyle experiment and share some ideas of experiments to try. At the very end, I'll share some of my most successful lifestyle experiments that I've tried over the last few years.

Types of lifestyle experiments Although there are infinite lifestyle experiments to try, they tend to fall into one or just a few categories. To quickly explain and demonstrate each type, I'll use drinking coffee as an example. A single lifestyle experiment drinking coffee might be any of these. 1.

Add. Start drinking coffee. 2. Remove.

Stop drinking coffee. Drink tea instead of coffee. 4. Create.

Only drink coffee that you brew yourself. Or 5. Track. Record how many times per week you drink coffee.

It's pretty straightforward, right? General guidelines for lifestyle experiments. 1. Timeline.

When designing your lifestyle experiment, you'll want to choose a set period of time to perform the experiment, at the end of which, you'll make a decision based on the result. The timeline should be short enough that you can complete the experiment, but long enough that you'll be able to fully experience any long-term results from it. I highly recommend a minimum of 21 days and a maximum of 90 days. Don't try to swing for the fences, especially if this is your first time trying lifestyle experiments.

You can always extend the timeline longer than you like, but it's not helpful to cut it short, unless the results are really negative and you need to stop. With that in mind, do not push yourself beyond what you're comfortable with. If something isn't working for you, stop and try something else. 2.

Difficulty. This might take some trial and error to get just right, but you want your experiment to be anywhere from easy to only slightly challenging. For example, if you barely exercise at all right now, your experiment should not be do 45 minutes of cardio seven days per week for 90 days. Keep it simple enough, they can stick to the experiment and really see the potential results at the end of it.

It's more and more to complete the experiment than it is to try to revamp your life in the set time. The idea is to continually make small changes, test new ideas for set periods of time, and let those changes compile as you grow. None of this is instant, so when starting out, make it easy. 3.

Trackable. If the experiment isn't easily trackable, you don't have much of an experiment. Whether in a notepad or your favorite smartphone app, you need to track your progress and record your findings along the way. Armed with that information, you'll be ready to make a better decision when the time comes.

Results may come quickly, or not at all, and that's okay. As my seventh grade science teacher Mr. Bradley taught me, even nothing is something. Especially when removing something like a recurring expense, you may find that you feel no different, but end up saving the money you would have spent.

That kind of nothing is certainly something in my book. 4. Isolation. While it doesn't have to be anywhere near perfect, I wouldn't recommend trying five different lifestyle experiments all at once.

Isolate your results by choosing one at a time and see what results come. Trying to make things that once will not only exhaust you, but lead to confusing results at the end. For example, was it drinking more water every day that made me feel better, or drinking less coffee? Just like a good science experiment, if you have too many variables, you'll never know what actually caused the positive change.

Lifestyle experiment ideas. Now that you have your lifestyle experiment pro tips, it's time to start designing your own. As you consider what lifestyle experiments to try, make sure you're prioritizing safety first, and do some research on any potential side effects before beginning your experiment. And there's a list of 20 lifestyle experiments to get you started in this post.

Tips to stick with it. Hear that in tomorrow's episode. You just listened to part one of the post titled A Helpful Guide to Lifestyle Experiments by Anthony Engero of Break2Twitch.com. This episode is brought to you by Samsung Canada.

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It's just $199. And head to superpower.com and use code old at checkout for an additional $20 off your membership. Check out Anthony's post to see that list of 20 ideas. Really great ideas there.

I didn't want to read them all too. You could probably forget and they're written down for you on his post. So you can find that at oldpodcast.com, the link to his post. And while you're there, you can sign up for our weekly newsletter where you'll be part of our everyday challenges if you want to.

Next month is random acts of kindness. Really excited about that one. So to participate for free, just be on my weekly newsletter mailing list at oldpodcast.com. Thank you for being here and listening every day, including the weekends.

I'll be back tomorrow to finish up this post where you're optimal life. Oh, wait.