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The goal is conceptually simple – prioritizing physical and mental health, creating a flywheel of habits that will generate compounding benefits. In my experience, the main levers are nutrition, exercise, sleep, and writing/meditation. My physical and mental health aren’t perfect – I’m now sure that I was severely depressed for most of 2020, and while my mental health is much better now, I have spent a good amount of 2022 drinking with my college buddies and nursing a nasty nicotine addiction. I tell you this in earnest, reader, because I want to deliver a good-faith representation of my belief in my principles as well as how I am adhering to them. I improved my mental and physical health slowly but surely throughout 2021 by pulling the levers I mentioned above. Lifting weights, running, eating healthier food, and writing (journaling, penning my thoughts) with some consistency. It works. I clawed myself out of a bad rut. I wasn’t 100% consistent – I didn’t work out every day, I had cheat meals, and sometimes I’d go weeks without writing. I wasn’t even diligent about tracking my progress. But I did all of these things enough throughout the year that it made a substantial difference. I started socializing more – in a sense, I re-socialized myself. I made new, deeply meaningful friendships and created stronger bonds with my old friends. This fed back into improving my mental health – virtuous cycle. Right now, I’m in a much better place mentally. I started meditating for 20-30 minutes daily (intentional stillness, just sort of observing my flow of consciousness), and I already feel more mental clarity. I’m in decent shape physically, but for me an unfortunate side affect of my “improved socialization” was drinking like a fish and hitting disposable vapes like there was no tomorrow (don’t worry, I’m judging myself too). And now, as I am transplanted across the country to New York City and then again to San Francisco as the next chapter of my life begins (almost, it feels like, without my permission), I am finding it a little difficult to transition back into a mode of life where I can be dedicated and consistent about my health while working full time. I know the key is to fall back on the levers, to simplify as much as possible, and to be aggressively consistent. As such, I’ve created a barebones habit tracker in Excel to keep myself accountable over a series of three week blocks that will take me to the end of 2023. After each three week block, I’ll write a short self-evaluative update. The goal is to be rigorous about documenting my progress, so that I can build-as-I-go and augment/adapt as necessary.