Killing Many Birds with One Stone

August 04, 2017

I just had this thought when I was out walking and avoiding screens and dringking water (I do this almost every day for a little bit).

You can get more done when you do more than one thing at once. What do I mean by that? I don’t mean mutltitasking. I mean adding on to autonomous activities.

What are autonomous activities? Walking, commute to work, brushing your teeth, sleeping, etc.

These are tasks that you can do without brain control (or minimal brain control).

Here’s some examples of combining them with new habits:

  • Listening to books on your commute
  • Listening to the audio bible while you walk
  • Do squats while you brush your teeth
  • Have your computer (or someone) do tasks while you sleep
  • Do Pushups while you wait for your coffee to brew

The first part is the new habit, which is tacked on to the second part. The second part you were going to do anyways. They are your keystone habits. You don’t have to think about or make time to do them. You just do them.

I think this is a powerful concept. Sometimes I think that I just don’t have enough time in the day to get things done. Combining habits like this will allow me to get more done with less time.