
Somewhere around the beginning of February, I've found my old Mi Band 2 fitness tracker. I've stopped using it because the bracelet broke, I've ordered a new one on Ebay, but it never came, so I threw the Mi Band in a drawer and forgot about it.

But then I found it, decided to buy a new bracelet for it, realized that Xiaomi already released Mi Band 5 (and there is Mi Band 6 already) which is very cheap so I decided to get it. The reason I wanted a fitness tracker was mainly for tracking my sleep and use it as a discreet alarm that won't wake up my wife. So I got it, started to wear it and play with it and then asked my self "What if I'll try to do 10K steps a day?".

## Why 10K a day?

There is no particular reason why you should aim to do 10K, but from the research I did, the number 10,000 mainly became popular  in 1965 because a Japanese company released a device named "Manpo-Kei" which literally translates as "10,000 step meter" (Source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedometer#History)) and the man (Y.Hatano) behind it claimed that "10,000 steps a day is ideal".

There are many articles on the internet as to why 10K steps a day is healthy, however no major health organization actually says that 10K steps a day is ideal (at least I could not find any reference to it) and their recommendation is based on activity intensity and time (i.e. at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week - source [WHO](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity)).

No pedometer is accurate, but according to my average, 10K steps is somewhere around 7.5 km (approx 4.6 miles) and amounts a total of approximately 1 hours at 30 minutes of walking.

## How to reach 10k steps a day?

"*Jeez, 7.5km and 1.5 hours a day - **is a lot**!*" - you might say. And yes, it is. And chances are that you are like me - stuck for the past year at home, both living and working from it, then you probably do around 2k-3k steps a day. I know I did when I got Mi Band 5 and started to count my steps.

I remember when the first lock down became less strict and we were allowed to travel up to 1km from home (as opposed to 100m), I remember that walking or even climbing 2-3 stairs (not 2-3 **flights** of stairs, but 2-3 stairs!) was exhausting!

So armed with the knowledge that 10K steps is better than nothing, I've started slowly to build my habit towards 10K steps a day. At first I did 5k for a week, then 6k, then 7k, then 9k when eventually I was able to reach 10k.

If you are just starting, I suggest you do the same. Don't start with 10K, start smaller and be consistent. Remember - its better to do less but consistently, than to aim for more but not doing it at all.

I never really reached 10k consistently. Some days I do 5k, some days 20k. My best streak was 5 days in a row. But on some days I ride my bicycle for 1 hour, and some days I punch the boxing bag for 1 hour. I don't see a point in doing 10k steps on those days - as my primary objective in doing 10k steps was to **stay active** every day, and on days I'm already active because I either cycle or box, I don't need to reach my 10k steps a day.

However by doing 10k steps a day, I've found some interesting benefits I want to share with you and maybe motivate you to **try** to reach 10k steps a day.

## Benefits of doing 10k steps a day

### Its easy to start

There are two modes to the human body - active and resting. Resting is when you sit in your chair or lay on your sofa. Active is when you move. And when you move, your heart rate goes up, blood is circulating your body, your legs and arms are moving, muscles are working to keep you standing and in balance.

Leading a resting/sedentary lifestyle can lead to, you guessed right - heart disease, back problems, cancer and premature death. And if you know me and read my previous posts, I'm all about becoming super healthy, super human and living as much pain free and long life as I can.

But the problem is that getting into any sport - requires financial investment and developing a mental love to it. Even simple things like running - requires you at least get comfortable running shoes, and I won't talk about other sports like gym - which requires membership or equipment if you want to work out from home; cycling - which requires a bicycle - obviously; boxing, rowing, skiing - which all require equipment / membership and the latter also depends on weather. More over, sport is an individual thing. I hate running. I tried, multiple times. I hate it. Some people swear by it, I suffer when I run. And I don't like to suffer, so I don't run.

However walking is something native to us. We walk all the time - whether its from the chair to the fridge, from our houses to a bus stop, in a super market, or just by the beach. Walking is natural to human beings. It requires zero equipment (you can even walk barefoot - some people claim its better, I prefer shoes though) and its practically impossible to hate it - as its the basic form of moving as opposed to sitting.

### Its great for multi tasking

When you run or cycle, row or lift weights - you are most likely trying to reach a goal be it distance, number of repetitions, weight of each repetition or speed - but you try to push your body to its limits. And when you push your body to its limits, it hard to do other tasks such as catching up with family or friends. Try to run and have a phone call with your friend or do bench press and catch up with your family.

Walking on the other hand does not raise your heart rate too much (unless you are doing fast walking) which enables you to do other tasks. When I walk I tend to use this time to: catch with family or friends, listen to audio-book or podcast, listen to music, or clean my mind and explore, which brings me to the next 2 points.

### It's good for cleaning up your mind

Whether you've had an argument with your SO, can't figure out a solution to hard problem or your mind is just occupied with thoughts, its always a good decision to take a walk.

By walking, you are not worried about speed or distance, repetitions or weight, you just move - leaving your mind free to focus on other things. When I'm worried or have troubles concentrating, I'm going for a walk. It helps me clean my mind, get rid of my worries. There is even a walking meditation if you'd like to try it (I haven't). I usually feel way better in terms of concentration or worries - when I come back from a walk.

### It brings the explorer in you and teach you to appreciate whats around you

Human beings are explorers. Before creating a settlement, we used to wander in searches for the best place to settle. Close to water source, away from predators, uphill for easier defense. By walking daily - you feed the explorer in you.

You might have moved to a new neighborhood or live in the same one for the majority of your life - but how much of it you really know? Can you navigate your way home from any point in your neighborhood without a GPS? Do you know to tell me where I can find a good park or a nice bakery in your neighborhood, without checking Google Maps? I've learned to appreciate this exploration, I found some nice restaurants, great parks that are few minutes of walk away from my home and it comes really helpful now, when my wife and I are looking to move to a different apartment. Before I've used to walk and explore my neighborhood or the ones close to it, I wouldn't know who lives in each neighborhood. Is it a good neighborhood? Is this green spot on Google Maps a park or just some grass with benches? But after exploring my neighborhood and the ones close to it, I know to say where good parks are located. What type of people live in each neighborhood. Whether its a noisy one because its located near a central street or a school or a quiet one because its full of small houses rather than tall buildings.

It also helped me to learn to appreciate things. When you walk, your mind is free to look around, judge the architecture, explore parks, smell the smell of fresh bread or coffee. The internet is full of negative stuff, and by taking a walk I balance the negativity with positive appreciation. There was one day when I was walking and a light rain started, but instead of panicking and hiding I've just embraced it and walked under the rain, smiling.

### It gives you perspective on distance

Before I started to aim to do 10k steps a day, I'd look at directions to my doctors appointment, restaurant or a shop, in Google Maps and judge its distance. 30 minutes of walk, to me back then, considered too long. I would opt for a bus ride or a taxi in that way, even if it took the same 30 minutes. My mind just wasn't grasping 3-4km of walking as something bearable or worth doing. But after I've walked 10k steps for some time now and realized that it takes around 1.5 to 2 hours and amounts to around 7-8km - I look at directions differently.

The other day, I was invited to a gathering activity with my work colleagues. The walk was 45 minutes and 3.5km from the place I live. 5-6 months ago I would have never took that walk, if you'd asked me to. For me at that time, 45 minutes of walking is too much. Today I realize that walking back and forth is not even 10k steps. And by aiming to do 10k steps a day, I decided to take that walk. And was engaged in other activities such as catching up with family, listening to an audio book, exploring new locations and appreciating the beautiful world we live in.

## How to start?

I want to finish with some tips on how you can start building your habit of walking 10k steps a day. Remember 2 important principles:

#### 1. You don't need any fancy equipment

Walking is easy. You need regular cloth and shoes. You don't need trainers or special equipment. You don't even need a fitness tracker (however it did help **me** to kick start this habit) - your regular smartphone probably have a builtin pedometer in it. Just take your smartphone, a pair of headphones and a nice audio-book or podcast - and go for a walk. You can even skip the headphones and the audio book and just walk - looking around, wandering, taking turns you never would have took. Just make sure your GPS works, so you won't get lost in your first explorations of the neighborhood.

I tend to split my walks to two segments: one in the day and on in the evening. By taking a daily walk you also expose yourself to the sun which is important in order to get vitamin D, and since its hard to carve 1.5 hours of free time during a working day, I tend to do my longer walk at the evening, when I'm done with work. It also helps me do a mental shift between work and home. I spend most of my time in front of my computer, and sometimes its hard to do a mental shift between work and hobbies since I literally stay at the same place when my work day is over. Some people like to dress up to work even when WFH, and then when they finish work, they switch to their home cloth to signal their brain of a mental shift from work to home mode. I find it too much of a hassle, however taking a walk does the trick for me. If you have a dog, take it with you - it does good to dogs as well.

I also suggest you start small. Identify how much you are doing right now. It  can be 2k or it can be 7k. And then try to increase that number by 1k for each week you were able to do it consistently. If you fail at your next goal, downgrade it back by 1k and do that for another week. For each intermediary goal - you should **not** feel any muscle pain or extreme struggle to do it. If you feel muscle pain the next day, or you find it hard to reach your goal, keep doing it until you find it easy and only then switch to the next thousand.

#### 2. Walking is better than nothing

There is no guideline as to how much time you need to put into active lifestyle. And I'm not a doctor - so consult with one first, but the general consensus is that you should do moderate intensity aerobic and anaerobic activities. However sometimes its hard, some days we feel lazy, and not everyone can workout daily. And walking is better than slumping on the couch.

Don't stress with the 10k steps **a day** goal if you don't feel like it. I decided for myself that on days when I'm working out - I might not reach 10k steps. In the end my time in the day is limited and if I did 1 hour workout, I might go for a 30 minute walk that day instead of the full 1.5 hours. If I did a 20km bike ride, I might skip the walking for that day. Because the end goal is to stay active and healthy, so I don't want to stress about it if I'm tired after a workout or had a busy day and was able to dedicate only 1 hour for activity that day. But I do try to stay active **every day** whether its aerobic or anaerobic activity, or walking 10k steps.


Why you should aim for 10K steps a day


Obligatory Disclaimer - I'm not a doctor or dietitian. This post does not substitute consultation with a professional. This post is not a call to action and should be read for entertainment purposes only.

On March I decided to convert to Veganism (with caveats, more on it later).

Why you ask? As far as I know, there are two reasons why people convert to veganism.

### Ethical Reason

It's no secret that meat and dairy industries are cruel. Cruel in the way they pollute our atmosphere (https://ourworldindata.org/greenhouse-gas-emissions-food); cruel in the way they use our land (https://ourworldindata.org/land-use) which leads to forest destruction; and cruel in the way they treat the animals (I'll save you from sources, but they are easily available online).

An ethical vegan is a person who's eyes were opened by a documentary they've accidentally saw or an article they've read - about the cruelty of the meat industry. Armed with the desire to save our planet and stop animal suffering, our individual decides to adopt veganism.

I, too, care about our planet. I try to sort my garbage and avoid plastic bags. I prefer to take a walk or ride my bicycle instead of driving a car. But I do it as long as it does not harm my comfort too much. If I forgot to bring a reusable bag with me, while going shopping, I'll take a plastic one from the shop as opposed to fill my pockets with apples.

I also know that many industries are bad. All the electronics we use require tantalum which is a chemical that [still obtained unethically](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantalum#Status_as_a_conflict_resource). Even things we take for granted such as electricity, still comes mainly from the polluting fossil fuels (https://ourworldindata.org/fossil-fuels). And yet, I haven't got rid of my phone and left society to live off grid in a tent in the forest.

So as long as something is good for me at it wasn't obtained 100% unethically, like a stolen item, I'd probably ignore the fact that it harms our planet.

And meat is good for us, right?

### Health Reason

The second reason people become vegans is associated with health. There is this myth that people can not survive without meat. Meat is the source of important nutrients like protein or Vitamin B12. You most likely heard about a friend of a friend who became vegan and now need to take supplements because he can't source B12 from plants. How a diet with supplements can be healthy?

Well, the fact is - it can. Protein is largely available in plants (https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321474#15-best-vegan-proteins) but B12 indeed can not be obtained from plants. It also can not be obtained from animals, at least not directly.

Vitamin B12 is produced by a bacteria that lives in our soil and water (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B12#Sources) and since we wash our veggies and filter our water - we kill this bacteria (along with a lot of other harmful bacteria). But how animals get it then? In two ways - they either live a happy and free life and eat unwashed grass with dirt and drink unfiltered water which contains this bacteria; or they get supplements. The same supplements that vegans get.

The meat industry has a very good marketing campaign to convince us that meat is a necessity. At least that's what I though, before I saw a random documentary about plant based diet.

And among all the things I dislike, I very much dislike when I'm being lied to. And I also want to be a super human. So armed with knowledge, determination and excitement - I've started my vegan Month.

## How?

As with my [February challenge](https://jikokaizen.blog/no-shopping-february/), I needed to set rules. And based on my rules, I've come to realize that I'm not 100% pure vegan, hence the challenge was called "Vegan-**ish** March". Here are my rules:

1. No meat products [*obviously, duh..]*
2. Up to 1 time fish per week during social events [*I don't remember why I decided that fish is fine, but spoiler alert - I did not eat any. I don't like fish in general*]
3. Ghee butter is fine in moderation [*My wife started to use Ghee while cooking, so not to complicate things in the kitchen, I included this rule*]
4. No eggs
5. No dairy products
6. First two weeks up to one pizza with no meat [*I wanted to make the transition easier and not be an asshole during social events when everyone wants pizza and I'm like "I'm vegan"*]

Before we proceed to the results, lets talk about my relationship with food.

Food for me was a source of energy. It was something I had to do in order to live a good life. I usually ate meat at least once a day and had this idea in my head that I **need** meat on daily basis in order to stay healthy. I focused on chicken, and ate red meat only at restaurants where they could prepare a good steak or an amazing hamburger. I dislike fish, so I rarely ate it. Dairy products in general make my stomach upset, so I've limited their usage. Eggs for me were nice for quick breakfasts.

It is recommended to switch to vegetarian diet first, and not jump towards veganism right away. But since I'm not your typical meat eater who eat 5 portions of meat a day, and I mostly live by the rule of "all or nothing", I've decided to jump straight into veganism.

## The Results

### Timeline

The first few days were amazing. I was energized, excited and ready to conquer my challenge on the way to become a better human being. I was armed with knowledge and science and instead of simply eliminating meat for my meals, I've looked for replacements in forms of beans, grains, legumes and nuts.

But then, by the end of first week, I've started to feel cloudy and tired. I've started to suspect that maybe I don't eat enough and have nutrient deficiency, so at day 8, I've started to count calories.

Counting calories helped, I did realize that 100g of bell pepper is not the same as 100g of chicken breast and that I do have nutrient deficiency. Armed with this new knowledge, I've educated my self even more and started to plan my meals based on the nutrients I need.

And things started to become better. I was more energized, felt great, no more cloudy. Until day 12, when life happened. As with my February challenge, I've broke my diet on day 12.

I've met with a friend and we went to a bar for a couple of cocktails and food. And the only food they had - was pizza. We were hungry, my friend wanted to share the pizza and I was weak. Technically, pizza falls under rule (6) but at that point I was doing great with my diet and decided mentally that I was not going to break it with pizza - but I did.

Other than this, no major accidents. I feel better, I'm more energized (according to my wife) and I started to like food and eating.

### Conclusions

#### Bowl Movement

The messy part. Skip this if you don't want to discuss poop.

My bowl movement before vegan diet - was regular, but it wasn't.. perfect. I though maybe its related to meat and was hoping that plant based diet will help with that - but I was disappointed. It didn't make things worse, but it didn't improve either.

However one positive effect that I did notice, is that I now rarely have abdominal distension. I used to have it pretty often when I was eating meat, and it did bother me. Not anymore.

#### Energy Levels

One more benefit of plant based diet I've read about is that you have more energy. Can do more things, is less tired and can lift more if you are working out.

And while I'm unable to judge my levels of energy - I'm still functioning normally, do my job, work out and relax; my wife claims I'm way more energized. I was hoping to have more energy for when I workout, but again, I'm unable to judge objectively. I do feel stronger but it can be also because I train regularly.

However, one big benefit that I do notice from plan based diet - is that I'm no longer tired after eating. Do you know this feeling, after when you eat a meal with meat, you suddenly feel *full*? You feel sleepy and tired ready for siesta even if its 7PM? Well, I used to have that. But after I've switched to plant based diet - I'm not longer having this feeling. I can eat at 4PM, I cat eat at 7PM and I won't feel tired, sleepy or full.

#### No pain

Yet another benefit of plan based diet is that people who have joint pain, experienced less pain or even no pain after switching to plant based diet. I'm not sure about the science behind it, but nevertheless I have chronic shoulder pain that no doctor was able to fix or even diagnose so I've learned to live with it. Plant based diet did not help to relief this pain.

#### The love for food

After switching to plan based diet, I fell it love with food and cooking. Dinners suddenly became colorful with a bunch of vegetables. I've educated myself about sources of iron, protein, calcium in plants. I even counted calories for some time (I've quit it about 4-5 days before the end of the months, as its too time consuming for me).

I've started to enjoy chopping and cooking; started to love the taste of food. I spend way more time in the kitchen and I did order way less take away food during this month.

Now you can say "*Jeez Dmitry, you could have developed the same love for food and cooking by eating meat as well, should you cared enough*" and I'd agree with you, I could. But for me, there is a mental association between vegetables and healthy food. And eating healthier food make me wanna prepare this food as well. Sometimes it takes a change to [kick start a new hobby or habit](https://jikokaizen.blog/compound-effect-and-habits/), and plant based diet did that for me. So +1 for plant based diet.

#### Under the hood

The best indicator of health that we can get relatively easily - is blood test. I have blood test I've did around end of January, beginning of February. But I haven't yet done one after being vegan. I don't think one month is enough to have a noticeable effect, so I'll do a test in few months.

Another interesting fact is that I've lost around 2.5kg (~5.5 pounds for my non metric readers). I suspect I was not eating enough the first days and only when I started to count calories, I've realized that I need to eat more. Its hard for me to gain weight and I have a theory about it: it takes the body some time to adjust to new diet. Its like a shock since my body was used to meat and suddenly its not getting it anymore. So it started to burn it reserves. Not sure if it makes sense but I'll keep monitoring my weight, and will contact my doctor if I won't see any improvements.

## What next?

The month is over, so as my diet. I proved to myself that food can be tasty, diverse and healthy.

But I also realized that plant based diet is not easy. Because I don't eat fish, I'm taking Omega supplements. But only after few days of my challenge, I've realized that Omega supplements are not vegan since they come from fish oil.

Somewhere around the beginning of March, I went to a local cafe with my wife and we ordered a couple of sandwiches but asked if they can be made without mayonnaise since we are vegans. The waitress said that it is possible. After we sat down at the table, the waitress approached us and asked "is honey fine, or to take it out as well?". I was baffled. Whats the problem with honey? Only later I've realized that honey is technically non vegan because it involves bee exploitation.

Eating proper vegan is hard. There are a lot of great vegan supplements for cheeses, burgers, sausages and even mayonnaise; but the idea of my challenge was not to replace processed meat with processed vegan food. While I do believe that a vegan burger is healthier than the average meat burger, they are both processed foods.

It also requires you to plan what you eat. Beans for example needs to be soaked for at least 12 hours before they are being cooked for another 60-90 minutes.

Am I converted? I'm not sure. I find a lot of benefits in plant based diet ranging from the taste, flavor and the process of preparing food; all the way to health benefits like not feeling tired or full after a meal. But food is a lot more than energy. Food is culture; food is experience. I'm yet to find a vegan restaurant that will give me the same experience as a restaurant that can serve me a great steak with melting butter and rosemary together with a glass of red wine.

Food is embedded in our culture and while I don't crave steaks, I'm not ready to give up the experience, the same way I enjoy a good beer in a bar, knowing that alcohol is bad for me. So for now, I'm going to stick to my plant based diet while eating at home or even ordering take away, but I'll reserve a special place for meat when visiting a great restaurant that can serve a tasty steak or an amazing burger.


Vegan-ish March challenge


In the stock market, there is an effect known as compound interest. In a nutshell it works like this: when you invest 100$ with a an yearly return of 10%, after the first year you will have 110$. However after the second year you will have 121$ (so a growth of 11$ compared to 10$ from the first year). After third year you will have 133.1$, 146.41$ after fourth and eventually, after 10 years you will have 259.37$ an additional 159.37$.



So the interest rate of 10% yearly applies also to the earnings you've made this year. Therefor its called "compound interest" as opposed to a 10% interest that applies only to the initial investment. And if you look at a longer period, you will notice that the growth is exponential.

### Stocks? What?!

Yeah, right. Back to habits. See, habits work the same way. When you break some habit, or fall into a bad habit, it creates the same compound effect. At some point you wake up and ask yourself "How did I get there?". But what happened in retrospect is that one day you've missed the gym, and since you've missed the gym you decided to allow yourself eat a burger instead of a salad, with beer instead of water, in front of a TV instead of working on your hobby. And the next time you need to go to the gym, you are like "But I've already missed one session, so whats the harm in missing this one as well". And then you wake up and ask yourself "How did I get there?".

Of course its not that fatal. Missing one gym session won't throw you to the bottom of life, and it depends on your self motivation and self control. I, for example, struggle to start the work week after the weekend. Even if just before weekend I've been super engaged with work, weekends throws me off my track and starting the week is hard for me.

There is an unwritten rule in the habit making world that says "Never miss a habit **two** times in a row". So if you've missed the gym, you **must** go the next time. Compound effect takes time to accumulate. One missed habit will shake you a bit, but usually, if you have strong self control, it should not put you off track. A habit missed twice - is harder to recover from. And the scary thing is that once you break one habit - others start to break as well. Compound effect.

### The good part

But there is a good part as well. Compound effect works the same way with good habits. You start to build the habit of working out. At some point you realize that your diet matters so you start to eat healthier. By eating healthier you cook more at home hence saving money on take away as well as investing in a clean kitchen (no body wants to cook in a disgusting kitchen). By setting the habit of cleaning your kitchen, you expand it to keep your entire house tidy, which leads to getting rid of stuff you don't need hence being intentional with what you buy (which again, saves money). And it one year you will look back and realize that you've changed as a person. Compound effect.

### Start Small

The compound effect is very strong. But like anything in life - abuse it and it will work against you. By tackling many habits at once, you risk the chance to developing none at all, or worse, introducing bad ones. Here are some tips on how you can create new habits and enjoy the compound effect.

1. Start small - focus on one habit. Remember - habit is not something that you do 3 times in a row. Forming a habit takes around [66 days](https://jamesclear.com/new-habit). But it doesn't mean you should focus only on one habit every 66 days. Get the ball rolling. Once you are comfortable with the habit, introduce new one. For me it takes around 1 to 2 weeks of daily habits to start sticking. But its personal, so see what works for you.
2. Know your self. By knowing your self, you know how much self control you have. By knowing how much self control you have, you know how to tackle a broken habit. I personally know that its way harder for me to come back to a habit if I missed it 2 times in a row. For some of you it could be 4 times, for others 1. There is no magic number, it entirely depends on your self control. Experiment and see what works for you.
3. Don't be hard on yourself. When you miss a habit, don't beat yourself. You are **not** a failure for missing a habit. Life happens so your Monday gym session might fall on a period when you are sick, overwhelmed with work, on vacation or just lazy. It's not the end of the world. Make adjustments and reschedule. Remember - It's ok to miss a habit, its not ok to break it. So reschedule according to your magic number from point 2 above.

Remember, habits are very individual. Individual in the way **how** you build them and individual in the way **why** you build them.

Don't create habits because someone told you it changed their life. Remember, it changed **their** life. It might not change yours. Always start with self discovery. Realize **why** you want to build a habit. You want to be active and live a healthy life? So find a physical habit. Don't run to the gym because someone told you that you must do that. Not everybody like the gym. There are plenty of other physical activities like cycling, rowing, running, yoga, boxing, HIIT and etc. Find what works for **you**.

Once you found it, experiment on **how** to implement it. You have 1 free evening? So go to the gym once a week (or do any other physical activity that works for you). Sure somebody will tell you that once a week is not enough because they go at least 5 times a week. But again, its their life. They might have 5 evening available because they work on a different job than you or have a different lifestyle than you. Again its **your** life. Once a week is always better than none. You can't enjoy the compound effect on zero - because any % from zero is still zero. Start the ball rolling and you will adapt your life. Sure it will take you more time to reach the same results as the 5 times a week guy/gal, but you are not your single habit - your are the sum of everything you do and don't do in life, and no two lives are similar. Always remember this.


Compound effect and habits


Back in January I caught myself scrolling and favorite-ing a lot of products on Amazon. And I though to myself - what if I decide to do a month without shopping?



## Rules

But first, some rules. It's easy to say "I'll just do a no shopping February", but you can't simply commit to a challenge without setting some rules. Are you going to buy groceries? Gifts? Medicine? What about self treatment procedures like gym visit?

You need to have rules. Rules makes your challenge way easier to follow. For me, February is a special month because it has 3 important occasions: My Birthday, St. Valentines Day and Dating anniversary. So I defined the following rules: I'll avoid any shopping with the exception of the following -

1. Birthday present for my self
2. St. Valentines day present for my wife
3. Dating anniversary present for my wife (should we decide to give gifts this year)
4. Replacement of a broken / damaged item that was previously in use at least once during 2021
5. Groceries and Food take away
6. Up to 1 book
7. Anything for self care (so medical treatments, haircut, gym etc)

## The result

I'm glad to report that I was able to follow the challenge through entire 28 days of February but with one exception. I've broke the rule once.

I use a comfy slippers to wander around the house. However, since they are made of synthetic, medium grade quality, materials - they became stinky. So stinky, that by the middle of the day my socks were stinky as well. So I decided to replace them. Looking back at my rules, they fall under rule (3) - I did use them daily, and the fact they started to stink can be categorized as "damage". I went to an online shopping store, found the slippers I want and was ready to order them. Then I realized that the shipping price was almost half the price of the slippers and more over, if I'd add another item to reach a certain sum - I'd get free shipping. Damn you marketing!

I did cost benefit analysis and came to a conclusion that I'd rather pay for another item I need than for shipping - so I've decided to order pants but I've told to myself that they will replace an existing pants I already have (a rule I try to follow to minimize clutter introduction in my life - for every clothing item I buy, one should go away).

So yes, I've broke the challenge. But I've realized something.

## Conclusions

I'm not a addicted to shopping. I don't spend countless amount of money to hoard items. I could improve my impulsive buying habits, but I was not doing this challenge to cure some addiction or cut on expenses. I did it purely for educational and "scientific" knowledge. And I've learned two things.

#### Control your impulses

I did have impulsive buying habit. When I've decided that I want or need something, I usually went to buy it. Which then lead to buyer remorse since by the time this item arrived (I usually buy online) I already was past the initial dopamine rush from the purchase and I was wondering "why the hell did I bough this". Doing this challenge, I've realized that nothing is really that urgent. I was aware of instant gratification, delaying your purchases and etc, but somewhere during this pandemic - I've lost it. This challenge served as a restart for me. A restart to remind me that I have everything I need and nothing is urgent to buy.

#### Life happens

I've stated in the beginning of this post how important it is to setup rules. Rules define the boundaries in which you can operate. They define your actions and prevent you from having the feeling of being a failure because there is a difference between "No shopping" and "No shopping except for...". I don't believe its correct to change your rules every time you encounter a road block, but it's also not healthy to never change your rules. Life is dynamic, and adapting to it is one of the best traits you can develop in yourself. Adaptability is what helps us survive. And this challenge reminded me of this important lesson.

By settings strict rules and promising to never adapt them - you are doomed to failure because at some point, life will kick you to the floor and you will need to adapt. On the other hand, by constantly changing your rules every time you face a difficult situation, you will end up as a weak person who has no moral stance, no rules, to beliefs to live by.

## Closing Words

Doing this challenge reminded me of two important lessons: Delayed gratification and Adaptability in life.

It's already March and I'm 4 days to my new challenge. Stay tuned for March end to find out about it :)


No shopping February


On 19th of January I've had enough. I was stressed. Stressed mainly because of overusing my phone for both social media (Reddit and YouTube in my case) and for news checking. So I decided to do what everyone else would recommend you to do once you reach this point - delete social media from your phone. 



So I've deleted Reddit, disabled YouTube (thank you big phone manufacturer that preinstall certain apps on their phones without the ability to uninstall them, only disable) and blocked the only news website I was using (this block included block on PC as well). And I've created a fancy tracking calendar, hang in on my corkboard and every day crossed out the previous day, in case I've managed to stay away from social media on my phone, which I'm happy to report, I did for 33 days in a row.

In order for it to make sense, I first need to tell you about my relationship with my phone and social media (from now on, when I say social media I mean Reddit and YouTube since I use Facebook mainly for marketplace abilities and mainly on PC, and I don't use Instagram or any other social platform).

You see, Reddit for me was a feed of "inspirational" pictures. I like Living spaces, I like mechanical keyboard and watches, I like computers and networking gear. So I'm subscribed to [/r/battlestations](http://reddit.com/r/battlestations), [/r/EDC](http://reddit.com/r/EDC), [/r/malelivingspace](http://reddit.com/r/malelivingspace) and similar - which all are picture based. So when you open the Reddit App you have a nice picture feed of EDC items, battlestations and etc. A great time filler for when you are bored. But then little by little my habits started to slip. I'd finish scrolling my feed in few minutes but was still bored so I started to glance at [/r/all](http://reddit.com/r/all) or [/r/popular](http://reddit.com/r/popular) which now made me an expert in US politics (and I don't even live there!) which obviously contributed to more stress (as politics are never rainbow colors). Add to that the fact that my lunch or dinner would be accompanied by the one and only - YouTube. I felt that I was either working or doing something else that involved Reddit / YouTube / New reading.

A word on PC usage. When I'm on my PC, I'm doing one of 2 things - I either do work for my day to day job or work on my hobbies. So I was more mindful about the way I use Reddit or YouTube there. Add since Reddit on PC is not that useful as picture feed, I rarely visited it from my PC.

### The "A-Ha!" moment

On a regular evening, I was driving my wife to therapeutic massage, after which she is usually very relaxed and advised not to drive. While she was doing the therapy, I was walking (a habit I'm trying to build) and listening to an audio book. Closer to the end of the 1 hour mark, I went back to the car to make sure that my wife won't have to wait for me and by that time I've finished listening to one chapter of the book and was not interested in starting a new one. I entered the car and started to wait. And at that time, the "A-Ha!" moment, also known as Eureka, came to me.

When people ask for suggestions about phone addiction, and mainly constant Instagram or Facebook scrolling - they are being told to "Just delete these apps. You won't miss anything". And it's true, I didn't miss. All the important news I've "missed" - were filled to me by my friends; the YouTube videos were still waiting for me when I used YouTube on my PC; and the Reddit posts - well.. They are just nice time fillers. And while I agree that being exposed to nice houses or beautiful wardrobes, can shape the way you decorate your house or dress (you can read more about my "dressing up" experiences in this blog post I've published - [You are not your news feed! Or maybe you are?](/you-are-not-your-news-feed-or-maybe-you-are/)) I believe the good ol' saying of "Everything is good in moderation" applies here very well. The benefits of nice houses or computers, were overtaken by the amounts of stress I was feeling and I prefer to be stress free rather than having a nice "battlestation".

So here I was, sitting my car, **bored**, checking WhatsApp every 20 seconds, checking my calendar every 30 seconds (and no, don't get me wrong, I'm not super busy CEO whose schedule changes every 10 minutes) - while waiting for my wife to arrive so we could drive back home.

And at this moment I've realized - *We have it backwards*! Deleting social media apps from our phones is like taking pain killers every day because you have a headache - sure the **symptom** goes away, you are no longer addicted to social media (or have headaches) but the problem stays there - something is wrong with your health (otherwise you wouldn't have constant headaches) and you **still don't know how to be bored**.

See, the reason why I've used my phone while eating or when waiting for my wife in the car is because I didn't know how to enjoy food or be bored. Yes, I've deleted Reddit and YouTube and I didn't use those anymore, but I was still reaching to my phone during those 33 days just to check WhatsApp, look at package tracking or stock prices, a set of absolutely random and useless actions that are the by product of not knowing how to live in the moment, enjoy simple things like a meal or enjoying being bored.

So whats next? I'm done with the challenge. I've enabled YouTube once again because I was sick and in bed, couldn't sleep, so decided to watch some YouTube videos. I occasionally check the news (every block can be bypassed). I still didn't install Reddit, but I guess it will happen sooner or later. I think this challenge was worth the conclusion I've came too. The message of deleting social media for "addicted" people is so strong that it perceived as the ultimate solution for addiction while my experience tells the opposite - its just eliminating the symptoms, but the problem stays. I don't reach to my phone when I'm truly living in the moment (being in the Flow, having a deep conversation, watching a movie or etc) so the problem is not Reddit or YouTube on my phone - the problem is my relationship with boredom. I guess I'll have to work on that.

Disclaimer: Obviously I'm not an expert on addictions. My experience might not apply to you and by eliminating social media from your life, you might "heal" your addiction. It all depends on the answer to the question "Why do you use it in the first place?". I'm not having anxiety because my social feed is filled with younger, more successful people than me, nor I suffer from [FOMO](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_of_missing_out) as my social apps are not associated with family or friends (like Instagram or Facebook). But if your main issues are stress or anxiety from FOMO or constant comparison to younger (or same aged) people, who "look" more successful than you - then yes, deleting social media might do wonders to you. So as always, your mileage may vary.


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