Break the Twitch Articles

Well, this year has certainly started off with a great deal of excitement, hasn’t it? It’s hard to expect differently after the year of ridiculous twists and turns dished out by 2020, but somehow things seem to get crazier and more unbelievable by the day.

This is a time when the Twitch is going to be stronger than ever—during times of uncertainty, unprecedented events, and widespread fear. In this particular moment, I want to offer some perspective that will be helpful in getting through it.

Television news cycle is designed to keep us watching. They’re using every psychological trick in the book to trigger emotional responses that keep us hooked. Remember, capitalism is driven by revenue, and revenue is driven by watch time. The more we watch, the more ads we see, the more they get paid—plain and simple.

With the advent of digital smart TVs that feed viewership analytics back to the cable networks, they know exactly what you’re watching, for how long, and what causes you to drop off. Using that feedback loop, they optimize programming to keep you hooked.

Consuming more will not put our minds at ease. Now and then, we’ll have a relieving piece of information that comes into our social media feeds, but it never lasts long. Just like TV, social media is designed to optimize for time spent on the platform to increase revenue. This is done through malicious, highly suspect psychological tactics that trigger emotional responses in our brains.

Look, we need distractions to get us through difficult things—it’s an effective form of coping, and nothing to be ashamed about. And simultaneously, they’re not going to actually help us function normally in this insane environment. We can solve being hungry by eating marshmallows, too. I’ve tried it. It’s great for the first like, 12 marshmallows or so, and then things go downhill real quick.

It’s hard to pull away, but you’re going to feel better when you do.

Our brains weren’t designed to have this much information. Imagine the fire hose of information currently flying into our sponge domes. Not much has changed about the human brain in the last 100,000 years. Just 330 years ago, the only way you’d know something absolutely crazy was happening in a distant city was if someone got on a horse and pounded 12.5 miles of pavement to come tell you in person that, “The British are coming!”

I’m sure it wasn’t pavement, but it rolls off the tongue much better than “trails”.

It’s weird imagining Paul Revere with four million Twitter followers, isn’t it? Sure would have made his work a lot easier, huh.

It’s okay to turn it off. You can come back later.

You don’t have to escape to a remote cabin in the woods and swear off technology forever. Thoreau’s lake was barely a mile outside of town. Put your phone in the other room, make something to eat, punch a pillow for a while, scream silently from your lockdown window, play a video game, or call a good friend.

Just give yourself time to step away, breathe, and let your brain process through the backlog of information it has. It’s not easy, but it will help us get through this.

It’s okay to not be okay right now—and you deserve space and self-compassion more than ever right now. Set some time limits on getting updates, then turn it off.

A friend just said to me “Are we supposed to be working during the coup?” and honestly it was the most American thing I’ve ever heard.

— Dani/Tober: Actually a Witch (@thequeengeek) January 6, 2021

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been super into personal development, habits, and other intentional living topics. Even when I was 12 or 13 years old, you could find me in the self-help section of the Borders bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan (may it rest in peace).

This is to say that I’ve spent decades thinking about this beyond the six years that I’ve spent making content and exploring this stuff here at Break the Twitch. And throughout this time, I’ve found that there are only two effective ways to change your life—at least, change your life sustainably.

So what are they?

Slow and Steady

Well, one of the ways to change your life is slowly and steadily. If you’ve been with me here at Break the Twitch for even a small amount of time, you’ve most certainly heard me talk about the power of small consistent changes. I mention this quote from Annie Dillard a lot: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

It’s the little things we do each day that become who we are. We’re no longer just a person who runs. We are a runner. Not a person who lifts, but a weight lifter. We become the things that we do.

This slow and steady option is incredibly effective. Because any time we make a change in our lives, we are breaking out of the status quo. We’re breaking out of our comfort zones, what we’re used to, and often, we can only do that at little bits at a time.

Imagine if I told you to learn to speak Spanish in a day, that would be an overwhelming task. In fact, you might not even know where to get started, but if I asked you to learn just how to say hello in Spanish, could you do that?

Yes, you absolutely could do that.

Hola. It’s just one word, but it’s learning a new word consistently that creates a vocabulary in Spanish. And eventually, you’re not just a person who is learning a few words of Spanish; you are a language learner and then eventually, a Spanish speaker.

Burning the Bridge

But there is a second option to create sustainable change in your life, whether it’s learning Spanish or something else.

And that is burning the bridge. Here’s how that works.

Burning the bridge would be changing something drastically in a way that makes it incredibly difficult to go back to what you were doing before. Because if you make a big change that is really uncomfortable, it can be really hard to sustain it unless you have some friction between you and your comfort zone.

The example I gave earlier, learning Spanish in a short period of time, is a completely overwhelming proposition. But what if you were on a plane to a Spanish-speaking country, where you didn’t know anyone at all?

And you stayed there for three months. What do you think would happen? I’d be willing to bet that in that environment you would learn Spanish a heck of a lot faster because it would literally come down to your survival. Asking for food, asking for things that you need, communicating and making friends.

All of your existence during that time would be in a Spanish-speaking country and so you’d need to speak Spanish more than you would back at home. Without having a quick way to escape the discomfort and go back to where your native language is spoken—that’s an example of burning the bridge.

An example of burning the bridge for me and Amy was selling our house in Minnesota and making our way down to Phoenix about a year and a half ago. We needed a change and while part of us didn’t want to move, we knew that taking that big step would push us out of our comfort zones.

There are many ways you can burn bridges in your life to support a change for the better. While the term may have some negative connotations, when it comes to changing something difficult, I think it can be a really positive thing. You can help yourself stick with a big change by burning the bridge behind you. That way, you won’t be able to easily revert back to what’s comfortable when you feel the discomfort or resistance to that big change you’re creating.

What you’ll find in these situations is that as humans, we’re incredibly adaptable. We will do our best to make it work. The circumstances in 2020 are a perfect example of that. So if you’re going big and fast, burn the bridge to help you keep the change going.

Choosing One of the Ways to Change

It’s important to be intentional in the approach we take in changing our lives. When you change something in your life, which one of the ways to change do you choose?

You can either take the slow, steady, methodical route. Or you can go big and fast and burn the bridge behind you. But you have to choose one. There is no middle path here if you want the change to be sustainable.

Those week-long detox diets you see on the cover of magazines at the grocery store checkout aisle don’t do much. Any benefit you see from these quick solutions will disappear once you stop doing the work. Lasting benefits will be from the long-term actions you take—from the consistent work that’s not very sexy. So if the change you want is big and fast, then you better do some bridge-burning behind you to make it stick.

In my experience, these two ways to change are what end up creating the most sustainable lasting impact. What’s been your experience? I’d love to hear about it and what you’ve learned. As always, I appreciate your attention, and I’ll see you next time.

As it turns out, we are still in the middle of a pandemic and winter is coming or already here. Amy and I have spent much of the summer months primarily inside the house, and now is when we’re finally able to enjoy the outdoors in Arizona. But for many of you, it’s time to trade.

Freezing temperatures, mounds of snow, and iced-over roads mean that more people will be staying indoors, working from home, and generally moving around even less. Minus the weather inverse, the summer months we recently experienced will be the winter experience for many. It was quite a challenging time being cooped up inside for so long. What was helpful in getting through the months of being primarily indoors was to add more movement during the day.

Regular exercise is great for mental and cardiovascular health and muscle development, but that’s not what I’m talking about. What I’m talking about is what’s often missed—the general movement during the day. The movement of being out and about. Walking from one place to another like from a parking lot to a building or around the block. It’s the patterns and daily routines that are more conducive in milder weather.

During those scorching summer months, I found myself waking up and walking a few steps over to the bathroom. Then a few more steps into the kitchen, and a couple of steps into my office. And that was pretty much it. I’d end up sitting there for hours at a time. The additional factor of being cooped up in the house during the pandemic was really tough for me. The lack of movement during the day was psychologically detrimental, especially over an extended period of time.

Since many of us are going into an indoor season with a worsening pandemic situation, I wanted to share a few ideas on how to add more movement on a daily basis.

5 Effective Ways to Add More Movement Every Day

1 / Doorway Action Trigger

This idea is choosing a movement to do whenever you pass through a doorway inside your house. You can put a post-it at the top of the doorway reminding you to do the action of your choosing.

Whatever your chosen movement, every time you walk through the doorway, you do the action. The movement could be bending over to touch your toes, lifting a weight by the door, or reaching up to touch the top of the door frame. It could be a push-up, a squat, or a jumping jack. This is a fun way to incorporate different movements, as you can easily change it up on a regular basis.

2 / Reason to Get Up

Give yourself a compelling reason to get up from where you are and move around during the day. Especially if you’re spending a lot of time working at your desk, designing or finding opportunities to get up and move will be helpful.

A great example of this is to put your phone in another room. That way, if you want to check your phone, you’ll need to get up in order to do that. You’ll likely find that not having your phone nearby while you’re working will be beneficial for your focus as well.

Whether it’s a phone, a book, or a favorite snack—whatever is a compelling and motivating source for you—consider putting it upstairs or somewhere where you have a little ways to go to add more movement during the day.

3 / Adjustable Standing Desk

Another effective way to add more movement is to get an adjustable standing desk. The keyword here is adjustable so that you’re not standing all day. If you’re used to sitting most of the time, transitioning to a permanent standing desk is not fun, comfortable, or good for your knees (speaking from experience here).

Working full-time from home on content for Break the Twitch and our members means that I am in front of a computer for most of the day. And so I’ve been wanting a standing desk for a while and was interested when I was contacted by Flexispot, who offered to send me one that matched my existing office furniture. I decided to try them out after I did some research online and saw that they were one of the most affordable options with a lot of positive five-star reviews.

The desk was easy to put together. It’s motorized, meaning it goes up and down with an easy push of a button on the electronic panel. You can also set up and save custom positions. I used to have a standing desk that wasn’t motorized back when we lived in Minneapolis; that one took a bit of effort to lift to standing height when I needed it. What I like about the Flexispot electric desk is that it’s easy to use, sturdy, and supports up to 150 pounds. Plus they have different color options to choose from. If you’d like to level up (get it?) your office with a standing desk from Flexispot, not only will you save $15 off your purchase by using this link, you’ll also be supporting my work here—which I greatly appreciate.

4 / Recurring Timer Or Blocks

The next idea to add more movement during the day is to use a recurring timer or use timed blocks to remind yourself to move. I’ve heard studies and advice on how it’s good to stand up and move around after every 20 minutes. That feels like a lot, especially if you’re doing really focused work (but hey, if it works for you, go for it!).

For me, I like to do focus blocks of 90 minutes—like what we do over in the Break the Twitch community, and once the timed session is over, I use that natural break to stretch and move around.

5 / Stand On One Foot

This idea may sound peculiar but it’s a great way to work those core stabilizing muscles. While doing routine tasks around the house, stand on one foot until you’re done with the task. The next time you do that task, alternate with standing on the other foot.

You can do this while you’re brushing your teeth, washing the dishes, or even when checking your phone. As long as the task doesn’t require sitting or moving your feet, you can incorporate this in multiple ways.

Of course, getting in a dedicated workout during the day is a solid way to add more movement when we have the time. However, getting daily movement doesn’t need to be big like that. The small everyday actions matter too, and these ideas will help to add more movement during these next few months.