What are you doing to feel uncomfortable?

Haha, I could only hope to achieve even half of what Joel Spolsky has :)

I've previously written about how I created my sleep ritual (http://joel.is/post/5303723252/creating-a-sleep-ritual) and what you mention about committing to too many routines has been key for me. I'd say that is the reason I've not managed it until now and also the reason I've managed to put a decent routine in place now and I'm able to keep adjusting it and improving it.

I think the key is to adjust one thing at a time until it becomes a "ritual" we are pulled towards rather than a "routine" which we force ourselves to do. At first, I got up at 6am and went to the gym at 6:30. Over time, I've gradually got up earlier and earlier so that now I am starting to get up at 4:30am and have 1.5hrs of productive work time before I go to the gym. I've also adjusted my exercise routine at the gym whereas before just getting there was hard enough.

I don't do a whole lot in terms of diet right now, however I want to soon when the current routine becomes more comfortable.

The article you mention is written by Tony Schwartz who I've mentioned in my post, and I can't recommend his book "The Power of Full Engagement" enough. The two main things I took away from it were the importance of renewal (I now break up my day with various activities, such as the gym, meals, or reading a book for 20 minutes) and relating tasks to my core values (this is related to Simon Sinek's "Start with Why").

> As for the article, any commitments on the diet front? Do you find if you commit to too many new routines (gym, eating, sleeping, working, being productive) you run out of will-power-gas before the day is out, making it harder to pickup the commitments the following day?

I've found setting a 70% success target across all active goals is a good way to keep growing without getting complacent or overwhelmed.

If I'm succeeding above 70% consistently at all my current goals, targets, and routines, I add new things or increase the difficulty.

If I'm below 70% for a couple weeks in a row, I scale back and get back to fundamentals.

This is also good for getting more comfortable with failure, since I'm constantly falling short on my new initiatives, and stay towards the edge of my growth potential. 70% I picked arbitrarily, but it's pretty good - it means I'm succeeding at over 2 out of 3 things I do, which is good for motivation/momentum, but it isn't so high that I have to set goals too cautiously to reach the mark.

Then you are trying new things that are too difficult. Uncomfortable is best in moderation.

Love the question. :) A few ideas:

    - You're not putting in enough effort.
    - You give up and move onto the next thing too quickly.
    - You're stretching yourself too far beyond your current abilities.
    - You're not analyzing, criticizing, and actively improving yourself well enough.
    - You're lacking in useful resources, such as good books or a good mentor to 
      help you overcome hurdles.
    - You're picking things merely because they're uncomfortable and cannot be 
      improved upon (e.g. sitting on a knife).

The lyrical content made me uncomfortable.

s/homonymous/eponymous

Good observation, though--I thought the same when I heard that song for the first time.

I'm having a problem where I've challenged myself so much in little ways and built myself up so far, that in order to improve past this point, I see extremely huge frightening tasks in my future. Past the point of discomfort, I am looking at staggering terror ahead. (I wish I could elaborate, but unfortunately I have to keep my current situation to myself.) I guess in terms of public speaking, it would be the equivalent of addressing an audience of a million, as opposed to a hundred.