The 365 Commitment

Day 159 – Codifying Principles

Second day of jogging and reading Ray Dalio’s book on principles. He is very strongly encouraging me to consider how to take principles that I know to be true and building them into an algorithm that I can live by and run my business by. As I was finishing my jog along the Guadalupe Trail in San Jose, CA this morning I came upon this thought.

Perhaps the habits that I am building are a way to create a daily algorithm that I am governing my life by? Not many of us have had the pleasure of studying algorithms in life, but I certainly have. In Computer Science an algorithm sounds really complicated, but in reality is just a fancy way of describing a string of rules compiled together to produce an outcome.

So what more is a pattern of habits, compiled together in a daily routine with a clear way to measure them than an algorithm? Is that what I am doing here, taking principles that I know to be true and building them into some sort of code that I follow each day?

I think it is. I have a belief that if I wake up at 5am, run every morning and do one more pushup, situp and squat – then I will after 365 days have a significant improvement in my physical and mental health. I have a very easy way to measure this and I do so everyday. I also have a belief that if I consider, measure and record everything that I eat that I will make better decisions about my diet. I have a way of tracking this progress. It is my belief that I will lose weight and have a far better physique after 365 days. I believe that if I follow the 365 commitment, and start and end each day in prayer focused on what is absolutely the most important that I will eventually learn to prioritize the important and I will radically improve my life.

This is the algorithm I am building. I am probably going to add more. Right around day 180 of the 365 commitment. As I add to, improve, and evolve this algorithm I wonder if I can expect heroic type of results? I am thinking that answer is yes. Although I slayed the Chevron dragon months ago, I perceive that there are some really nasty ugly ones lurking around the next corner. Guess I will find out how accurate my algorithm really is.

Guy Reams (159)
365 Member

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