I'm noticing a pattern. Maybe it has become a habit for most people, and I’m one of them. Every year, as it comes to an end, I come across this familiar line somewhere, from friends, family, or on the internet: “It felt like the year had just started,” or something like, “2016 was a decade ago.”

We don’t seem to have a real sense of time passing by us. Why is that?

Two reasons come to mind:

1. The social media takeover of our brains, and
2. The fixed routine we live by on a day-to-day basis.

Let’s leave the first point for another day and talk about the second one.

When I talk about the same routine, I mean that every day looks exactly the same. For example, for me: I wake up, go to the office, come back home too tired to do anything else, eat, sleep, and then wake up the next day to do it all over again. It feels like we’re living the same day again and again. Life passes by, and we don’t even notice it until we look back.

People In Rush

I can’t really tell you what to do to avoid this, but one good thing I’ve discovered while living this way is something I want to share. I’m not sure how sustainable it is, but hear me out.

If you feel like you’re living the same day every day, without even realizing how time passes, try adopting a simple, positive habit, something that benefits you. It could be related to your health, career, or personal growth; anything that helps you become a better version of yourself. Start small (like very small) and do it daily.

What I’m trying to say is: time is passing anyway, often without us realizing it. So, even if we improve just a teeny-tiny bit, it will add up.

James Clear in his book Atomic Habits call the method of improving daily, even a little, as Continuous Improvement. I take it up a notch, and call the new method as Automatic Improvement, as you are not even noticing anything while you are doing it because the effort is so small and the days pass fast as fuck.

Now, let me share what I personally do on a daily basis, even if it’s minimal progress.

First, I follow a simple skincare routine every day. Recently, I’ve also started walking on a daily basis from past few days. Some days its 5000 steps, some days its 10000. I don’t see any visible changes yet, but I’m confident that this small, consistent effort will compound into something much bigger in the future.

And the best part? I don’t even realize I’m doing all this most days, because time still passes quickly, but now it’s working in my favor.

Okay then, I'll leave it up to you to try this new way of thinking about adding small habits in your daily routine. This was the second issue of my blog series.

Here are a few links to explore:

• Sweden by C418, which I recently learnt on guitar
• This blog on Yutori, the concept of slowing down

Byee✨