The brain check question
Asking whether a choice is good or bad for your brain before you make it
One line, applied to ordinary decisions: food, drink, screens, bedtime, who you spend the evening with. Ask whether the thing in front of you is good for your brain or bad for it, then pick. Nothing gets tracked, nothing gets bought, and no app is involved. The difficulty is remembering to ask at all, so people who keep it going tend to hang the question on specific moments, opening the fridge or reaching for the phone at midnight. Daniel Amen, who describes it as the most important of his tiny habits, frames a good answer as an act of self-respect rather than discipline.
People on record
Sorted by strength of stance
Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Daniel AmenDoes it
Psychiatrist · Change Your Brain, Change Your Life
Through the day he runs choices past one question: is this good for my brain or bad for it. He calls it the most important of his tiny habits, and says the answer he lands on is almost always the loving one, since a damaged brain makes you a burden to the people you care about.
Source: Thirty Minute Mentors: Dr. Daniel Amen“I have another question I ask myself. Is this good for my brain, or bad for it? And not always, but almost always I choose the most loving answer, which is I do things that are good for my brain because I love myself.”
Thirty Minute Mentors: Dr. Daniel Amen (opens in a new tab) · 26 Feb 2021
Aimed at the same thing
Other entries filed under productivity or longevity.
- HabitFREE, no cost
Breaking one bad habit at a time
Dropping a single habit every six months and leaving everything else alone
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - HabitFREE, no cost
Daily reading
A fixed daily reading block, usually books rather than feeds
On record from 25 of 62 tracked people: 23 do it, 2 recommend it - HabitFREE, no cost
Journaling
Writing to unload the mind, usually first thing or last thing
On record from 14 of 62 tracked people: 13 do it, 1 recommends it - HabitFREE, no cost
Cutting out alcohol
Drinking nothing, or close to it: the most common upgrade in these stacks
On record from 13 of 62 tracked people: 5 do it, 2 recommend it, 6 have discussed it - HabitFREE, no cost
Early rising
A fixed, early wake time, often before anyone else is awake
On record from 11 of 62 tracked people: 10 do it, 1 has discussed it - HabitFREE, no cost
Daily writing
Write something every day, published or not
On record from 10 of 62 tracked people: 8 do it, 2 recommend it
Habit entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.