Lenten fasting
Forty days of giving something up, plus fast and meat-free days, in the Christian calendar
Lent runs from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional Catholic practice is to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, skip meat on Fridays, and give up something personal for the season, and most people pair the giving-up with a positive commitment: daily prayer, more training, less screen time. Religious first, but structurally it looks like the secular challenges in this directory, with a fixed start and end, a public commitment and a daily reminder of the thing being changed. Churches generally tell anyone with a history of disordered eating to give up something other than food.
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.
- Mark WahlbergDoes it
Actor and producer · The 2:30 a.m. daily routine
Ate no meat and one meal on Ash Wednesday in 2023 and kept the same fast every Friday until Good Friday, while leading fasting lessons on Hallow. He says it gives him discipline, and that people with food issues should detach from something else instead.
Source: The Christian Post: Mark Wahlberg leads Lent fasting lessons on Catholic prayer app 'Hallow'
Aimed at the same thing
Other entries filed under stress or productivity.
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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
Deliberate discomfort
Choosing the thing you do not want to do, daily, as its own training
On record from 3 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it, 2 recommend it - HabitFREE, no cost
A high savings rate
Bank a large share of income by spending well below what the income allows
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 recommends it - HabitFREE, no cost
Accountability mirror
Telling yourself the blunt truth in the mirror every day, then fixing it
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - HabitFREE, no cost
Act on the thing causing stress
Make the first call or send the first email on whatever is nagging at you
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - HabitFREE, no cost
Asking for help
Four words, can you help me, used on purpose rather than as a last resort
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 recommends 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.