Peter Kang

Note: This is Volume 3 of my “Operating Rules” series. Check Volume 1 and Volume 2. I’ve come to appreciate diet as an important lever for influencing my day-to-day wellbeing and also for giving me confidence about my long-term health. Eating is something we do multiple times a day and what goes into our body ultimately determines how our bodies function and feel. A lot of my food knowledge comes from years of watching videos […]

Having a system for keeping track of my daily habits and goals was vital in keeping me grounded and feeling relatively in control in 2020. I wrote more extensively about the mechanics of my tracking approach in my Q1 2020 Habits & Goals Report Card and showed how it looked again 6 months later. In 2021, we’re expecting our 2nd child, and I’m eager to see how well the system holds up and evolves. If […]

Entering the last 25% of 2020, I wanted to revisit my habit & goals tracker to see how I’ve kept up since my last “report card” back in April. I’m happy that I’ve managed to keep up with the tracker dutifully marking “x” in the appropriate columns day in and day out. It’s been a ritual to reinforce the notion that I can only control what I can control and that it’s best to focus […]

My first volume of “operating rules”, written about 18 months ago, included the following: Get the unpleasant thing out of the way sooner than later Very few things are worth getting worked up over There’s no need to have the last word There’s no rush, stick to a pace that works for me Just listen, no need to provide advice Play offense, not defense Things I will never regret: time spent writing, time spent with […]

I started 2020 with a more rigorous tracker and game plan to keep up with some habits that I felt were vital to my wellbeing. Three months into 2020, it’s clear that a strong foundation of habits is more important than ever, especially during this COVID-19 quarantine period where many familiar routines are no longer viable. Reflecting on my Q1 2020 efforts, I can confidently say that holding myself to a more detailed tracking document […]

It’s hard to believe that our son Grant’s first birthday is right around the corner. I didn’t know how parenting would impact my habits in 2019, but I’m happy to report that many of the habits I valued didn’t go away. There were a number of adjustments I had to make along the way, but overall, I’m incredibly grateful for how smoothly things have gone. I’ve adopted (and adapted) a number of different routines for […]

I’ve found myself recently repeating a few different rules to in my head as reminders on ways I should be operating, whether it’s in day-to-day behaviors, in occasional decision-making, or interactions with others. Sometimes, when I’m distracted, emotionally incensed, or completely in mindless mode, I’ll forget these rules and behave in regretful ways. But one thing I’ve noticed is that as I’ve grown older, I’ve come to embrace the upside to slowing down and considering […]

2018 was a good year for experimentation. I tried out a lot of different approaches to cultivating or switching up my habits . Some ended up sticking and many were abandoned. I’m grateful that I’ve had the luxury of time, energy, and resources to continually mold my daily routines freely. I know that this won’t always be the case, especially when new responsibilities (e.g. parenthood) emerge, but I hope that the past few years of […]

I’ve thought and written a lot about habits over the past few years. However, after reading Atomic Habits by James Clear, I realized that I was still lacking awareness when it came to understanding how habits formed and stuck around. While many of the ideas, examples, and concepts in the book were very familiar to me (e.g. cognitive biases, small wins / reinforcing feedback loops, tracking, etc.), it was really nice to see everything come together in an […]

I recently signed up for an online fitness program called Athlean-X. It’s a 3-month plan that requires 5 days of workouts with 2 days of rest and recovery. I haven’t been able to keep up day-for-day with the plan, especially as I like to fit in basketball and running on some of the days, but I’ve tried my best to fit the 5 workouts every 8-9 days. The workouts themselves are not overly difficult or […]

As another year comes to a close, I like to take stock of the habits I built and also think about new ones I want to develop. I’m a firm believer in building a strong system comprised of good habits that promote healthy living, meaningful relationships, and continual stimulation for the mind. This also means being conscious of bad habits and finding ways to curb them, usually by replacing them with an alternative habit. In 2017, […]

Last year, I wrote about new habits that I picked up in 2015 that impacted my life positively. Fortunately for me, 2016 allowed me to continue in my experimentation with new behaviors. I hope to make my habits recap an annual practice. 2016 New Habits Weekday Meditation I began using the Headspace app in early 2016. It was tough to get used to as I kept falling asleep during the 10-minute guided sessions. But after […]

In 2015, I picked up a few new habits that I’m pretty proud of and hope to continue into the New Year. I want to share some of these, as they’ve had a very positive impact on my life. Reading List I started keeping a list of books that I finished as well as a backlog of books to read next. Whenever someone tells me about a book in passing or I come across a […]