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Perhaps the only thing I really gleaned from this article is how brands apparently play such a key role in this man's habits. Macbook air, textmate, Octopus ca

Perhaps the only thing I really gleaned from this article is how brands apparently play such a key role in this man's habits. Macbook air, textmate, Octopus card, Fitness First, Red Bull, Volvic, iPhone, Gmail, Caffe Habitu. All of these were jarring to me as a reader, as the article would read more naturally with generics--laptop, text editor, charge card, gym, energy drink, water, phone, email, coffee shop--with no loss of meaning. Many of these brands are mentioned 4 times or more during half a dozen paragraphs. Whether intentional, it demonstrated the power of good branding; get inside someone's head, make them associate good habits with your brand, and you will become part of their daily ritual. They no longer 'go to coffee shop', they go to Caffe Habitu. It's not buying a bottle of water and hitting the gym, its "purchasing a Volvic in the 7/11 then doing the 3 minute walk to Fitness First". They don't check email, they check gmail. A related takeaway from this blog post is the inherent "bragging rights" people feel when they stick to a habit. This guy doesn't just get up in the morning, it gets up at 5.50am people. Now that's early! Now it's time for 12 reps at 30kg at Fitness First as I knock down my redbull after crushing some sick bugs on my macbook air at the crack of dawn working in the cloud at my webapp startup. Premium brands do the same, and it's part of the reason for the consistent brand-dropping here. People don't have phones they have iPhones, not because they are ubiquitous (like hoover became the vacuum) but because people must differentiate normal phones from their phones, due to the premium pricing they paid. And by using the new product as part of a habit (like your iphone is an integral part of a morning workout), it becomes more justification for the purchase.

wlesieutre 14y ago
The Red Bull and Volvic seemed particularly out of place to me, especially in that he made buying them one at a time a part of his daily ritual. Maybe he wakes up in the morning with a compulsion to throw his money away at a 7/11 instead of getting a 12-pack from the grocery store? Instead of filling his own bottle from the tap and drinking coffee for his caffeine like normal people who don't attach brands to all of their routines? I don't know the exact price of Red Bull or Volvic, but at $5 a day and 260 weekdays in a year he'd be spending $1,300/year.
- gonzo 14y ago
  Red Bull is $40 for 24 cans on Amazon, probably twice that at 7-11. Call it $3.20/can. Volvic is $28.81/12 on Amazon. At the same 100% mark-up, it's $4.80/bottle at 7-11. That's $8/day, plus local sales taxes, or nearly $2100/year. Getting a good water bottle and filling it at home is likely too cheap to meter. Making good coffee at home and using that for the caffeine boost is a lot less than $3.20/serving, and then there is this: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1443950608002436 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1443950608... The results of a study showed that the ingestion of one, 250mL can of sugar-free Red Bull, in a sample of 30 healthy young adults, had an immediate detrimental effect on both endothelial function, and normal blood coagulation. This temporarily raised the cardiovascular risk in these individuals to a level comparable to that of an individual with established coronary artery disease. Finally, he jumps straight into 12 reps dumbbell press @ 30kg (66lb per hand). Riiiight!
  - Retric 14y ago
    You really don't need to warm up by actively doing something. Just like salivating your breathing and hart rate can increase in preparation for strenuous activity's.
  - firichapo 14y ago
    > Finally, he jumps straight into 12 reps dumbbell press @ 30kg (66lb per hand). Riiiight! <s>It was the power of the Iphone that allowed him to do so. </s>
  - sneak 14y ago
    Do people really and actually concern themselves with <$5000/year habits? I mean, why not focus on something important?
  - FelixP 14y ago
    >he jumps straight into 12 reps dumbbell press @ 30kg (66lb per hand) That really isn't that much weight- imagine bench pressing 60 kilos. 30 kilo dumbbell presses shouldn't all that strenuous for someone who works out regularly.
rythie 14y ago
I really don't think that the brand name dropping is much about status or cost, it's about products he recommends for those tasks because they are the best. Most of the products he mention cost pretty much the same as the competitors anyway. I think it has to do with how you see creating your own products too. Are you trying to make a product that would be indistinguishable from the competitors, or one that's so good that people mention it by name?
- heyitsnick 14y ago
  I disagree. You think he's recommending the Volvic brand of bottle water? Or suggesting a specific coffee shop? Keeping up with your fitness regime can be done with paper and pen; it desn't need a smartphone and a special app. He's not even suggesting his Macbook Pro and Textmate (both definitely premium choices) aid him really, he's just brand-name dropping. I'm not criticizing the author, but just highlighting that he either implicitly or explicitly uses brands to form habits, and how he reinforces them with this very blog post (there is little reason to mention Octopus Card 3 times in the article, nor red bull five times). And for those looking to build brands, it hammers home just how valuable they can be if they form a part of someones habits. This guy every day spends $5 to go and buy a small bottle of water and energy drink on his way to the gym instead of bulk-buying at home or drinking free tap-water because it's now part of his daily ritual. Then he will happily tell others both on his blog and in real life and advertise these products, likely without even knowing he's doing it.
joelg87 14y ago
Thanks so much for this, it's definitely something I need to improve on. My aim with the post was to be extremely detailed, in order to try and emphasise how many different aspects have become habitual. Clearly, the way I ended up being detailed was to use brand names. Now you mention it, it makes sense. I remember writing "bottle of water" and thinking it will have a better effect if I make it more specific, hence "Volvic". Now it makes a lot of sense that I could actually be more detailed in many other ways and still achieve the same effect. This is great learning, and something I'll try and improve next time!
amurmann 14y ago
Now that you pointed this out, I notice similarities in writing style to the first chapter of American Psycho.

wlesieutre 14y ago

The Red Bull and Volvic seemed particularly out of place to me, especially in that he made buying them one at a time a part of his daily ritual. Maybe he wakes up in the morning with a compulsion to throw his money away at a 7/11 instead of getting a 12-pack from the grocery store? Instead of filling his own bottle from the tap and drinking coffee for his caffeine like normal people who don't attach brands to all of their routines? I don't know the exact price of Red Bull or Volvic, but at $5 a day and 260 weekdays in a year he'd be spending $1,300/year.

gonzo 14y ago
Red Bull is $40 for 24 cans on Amazon, probably twice that at 7-11. Call it $3.20/can. Volvic is $28.81/12 on Amazon. At the same 100% mark-up, it's $4.80/bottle at 7-11. That's $8/day, plus local sales taxes, or nearly $2100/year. Getting a good water bottle and filling it at home is likely too cheap to meter. Making good coffee at home and using that for the caffeine boost is a lot less than $3.20/serving, and then there is this: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1443950608002436 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1443950608... The results of a study showed that the ingestion of one, 250mL can of sugar-free Red Bull, in a sample of 30 healthy young adults, had an immediate detrimental effect on both endothelial function, and normal blood coagulation. This temporarily raised the cardiovascular risk in these individuals to a level comparable to that of an individual with established coronary artery disease. Finally, he jumps straight into 12 reps dumbbell press @ 30kg (66lb per hand). Riiiight!
- Retric 14y ago
  You really don't need to warm up by actively doing something. Just like salivating your breathing and hart rate can increase in preparation for strenuous activity's.
- firichapo 14y ago
  > Finally, he jumps straight into 12 reps dumbbell press @ 30kg (66lb per hand). Riiiight! <s>It was the power of the Iphone that allowed him to do so. </s>
- sneak 14y ago
  Do people really and actually concern themselves with <$5000/year habits? I mean, why not focus on something important?
- FelixP 14y ago
  >he jumps straight into 12 reps dumbbell press @ 30kg (66lb per hand) That really isn't that much weight- imagine bench pressing 60 kilos. 30 kilo dumbbell presses shouldn't all that strenuous for someone who works out regularly.

rythie 14y ago

I really don't think that the brand name dropping is much about status or cost, it's about products he recommends for those tasks because they are the best. Most of the products he mention cost pretty much the same as the competitors anyway. I think it has to do with how you see creating your own products too. Are you trying to make a product that would be indistinguishable from the competitors, or one that's so good that people mention it by name?

heyitsnick 14y ago
I disagree. You think he's recommending the Volvic brand of bottle water? Or suggesting a specific coffee shop? Keeping up with your fitness regime can be done with paper and pen; it desn't need a smartphone and a special app. He's not even suggesting his Macbook Pro and Textmate (both definitely premium choices) aid him really, he's just brand-name dropping. I'm not criticizing the author, but just highlighting that he either implicitly or explicitly uses brands to form habits, and how he reinforces them with this very blog post (there is little reason to mention Octopus Card 3 times in the article, nor red bull five times). And for those looking to build brands, it hammers home just how valuable they can be if they form a part of someones habits. This guy every day spends $5 to go and buy a small bottle of water and energy drink on his way to the gym instead of bulk-buying at home or drinking free tap-water because it's now part of his daily ritual. Then he will happily tell others both on his blog and in real life and advertise these products, likely without even knowing he's doing it.

joelg87 14y ago

Thanks so much for this, it's definitely something I need to improve on. My aim with the post was to be extremely detailed, in order to try and emphasise how many different aspects have become habitual. Clearly, the way I ended up being detailed was to use brand names. Now you mention it, it makes sense. I remember writing "bottle of water" and thinking it will have a better effect if I make it more specific, hence "Volvic". Now it makes a lot of sense that I could actually be more detailed in many other ways and still achieve the same effect. This is great learning, and something I'll try and improve next time!

amurmann 14y ago

Now that you pointed this out, I notice similarities in writing style to the first chapter of American Psycho.