Project 52, Year 1: A Review
A detailed review of my first Project 52 — insights I’ve gained, challenges I’ve overcome and the process I’ve followed.
For 52 weeks — from 4th May 2020 to 2nd May 2021 — I tracked 10+ habits and scored myself each week based on my performance.
My intention with Project 52 was to set the foundation for a life of celebration by automating the habits that bring about physical, mental and spiritual well-being. What follows is a detailed review of my first Project 52 — insights I’ve gained, challenges I’ve overcome and the process I’ve followed to get it done.
Automation Through Routine
“Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them.”
— Alfred North Whitehead
A life of celebration is a life where we don’t have to think. It is when we can dance through life effortlessly, when our words and actions flow seamlessly and serendipitously, and when we are in sync with the universe around us.
I believe that such a life is possible. In fact, I believe it is inevitable. And so, my intention with Project 52 was to set the foundation for the person I want to become and the life I want to create — a life of celebration.
Celebration and routine don’t usually appear in the same sentence. In fact, they can be thought of as opposites. And that is exactly why they go together. By creating a routine and automating the habits that result in physical, mental and spiritual well-being, we can move our attention to the finer aspects of life — to the celebration of life itself!
The main outcome that I aimed for with Project 52 was to create a daily and weekly routine that incorporated all the key habits that result in my overall well-being. I wanted there to be zero friction with these habits — I wanted to enjoy them and engage in them with enthusiasm.
Let’s take a closer look at the habits and how I have automated them.
Are you interested in starting your own Project 52? Start here.
Above All Else, Learn How to Breathe Correctly
I used to wake up with a cold and a stuffy nose for as long as I can remember. As a result, I wasn’t breathing very well and my energy levels were not too great. While setting my intention for Project 52, I had stated that the body, mind and spirit are connected in the breath — when you mind your breath, you will find that your body and spirit meet there. And so, breath was the foundation of my Project 52.
Here are the habits that have helped me breathe clearly and correctly:
Nasal Irrigation (Jal Neti)
This is a simple and low-cost practice that takes about 5 minutes and requires a one-time investment of less than ₹500 on a Jal Neti pot and a special salt. You can just use regular rock salt and get the cost even lower. The practice itself involves taking lukewarm water, dissolving a pinch of salt in it and then pouring the water from the pot through one nostril and out the other as you tilt your head to one side and breathe through your mouth.
There are plenty of Youtube tutorials explaining Jal neti. But what I’ve found is that eventually, you have to just pay attention to your body and ensure the water is simply flowing in through one nostril and out the other. It’s best to avoid it if your nose is severely blocked. But if you have a slightly stuffy nose, then it will get cleared right up.
Jal neti clears up both nostrils and allows you to breathe freely. What was surprising to me was the mental clarity that follows once you can breathe clearly. And as a result, I started to feel more grounded once I started doing Jal neti two to three times a week.
Wim Hof Breathwork
The legendary “IceMan” Wim Hof holds multiple world records and is famous for being able to consciously trigger his immune system. The secret behind his abilities? Breathing. Wim Hof has created a simple breathing technique that is derived from techniques used by monks in the Himalayas to control their body temperature in extremely cold weather. I started doing this technique every morning — 3 rounds take between 10-15 minutes.
Wim Hof breathing activates your sympathetic nervous system — which is the part of the autonomic nervous system that sends stimulating signals to our organs, telling them to get ready for action. Why would you put yourself in that state deliberately, you ask? Here is a short passage from James Nestor’s book Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art explaining why:
“This flip-flopping—breathing all-out, then not at all, getting really cold and then hot again [...] forces the body into high stress one minute, a state of extreme relaxation the next. Carbon dioxide levels in the blood crash, then they build back up. Tissues become oxygen deficient and then flooded again. The body becomes more adaptable and flexible and learns that all these physiological responses can come under our control. Conscious heavy breathing [...] allows us to bend so that we don’t get broken.”
You can download the Wim Hof app and avail the 5 free sessions with the Breathing Bubble. I use the Power Breathing option on the Breathe app — which I love for its minimalism.
Resonant Coherent Breathing
I stumbled onto Resonant Coherent breathing while watching a brilliant TED talk by Dr Alan Watkins titled ‘Being Brilliant Everyday’ (Part 1 and Part 2). This is the most simple breathwork practice I’ve found — 5.5-second inhales followed by 5.5-second exhales, which works out to almost exactly 5.5 breaths a minute. The beauty of this technique and what happens in your body when you do it is, once again, explained eloquently by James Nestor in his book Breath:
“Whenever [they] followed this slow breathing pattern, blood flow to the brain increased and the systems in the body entered a state of coherence, when the functions of heart, circulation, and nervous system are coordinated to peak efficiency. The moment the subjects returned to spontaneous breathing or talking, their hearts would beat a little more erratically, and the integration of these systems would slowly fall apart. A few more slow and relaxed breaths, and it would return again.”
Another thing to know about Resonant Coherent breathing is that it helps improve your Heart Rate Variability (HRV) — which is an important indicator of your overall health. You can learn more about HRV in this beautiful animated video by MindDrip. I practise Resonant Coherent breathing for about 15-20 minutes just before sleep — lying on the bed with the lights off, using the Coherent Breathing option on the Breathe app.
The Most Important Book I’ve Ever Read
I have quoted James Nestor’s wonderful book Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art twice to convey the benefits of breathing techniques. I found it serendipitous that the book came out in 2020 — just as I started to pay attention to my breath. Breath is the most important book I have read in my life. Period.
Breathing is something we all take for granted — until we cannot. This is what the COVID-19 pandemic showed us. I’m grateful that these practices have become an integral part of my life and that today, I am breathing better than ever before.
Are you interested in starting your own Project 52? Start here.
Habits for Physical Well-Being
Exercise and movement wasn’t a big part of my life. I have always been a cerebral and mind-oriented person. I had a lot of internal resistance to any type of exercise.
Back in 2019, before the idea of Project 52 occurred to me, I had started and completed Project CMIB (Conquer My Inner Bitch) — the goal of which was to run 2km for at least 133 days before my 28th birthday. Project 52 was an expansion of Project CMIB in some ways.
And just like Project CMIB, I wanted to keep this part of Project 52 as simple and easy as possible — so that I get into the habit of exercising regularly, even when I don’t feel like it. I did not want to have to go to the gym (the lockdown made it impossible anyway) or need any fancy equipment.
Here are the habits that I cultivated for physical well-being:
HIIT/Weight Training
For the first three months of Project 52, I stuck to bodyweight training (High-Intensity Interval Training) using the Home Workout app. These are exercises I could do anywhere with no excuses.
And then in August 2020, I bought a set of dumbbells and a weight bench. Since then, I have been weight training thrice a week using the Dumbell Home Workout app. I have created a 3-day workout split — day 1 is chest, shoulders & triceps; day 2 is back and biceps; and day 3 is legs and core.
This gives me plenty of time to recover. Off late, I have noticed that my body craves weight training — I feel really good after each workout!
I have not paid enough attention to my diet though. I have been supplementing with protein powder, but I’ve not been systematic about it. I’ve not paid attention to my overall calorie intake either. These are just as important (if not more important) as exercising. And so, my next Project 52 will focus more on them.
I also have a secondary layer of tiny habits that help build physical strength. These include pullups, chin-ups, pushups, grip strength training and ab crunches. I have been doing these on and off, but I intend to pursue them more systematically in the coming weeks.
Yoga & Stretching
Yoga has been one of the most enjoyable habits to cultivate. Once again, I’ve kept it simple — three days of yoga on the days that I am not weight training. All I need is a yoga mat and the Keep Yoga app.
The type of yoga that I practise is called Vinyasa — which is a style characterized by stringing postures together so that you move from one to another, seamlessly, using breath.
I feel centred and balanced every time I go through the yoga asanas. Although I found this habit enjoyable, I was too lazy to do it at first. But in the last few weeks, I’ve been more regular and manage to get in at least two days of yoga every week.
Stretching as a separate habit on the days that I’m weight training is relatively new — I’ve only been doing it for a few weeks. But I can already see that it’s a critical aspect of my physical well-being. I’ve created a simple 10 step stretching routine that loosens up my whole body and ends in 10 Surya namaskars. Previously, I have also practised the Five Tibetian Rites for a few weeks.
Running/Walking
I started with the goal of running at least 3km once a week. And then I decided to spread it out more and set a target of running at least 1km five times a week. And now, the condition to be met is that I have to either run 1km or walk 10000 steps. I track my running/walking using a Mi Band 3 and the MiFit app. On most days, I attempt to walk at least 6000 to 7000 steps. I have a decent pair of running shoes that I invested in right at the beginning of my running journey.
I have completed one 5k run in the last year and found it to be easy enough. I don’t feel particularly drawn to push my limits further with running and so, I’m going to continue to maintain this habit in the coming weeks.
Overcoming Insecurity, Improving Gut Health
I have long been insecure about not being physically fit and strong. The actions I have taken in the last 52 weeks have put this insecurity in context and the feelings have become manageable — I know what I have to do to become stronger. I still have a long road ahead — but I'm on my way to becoming a stronger and more physically capable person.
A key aspect of this is diet — as I’ve mentioned already, I’m going to start tracking my protein and calorie intake more systematically. But I have already been tracking all my food and beverage intake for the last few months — just making a note of what I’ve had (not how much) in a WhatsApp chat.
I also want to improve my gut health and nutrient absorption. To this end, I’ve already started having probiotics regularly. The simplest one I have found is cooled cooked white rice soaked overnight in water in a clay pot — to be consumed on an empty stomach in the morning.
Physical well-being is the foundation of your overall well-being — your mental and spiritual health depends largely on your physical health. After all, your body is the home in which your spirit resides. And if your home is a mess, then you will not be able to thrive.
But I have also got a distinct set of habits for mental well-being as well. That’s what we’ll look at next.
Are you interested in starting your own Project 52? Start here.
Habits for Mental Well-Being
In my manifesto for Project 52, I had explained how ‘mind’ was not a noun, but a verb — not something that we have, but something that we do.
I am spirit, that minds, with a body.
We get to choose what we are going to mind — first and foremost, we mind dying and we mind not having food, water or shelter. And then, as we climb the hierarchy of needs, we mind not having fulfilling work to do or not having meaningful relationships. We are always looking for something worthwhile to mind — a problem that is worthy of our attention. Mental well-being is a function of having worthwhile things to mind.
With that in mind, here are the habits that I cultivated for mental well-being:
Reading
I’ve always loved reading. But I felt like I wasn’t doing enough of it. I wanted to read a lot more and I wanted to always have something that I was looking forward to reading. I’m grateful that in the last year, I have completed reading over a dozen books and partially read several more. This is not counting all the newsletters, blogs and articles I’ve read online.
Because I love reading so much, I decided that it’s the first thing I want to do in the morning. I fixed the time to wake up — 7:00 AM initially and in recent weeks 6:30 AM (because the body-mind loves consistency and predictability). Within half an hour of waking up, I’m sitting and reading. I mostly read ebooks on my phone and occasionally a physical book.
Reading consistently has enriched my life and expanded my perspective. And it’s quite amazing how I managed to make it a habit — in the early days, I set the goal of reading just one page a day. On most days, I would end up reading more than one page and I would get one point for it. But even on days when I didn’t feel like reading, I would read just one page before bed and get that one point. Over time, I rediscovered the joy of reading and it became easy to do it consistently.
A few months back, I stopped scoring this habit. I had set myself in the groove and the habit had become automatic — I had achieved my goal.
Journaling
It’s common knowledge that journaling is good for mental health. It helps you get clarity by putting your thoughts in front of your eyes in the form of words. But just because we know it’s good for us doesn’t mean we journal regularly.
I enjoy writing just as much as I enjoy reading. But to make it a habit, I had to incentivize myself. I set the goal of writing at least 100 words in my journaling app Journey every day — for which I would get a point.
The trick is this — I had to write 100 words. It didn't matter if what I wrote overall was coherent and neat. It mattered that I wrote every day. On some days I was bursting with something to write and I wrote well over 100 words. On other days, I didn’t feel like writing, but I still wrote 100 words — even if they were nonsense.
Over time, I found several instances where I was rewarded with tremendous mental clarity after journaling. A few times, this happened even when I thought there wasn’t anything to write at first.
Eventually, the feedback loop fell in place and now I am confident that I will continue journaling regularly without needing to score myself on the habit.
Meditation
I used to be super enthusiastic about meditation. Meditating helped me stay grounded and cleared up my mind. I often had beautiful insights while meditating and this made me want to meditate more.
Over the course of Project 52, I practised several types of meditation for 20 minutes a few times a week. There were some weeks where I didn’t meditate at all. But as of December 2020, I decided to discontinue meditation. I was getting the benefits of meditation from the other habits I was building — yoga, breathwork, running, weight training, and so on.
I did meditate once again in February 2021, when I went into silence at a retreat centre for 3 days. On each of the three days, I meditated for around one hour. I was also maintaining silence throughout so my meditation was deep and powerful.
What I have found is that mediation moves us into stillness. In our daily lives, we are always in motion — even if we are sitting still in a chair, our minds are constantly moving. Mediation is about minding just one thing — like your breathing — for a while.
But what that does is it brings all the demons and angels out of the woodwork and forces you to confront them. This has been happening in my life even without active mediation.
I think I will meditate again on certain occasions — I will be doing one or two 3-day silent retreats every year from now on, and I will be meditating then. But a daily meditation practice is currently off the table. And I’m at peace with that.
My Mind Extends Beyond Me
It’s not enough that I solve only my problems. There are shared problems that we have to collaborate and solve. I have to learn to mind in collaboration with other people. And the first set of people to mind with is my own family.
Over the last few months, we have had a family meeting at home every Sunday, where my dad, mom, brother (here’s his blog) and myself sit down and talk to each other. Sometimes the conversation is light and fun. Other times, it gets heated. But we sit and talk. And it’s been beautiful!
My relationship with my family has improved tremendously and the family as a whole has benefited from this weekly habit. We have become more open with each other and are more engaged in each other’s lives. We support each other and there is a deeper connection that we have nurtured. There has been healing and I feel a sense of belonging once again — something that was missing for almost a decade. More on that as I review the habits I cultivated for spiritual well being.
Are you interested in starting your own Project 52? Start here.
Habits for Spiritual Well-Being
Through most of the last decade, I went through a spiritual crisis that was brought on by questioning my faith in Christianity in my late teens. After a brief period of disenchantment and hyper-rationalism, I started to seek ways in which to get into the right relationship with the Great Mystery of which I was a part.
We are spiritual beings having a human experience and not the other way around. Spiritual well-being is a function of being in the right relationship with our Self. The capital ‘S’ Self is different from the small ‘s’ self — the latter is a stubborn illusion and the former the Ultimate Reality.
If all this sounds like mambo jumbo, then think of your spirit in terms of being in ‘high spirits’ versus being in ‘low spirits’. We know that it is desirable to be in good spirits or even high spirits — to live passionately and do things that matter.
We think we live in a universe of matter, but really, we live in a world of things that matter and things that don’t. When we can mind the things that really matter to us, then we are in good spirits — and we also feel like ourselves. We feel authentic and real. That is what spiritual well-being is.
Here are the habits that I cultivated for spiritual well-being:
Service
I have always had a deep urge to be of service and to contribute. To help decrease the suffering in the world and improve the lives of people around me. But I’ve also struggled with how to go about doing it.
Part of the reason I co-founded a startup in 2016 was to help address the meaning crisis that I noticed around me. Just like me, there were a lot of people who were struggling with nihilism and a lack of meaning in their lives. But because I was trying to solve a problem for the rest of the world before I had solved it for myself, I failed repeatedly. Every avenue that opened up seemed promising at first, but then eventually fizzled out. There is no regret I have about the choices I made — I had to go through all of it and I have gained a lot along the way. I wouldn’t undo any of it. But at the same time, I can see that it was all bound to fail.
When I started Project 52, I had no thought of getting anyone else onboard. It was a project for me to build habits by myself. But there was still that itch to be of service to others. And so I started by attempting to be of service to at least one person every week — using some skill that I had to do something for others. And what’s my skill set? I can listen. And I can simplify.
Three months into Project 52, I made this habit more specific — I had to spend time in a space of sharing with at least one person every week. This meant that I had to have a dialogue with someone. Listening deeply and listening not to reply, but to understand. Speaking effectively and not speaking for the sake of it.
And then, halfway through Project 52, this habit morphed into the weekly family meeting that I mentioned in the previous section. Here’s the thing about spiritual well-being — you cannot be spiritually well all on your own. As Jesus said, “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” He didn't say, “Where one person is sitting alone in my name...” He said two or three. And that’s the thing about spirit — it extends beyond the individual and is alive in the spaces that connect us.
I took responsibility for setting up and getting my family together for the meeting the first few weeks. But now, my family members ask for the meeting and show up without me having to get behind them. So that’s one more habit automated!
In the last few months, a few of my friends and my brother’s friends got curious about Project 52. So I helped them set up their own Project 52s — with the habits that they wanted to build and a scoring system that works for them. I am coaching some of them, helping them troubleshoot problems they face along the way or offering a word of encouragement. In the coming weeks and months and years, I am going to get more people on board. With that in mind, I have started working on a guide for people to get started with Project 52. It feels amazing to be able to be of service in this way!
Gratitude
The human body is a minding machine. It is built to find problems and therefore has a negativity bias. We notice the things that are wrong more than we notice the things that are right — which makes sense. The things that are sorted and good don’t need our attention, but the things that aren’t, do.
But just because it makes sense, doesn’t mean it’s good for our well-being. Sometimes you need to indulge in some non-sense. And one of those non-sensible things is gratitude.
Since February 2020, I have been writing 3 things that I am grateful for just before bed and sharing them as a WhatsApp broadcast with a few friends and family members. It’s a simple way to reflect on the good things that have happened that day and to rewire my brain to focus on what’s good in life.
This is another habit that has become automatic and I’ve stopped scoring and tracking it for a while now. I do it automatically before bed by default.
Along with gratitude, I also write down one or more things that I am looking forward to for the next day. The brain loves having things to look forward to — and so it’s like giving the brain a little treat before bed.
Appreciation
At the beginning of each year, I print a single page calendar out for my workstation and with 3 words that I have chosen for that year written on top. For 2020, the words were Appreciate, Encourage and Celebrate.
With that in mind, I decided to cultivate the habit of appreciating something or someone every day. This involved reaching out to old friends and acquaintances and telling them what I appreciate about them. And then later it morphed into leaving comments on Youtube or Twitter showing my appreciation for artists that I love.
Just like gratitude, appreciation is underrated. We all know how we feel when someone appreciates us or gives us a few words of encouragement. And yet, we fail to do the same for others — even when the opportunities are right there in front of us all the time!
As someone who is good at expressing how I feel, this habit was easy to execute. Now, it’s natural for me to offer words of appreciation and encouragement — to celebrate the lives of other people! You can read my detailed end-of-2020 reflection on my Instagram post.
Learning to Pray Again
“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.” — Soren Kierkegaard
In the last 52 weeks, I started learning to pray again. I have felt the transformation of my nature unfold in these past few weeks. One prayer is an incantation that I say out loud on the terrace every morning — think of it as a spell I cast on myself. Here is it:
I won’t go into more detail about the meaning of each of those lines, but as you can see, it is a prayer. And it’s a prayer that I have forged together over the years. It is the distillation of some powerful experiences and insights I’ve had. Saying it out loud gets me instantly aligned with my highest ideal — with divinity itself.
Another prayer is a grace between meals that we do as a family every evening. I say between and not before because not everyone sits down to eat at the same time. But we make it a point to stop eating for a minute when everyone is at the table and one of us says a short prayer. Of course, my parents have their prayers that they say. But the grace between meals is something we do as a family. And it feels good to pray with my family.
Throbbing With Thumos
For the last 8 months, I have been working towards getting into the right relationship with sexuality. Often, there are feelings of guilt, shame, embarrassment and uneasiness associated with sex and our sexual organs. At the same time, sexual energy is the most potent and essential energy there is.
I don’t believe that the extremes of repression and hedonism are helpful when it comes to sex. As with all other things in life, a balance must be struck.
At present, I do not have a romantic partner and I don’t feel drawn to casual sexual encounters. It’s easy to fall into the trap of pornography and masturbation. I don’t have a problem with either of those two things. But both of them can become distractions that drain my energy when I use them inauthentically.
And so, 8 months back, I set some ground rules that have served me very well and have helped me get into the right relationship with sexuality: if I watch porn and masturbate even once a week, I lose 7 points. If I masturbate without porn, I lose 1 point each time.
Some of you must be wondering — masturbation without porn? How does that work? Do you use your imagination? The answer is no. What you do is practice self-love.
What I’ve discovered is that most of us hate our bodies. When you transform your relationship with your body and learn to love your body, you can masturbate without porn or any external stimulation. I call this practice ‘embodiment’ — because you have to get into your own body to do it. Watching porn is a cerebral experience and the body is not involved.
After a few months, I noticed that I no longer felt ashamed about masturbation. And I no longer felt guilty about watching porn — of course, I was watching it very rarely.
Sexual energy can be transmuted and used to fuel different aspects of your life — like creative pursuits, for example. The Greek word ‘thumos’ means spiritedness. And I believe that it’s possible to increase your spiritedness by transmuting sexual energy. But I’m still figuring this out. So I won’t say more about it here.
Are you interested in starting your own Project 52? Start here.
Habit Building Made Simple
The book that has shaped Project 52 most significantly is Atomic Habits by James Clear. I’ve read it twice in the last year and it has helped solve many problems that I have encountered along the way. James Clear’s Twitter and newsletter are very valuable as well.
A quick note on tools — I use Google Sheets to track my habits every week. For day-to-day tracking, I use Loop Habits and Habit Now on my phone.
Since week 9, I have been writing a weekly and quarterly review of my habits. After entering the score for the week on Sunday evening, I open a document and just write one or two lines reflecting on each habit. This habit has helped me accelerate my progress and unclog bottlenecks I’ve encountered along the way.
Once you start building one set of habits, it becomes easy to add tiny habits on top of your existing ones. This builds tremendous positive momentum. You start to develop the qualities you’ve always wanted and you start becoming the person you wish to become.
As my first Project 52 comes to a close, the second one is taking shape!
This is just the beginning.
Well learning from the para on appreciation, I really appreciate this article! Am I going to start my own project 52? Yes I am!