When I majored in Biology at Bates College, I loved learning about human physiology. Botany, the study of plants, bored me. It was like watching the WNBA — a slower, duller version of the men’s league.
There was one fascinating exception in Kingdom Plantae:
Chlorophyll — the powerful pigment.
Chlorophyll provides plants with their green tint and, more importantly, is the catalyst for photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert carbon dioxide to oxygen.
Without chlorophyll, no oxygen.
Without oxygen, no life.
No human physiology.
Literally, everything I found interesting in biology began with the mighty compound, chlorophyll.
The concept of a powerful catalyst stuck with me.
Five years ago, I wanted to develop a reading habit to gain knowledge and a meditation practice to increase mindfulness.
As a dad of two school-age kids, the only location into which I could fit this change was the early morning. I needed to wake up at 5am!
Fortunately, Hal Elrod’s book, Miracle Morning, revealed a simple hack:
Move my alarm clock across the room.
Because it now required more energy to hit the snooze button, go back to bed and get back up, my alarm became the catalyst that converted my waking and walking into the reading and meditating I needed.
I’d found my habit chlorophyll.