Decide, Then Design

Make the decision once. Let your design carry it—starting with lunch.

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It’s as real as a meeting.

Kundalini Yoga says it takes:

• 40 days to create a habit,

• 90 days to confirm it,

• 120 days to make it who you are, and

• 1000 days to master it.

When I considered doing a 60-minute meditation for 1000 consecutive days, I asked a senior teacher:

“What if my child gets sick and I’m up all night? What if a family member lands in the hospital and I have to skip a day?”

His reply: “Then you won’t know what it’s like to do it for 1000 days straight.”

I don’t know what I was expecting — maybe a pass, like “come back to it as soon as possible and pick up where you left off”. But I do know that I was looking for an honest answer, and I got it.

I did my first 1000 consecutive days (it would be one of many). No one ended up in the hospital, and I realized the challenge wouldn’t be emergencies. It would be me.

Once I decided, I designed—to get me out of the way.

Decision vs. design

• Decision is internal. It’s I’m doing it, not I’ll try. No daily renegotiations with every false urgency.

• Design is external. Calendars, default options, social scripts, containers–everything that removes friction so motivation becomes irrelevant.

How I designed 1000 days with young kids

When I did my first 1000-day, my children were 4 and 9 years old. Young kids are fully capable of supporting our decisions when supported by design–

1. Calendar: 4 to 6:30 am was blocked on my calendar as “sadhana” to cover my wake up stack + meditation

2. Sleep: I was in bed by 9 pm so lack of sleep couldn’t veto the decision. Which meant kids were expected to be in bed by 8/8:30.

3. When: I started meditation by 4:30 am.

4. Where: I chose a corner of the living room, set up the night before.

5. If/then #1: If I went to bed at 11:00, I still got up and did it.

6. If/then #2: Kids will wake up earlier and wander in, especially during me time. So I told them: When mommy’s on her mat, this means I’m taking care of myself, which is important for everyone to do. I’m done at 6:30. If you’re up before then, choose how you will take care of you until I’m finished. Want to plan a few ideas?

Still, they came to me several times in the beginning to say, Mommy? Mommy? Then they walked away to do their own thing. I stayed quiet, listening for true emergencies. They learned self-trust because I didn’t jump. When my son was sick, he laid on my lap while I continued—no other engagement other than laying a hand on him in acknowledgment.
Meditation doesn’t make you oblivious to your surroundings; it makes you aware while turned inward, and without the scatter.

My second 1000-day practice involved inhaling through my left nostril and exhaling through my right (among other things: mantra, stomach pumps). There were days when congestion made it hard. I did it anyway. My mantra: Act better than I feel. By the end, my sinuses cleared—as if they conceded to my decision.

Why am I telling you this?

Meditation isn’t just for firefights to calm an unusually anxious moment. It’s training for design—so you don’t depend on mood to do what matters. Rhythm becomes muscle memory. You stop needing inspiration, and instead you become the inspiration. Some call a daily, non-negotiable practice rigid. It isn’t. It’s an anchor—deep roots that allow for flexibility, agility, spontaneity, and letting go.

You can do this with food.

In fact, before the 1000-day meditations, my first morning sadhana was cooking. I got up early and made warm breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner before little feet entered the kitchen. If they woke up early, I’d greet them with a warm hug and kiss, and quietly give them the appropriate kitchen tool to help.

Meditation anchors the decision in the morning; your food design carries it through the afternoon.

The lunch law

The law: I eat a warm, simple lunch inside my chosen 10-2 window… before the crash.

Menus may flex, but the standard doesn’t. Everything else is design.

Why this matters for brain health: warm + on-time steadies glucose and breath, calms gut signals, and upgrades prefrontal follow-through (decide → do → finish).

Want the brain mechanics? Read the Calm Brain preview—You’re not distracted, you’re externalized.

Stop renegotiating lunch. Paid subscribers get my Design Toolkit next Wednesday—so “warm, simple, on time” becomes automatic. Pair it with the Calm Brain framework and you’ll feel the focus shift in a week.

Put it into practice

Decide (today)

• Choose the earliest steady time between 10 and 2 (for lunch). My time is 11:30.

• Commit to the law: warm, simple, on time.

• Treat it as real: it goes on your calendar.

Design (so you actually do it)

• Work backward from eat-time so you’re not chopping while you should be eating.

• If/then: If a meeting lands at 11:30 to 1 pm, then I eat at 10:50 or I bring soup.

• When/where/how: When you’ll eat, where you’ll sit (not your desk), and how it will be warmed.

• Phones out of the dining area (or Do Not Disturb during lunch block so calls/texts queue quietly).

Next Wednesday for paid subscribers: The Design Toolkit—I share the exact moves that make this effortless: 3-2-1 weekly stock, warm kit, two-out plan, two warm standbys (~10 min), red lentil bowl, thermos rice, boundary scripts, and friction fixes that protect your window without willpower.

— Savitree
Your guide to Food as Medicine—warm meals, calmer gut, clearer days.