For the last couple of months, I have been reading Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin. I have found “the habit book,” as I have taken to calling it, extremely interesting and helpful. It looks at why we form bad habits, struggle to maintain good ones and how we can improve our habits to enrich our lives. I still haven’t finished the book, and my progress in forming better habits has been a bit uneven, but just understanding myself better has been a big help as I try to be a bit more productive every day.

As I took a break from reading to put together a DFS lineup the other day, I got to thinking about my DFS habits. There is no doubt my DFS play has improved this season as my DFS habits have improved. With that in mind, here are some DFS habits I want to follow, and habits I would like to break.

 

Habits to Follow:

  • Don't follow contests live.

I know a lot of people will read that and say “where is the fun in that?” I fully expect it, because that was the exact reaction I had when I heard the suggestion PGA DFS players should not look at their lineups until after the cut on Friday.

I know a lot of people really enjoy tracking their lineups’ progress in real time, but I really don’t. I do it because I want to know what is happening, but in the end I spend way too much time agonizing over results I have no control over. The days I enjoy DFS the most are the days I set my lineup, go live my life, and return hours later to find more money in my account than when I started. I’m not going to give up scoreboard watching cold turkey, but I know I will be happier if I can reduce it.

  • Give myself a time limit

Unless I am writing the DFS MLB Playbook or the hitting coach, I do not need to spend three hours a day on DFS. If I haven’t created a competitive lineup in an hour, the odds are pretty good I am never going to. I really like the idea of setting aside one uninterrupted hour for DFS and then walking away (except to make sure all the guys I picked are actually in the starting lineup).

  • Play DFS every day

The other benefit of setting aside a predetermined amount of time for DFS is it ensures I actually get to play every day. I want to play DFS every day, because I enjoy it and I usually make some money. I know I will be happier if I schedule an hour to set my lineups after lunch rather than hoping I will find time in my busy day.

  • Stick with what works

I know variety is the spice of life, but I tend to get myself into trouble when I make drastic changes to the way I play. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, you usually do not need to make big sweeping changes in your DFS life. If you keep doing what you are doing you will likely be just fine in the long run.

 

Habit to break

  • Assigning blame

I don’t have the luxury of blaming the idiot who gives me my fantasy advice every time my lineups do not perform the way I thought they would. I mean, I could do that, but I have enough self-loathing as it is; I don’t need any more. In all seriousness, though, I want to stop dissecting every roster decision, trying to find where I went wrong. There is nothing wrong with trying to learn from your mistakes, but often the best thing you can do is just put it behind you and go on to the next contest. I am confident that will work out better for me.

One of the toughest things is identifying your bad habits. I know I have more bad DFS habits I should break, but I cannot think of them for the life of me. I guess when they come to me I will just have to use them for a new DFS MLB strategy article. Until then, I want to hear from you. What habits have led you to DFS success? What habit do you wish you could cultivate, or put behind you? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter.