Streaking

I am very motivated by streaking.  And no, that doesn't mean running around with my clothes off as was popular in the seventies when I was an impressional child.  And you know, I don't do anything with my hair, so it isn't putting different colors in my hair.  I've never dyed it.  In fact, when someone asks me if I have I laugh because they don't sell "disappointed blonde" as my brothers called it or "Field mouse brown" which is how my husband describes it.

What I'm referring to is the momentum that is caused by creating a streak and then not breaking it.  I made so much progress last year with my health by participating in challenges that caused a streak of behaviors. For example, I set on a walking plan where I increased my daily step count goal by 500 steps a week from 3000 to 9500 when I got a stress fracture in my foot which halted all progress.

I participated in a 75 day "Mental Health Challenge" which meant I had to do two workouts a day, not cheat at all, drink nothing but water, and have daily devotions...  That was amazing because I did it and because of the progress. that I made with weight loss.

Those things led to a 50 pound weight loss last year, and I want to do it again in 2021 so I started a Habit Kick Start group on Facebook and about 25 of us are reporting daily on two new habits a month.

Of course, you know me.  I had to be an overachiever, so I picked eight things and have done them straight through for 31 days.  But let me tell you what this means.

My focus goals for this month were to read the daily Bible reading this month which was easily done because this has been my habit for 4 years.

My second was to replace TV watching with reading for 20 minutes a day.  Interestingly enough, once I got interested in a book I typically read more and I will finish the month having read 13 books!  That's pretty impressive since my goal for the year is only 60 (and I thought that was high!)

I also added decluttering a little bit every day.  I have to tell you that most of the crap around here does not belong to me, but I focused on things that did and have made some pretty good progress.  It's not actually decluttering as much as it is keeping my spaces clean, but my bedroom dresser and night stand and my desk in the home office has stayed cleaner than it has been in years.

I added blogging each day too, which I hope has helped someone along the way somehow.  But it feels good to be back in this habit.

I stuck exercise in to start slow.  Any exercise counts.  Usually it has been a short walk on days that are nice or a workout video -- only 6 or 7 minutes -- but it's better than nothing.   I will increase this as the months go by.  

I also decided that I wanted to start listening to more podcasts.  So here I am, 31 podcasts episodes later with knowledge about all kinds of things I didn't have a month ago

Finally I decided to reach out to someone every day that either was from my past or someone for work -- and I have done that.  Which has led to 31 cool conversations I wouldn't have had others.

I have a 31 day streak going on all these things and the more days I have built up the less likely it is for me to stop.

This month I am adding a 28 day no cheat streak on my Keto diet and I also want to delete at least 200 old emails and unsubscribe from one email list that I don't read each day for 31 days.   

I love streaking!  It motivates me.  If you'd like to join the Habit Challenge we start fresh tomorrow, the 1st.  Just add me on Facebook and we'll go from there!

Happy streaking everyone!