As you may know, I decided this year that I wanted to develop at least 8 new habits this year. So I started a group on Facebook suggesting we start with two and then add two new ones each month for four months. Which was a good plan because it's doable. But I started with 8 so now I'm maintaining ten.
Here are two things I learned from two separate podcasts I listened to recently.
The first is that you just gotta do the bare minimum every single day to form a habit. This means that if the habit I forming is to walk for exercise every day you just have to make it a habit to get the tennis shoes on and walk for a minute a day to start. There's power in momentum.
The second is that you can add a little bit more to each habit as you go along. The podcast I heard this morning talks about how every person who is the best in the world at what they do didn't suddenly break a record. They just practiced daily and each day went a tiny bit farther, pushed a tiny bit more, lifted a few ounces more, pushing themself day by day to do a little more until they became the best in the world.
It's interesting how this works. Let me give you an example.
Since COVID hit I have been watching way too much TV. So I decided that I was going to read 20 minutes a day this year. I was just going to form a reading habit. So before I can turn on the TV I have to read for 20 minutes. My goal is 60 books this year and I have already read 17. Why? Because when I grab the book (or the iPad) and get started, sometimes I don't want to stop.
Last year I started walking and my goal was 2500 steps a day. I increased it by 500 a week and by the time I got to August and had the stress fracture in my foot I was walking 9500 steps a day. I was walking farther than I had ever thought possible.
Here's another example. I decided to do at least one thing each day that would declutter or clean something in the house. Typically Bart does the cleaning and my areas (which aren't very big -- my desk, two shelves of one bookcase, my nightstand, half the dresser, and about 1/3 of the closet) get cluttered. (I am a minimalist -- the rest of the space in the house belongs to Bart and his stuff. He's the "homemaker" -- I make the money. I know, weird, huh? But it's how we role and I don't need a lot of space.
Anyway, you wouldn't believe how much doing one thing a day and having a 43 day streak has done. All of those areas are really tidy... and they stay tidy. I have even washed our toilet a few times ... it's kinda crazy how much difference a few minutes a day makes.
If you want to form a new habit, just pick something and do it every single day -- even if it's just a little bit. And you'll be surprised how much you get done.
Next month I'm adding two more habits (actually replacing one). I'm going to drink nothing but water for a month (actually for the 40 days of lent). And I'm going to replace my "exercise daily" with a step goal of 2500 again with the idea of increasing that every week for the month. Who knows... maybe if I keep adding by the week I'll make it back to where I was last year before I hurt my foot.
All this stuff is really empowering to me. This month I went back to strict Keto and I've lost 17 pounds in 2 weeks (of course, I gained twenty the month before, so it really doesn't count for much). But the daily streaks and increasing a little bit each day work for me.
Maybe it will for you. Reach out if you want to know more -- I'd be happy to help!
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