You guys are probably tired of hearing about my goals. Sorry! It's the new year. Something about it just feels like a blank slate empty and waiting for all my productivity ideas.
This one is pretty simple concept. We were out hiking in San Diego and Soon-to-be-Brother said something about how trying to build a bunch of habits at once is setting yourself up for failure (I tried to convince him to do a guest post on productivity, but I don't think I was persuasive enough, so you're stuck with me). Supposedly it takes 30 days of repetition to "build" a habit and it should become much easier to maintain after that point. With 12 months in a year, you could build all the habits you're trying to attain by simply going after them one at a time.
I liked the idea so much that I decided it was not a violation of the very precept of the "one priority a month" rule to try this habit building project in addition to themed monthly goals, a monthly self actualization project, seasonal goals, and annual on-going goals.
I mean... it's kind of different. All those things involve doing something - typically a task. Habit building involves working it into your routine. Also, the habits I'm going after are primarily things that are on my on-going goals list, so it's really more of a plan to achieve those.
Anyway, I'm going to try this out and see if I have any better success with building one habit at a time, as opposed to trying to drastically change everything all at once.
What is this month's habit building project, you ask? I'll tell you.
More specifically, adhering to a consistent sleep schedule, and a nightly/morning routine. When I tried this in the past, I only made it about a week, but this time I'm making it the priority for this entire month. Everything else is secondary.
The reason I chose this one as the first and most important habit is simple: When I get enough sleep, I feel more motivated to do everything else. I think if I got this down, everything else would become just a little bit easier.
Anyway, that's the theory. We'll see if it really works out as magically as I've envisioned it. In the upcoming months I'll also attempt to tackle (in no particular order): exercise, cooking and meal planning, work productivity, and chore/cleaning routine.
This one is pretty simple concept. We were out hiking in San Diego and Soon-to-be-Brother said something about how trying to build a bunch of habits at once is setting yourself up for failure (I tried to convince him to do a guest post on productivity, but I don't think I was persuasive enough, so you're stuck with me). Supposedly it takes 30 days of repetition to "build" a habit and it should become much easier to maintain after that point. With 12 months in a year, you could build all the habits you're trying to attain by simply going after them one at a time.
I liked the idea so much that I decided it was not a violation of the very precept of the "one priority a month" rule to try this habit building project in addition to themed monthly goals, a monthly self actualization project, seasonal goals, and annual on-going goals.
I mean... it's kind of different. All those things involve doing something - typically a task. Habit building involves working it into your routine. Also, the habits I'm going after are primarily things that are on my on-going goals list, so it's really more of a plan to achieve those.
Anyway, I'm going to try this out and see if I have any better success with building one habit at a time, as opposed to trying to drastically change everything all at once.
What is this month's habit building project, you ask? I'll tell you.
<3 Sleep <3
More specifically, adhering to a consistent sleep schedule, and a nightly/morning routine. When I tried this in the past, I only made it about a week, but this time I'm making it the priority for this entire month. Everything else is secondary.
The reason I chose this one as the first and most important habit is simple: When I get enough sleep, I feel more motivated to do everything else. I think if I got this down, everything else would become just a little bit easier.
Anyway, that's the theory. We'll see if it really works out as magically as I've envisioned it. In the upcoming months I'll also attempt to tackle (in no particular order): exercise, cooking and meal planning, work productivity, and chore/cleaning routine.
Do you have a system for building habits? What changes would you like to make to your routine? Do you have a routine at all?
