Form new habits however works for you. Rewards don’t work for me, so if they don’t work for you, don’t think you are broken or weak.
One thing that does help me form new habits is to get more outside myself and get my thoughts off myself. If I spend more time volunteering or cooking for my husband or writing a letter (yes, we write real letters. It’s uplifting. Try it.) I feel so doggone good, so newly plugged into life, more relaxed, more able, that I find it easier for the rest of that day to practice the new habit’s baby steps.
What helps you form and keep new habits? Please comment and tell us! So many tips and techniques our there – what’s your favorite for forming new habits?
Do You Believe in Willpower?
I don’t believe in willpower. Either I don’t believe in it, or mine’s just too tiny to believe in.
What I do believe in is prayer. And I believe that only new habits drive out old ones. New habits are formed baby step by baby step, and the smaller the first baby steps – micro-steps are best – the easier the baby steps are to repeat. Repeated baby steps build to a new habit, and the easier the new habit is to repeat.
It’s also critical to search out and list the barriers and pitfalls that will appear around you and doom the new habit to failure. List the barriers in advance. Solve them in advance. Make the solutions part of your baby steps.
When it comes to forming new habits, “barrier busting” and “baby step power” are what I believe in.
Do you believe in willpower? Or perhaps you believe in the power of habits?
I’ve proven over and over again that my new habit is only as permanent as my solution to the barriers that were preventing me in the first place. Do you agree with that?
I’m Dizzy with Fatique. You?
Have you ever worked so hard, tried so hard that you were dizzy with fatigue? And kept working until you were even more tired? So tired you broke out in silliness?
I’ve done that a few times, working on proposals. But there was something I was headed for, a prize I was seeking. Have you ever been pumped up with knowing that you were in the midst of doing your very best work? That was the prize I was seeking; I have felt it several times in my life – lifted up, buoyed up, lifting, flying, knowing that my work was receiving the very best I had. The work might not please everyone, there might be plenty of comments in red ink, but it was my very best work.
I hope to be lifted up many times when writing to you, buoyed up, doing my best work. I hope you are that way sometimes too.
Do You Think “Done” Is Better Than “Perfect”?
Are you familiar with this saying? In movie-making, when a scene’s been shot and it’s good, but some minor detail is off that can be fixed later in editing, the director says “Cut and print! We’ll fix that in post-production” meaning it’ll be fixed in editing. “We’ll fix it in post” is the director’s second chance to get just one or two last details done. For now, everyone gets to celebrate the 99+% that’s really good. And really done.
Now, take a breather, have a coffee, go home and celebrate. Celebrate that you’re done. Come in tomorrow and fix the rest in post.
I’ve said “We’ll fix the rest in post” a hundred times and felt great every time. Do you think it would work for you?