I would like to preface this post with a disclaimer. I am not a perfect habit making person. In fact, as I will explain, my bad habits are too many to list. But, it's something I've been thinking about and so now it's in written form, which kind of frees my head of some space. :0)
My dad used to tell me, "Good habits are hard to start and easy to break, Bad habits are easy to start and hard to break."
If only I had listened.
Then, there's one of my favorite quotes; "We don't make our habits, our habits make us." *eye roll* oh great.
But it's the truth.
I think I mentioned that I recently joined a gym with BFF. It's been a kick in my butt, let me tell you! But, I've noticed that if I go, I feel a lot better about myself. Then there's the whole, I'm paying for this, I better use it-dilemma. I go at different times each day as it depends on when BFF goes or gets out of work. So, it's not a scheduled habit, but it's a habit all the same. So far, it's been fairly simple to maintain. I'm now waiting for the other shoe to drop. You know...how one week I'll make the excuses that I couldn't get to the gym for this, that or the other and then the next week, I won't feel like it and pretty soon I'm paying for a gym membership that isn't used. Isn't that the norm? Unfortunately for me, it is.
Luckily, I have BFF to keep me motivated and I've found that with the habit of going to the gym, other things are falling into place as well. I motivate myself easier to eat better, smoke less, and even write...
I've been writing every day. No word count or time limit. Just write something every day. I feel a lot better about myself, but as it did last year....the habit might break. Then you have to bring in the big guns. That Discipline stuff we already talked about. Habits and Discipline....what comes next? Well, more of the same, but then....success! And what is it we want? Success!
So tell me, what about your habits? Do you find good ones drop away too easily? Are the hard ones too hard to break? Any tricks?
One of my favorite writer quotes--and I don't know whose it is--was in response to the question, "Do you write when the muse strikes, or do you write on a schedule every day?" He said, "Oh, my dear, I always wait for the muse to strike. And she strikes at ten o'clock every morning."
ReplyDeleteWords to live by. I don't live by them.
I am an 'all or nothing' girl. There is no middle ground for me. I either do something all the way, no wavering or I blow it. Good habits included.
ReplyDeleteA body in motion tends to stay in motion.
ReplyDeleteIt's a rule of physics that rings true for writing--write and you find you want to keep writing.
I write at least during lunch hour every weekday, often more if my workload is light.