Harnessing Habits
Has this ever happened to you?
You make a New Year’s Resolution or set an important goal. When it’s first made, you’re enthusiastic, highly motivated, and aware of your actions. Over time, the goal dims as other aspects of life compete for your time. The goal is no longer in the forefront of your awareness and your energy for attaining the goal dwindles. When you recognize that you’re not following through on your intention, you give up.
It’s happened to me. When I was a teacher, I set a resolution to exercise at the gym 3x/week. I bought a membership, the gym was fairly close to work, and I was motivated to go. I started out strong, but after a few months realized that I wasn’t going to the gym anymore. Parent conferences had to be prepped for, lesson plans needed to be made and prepped, papers needed checking, report cards had to be completed, after school meetings had to be attended… I was frustrated that I had somehow failed even though I knew how important the regular exercise would have been for my stress level and overall health and wellbeing.
So WHY does it happen?
Thirty years of research (Wendy Wood) has demonstrated that it happens because our good intentions, motivation, and self-will are not enough. There are days that we are tired, or just don’t care enough. Life calls us to attend to other pressing issues – tending to a sick loved one; having to meet a deadline for work, etc. On those days, we fall back into our former patterns of living. When this happens too many times, we lose the battle.
“You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily.
The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”
- John C. Maxwell
WHAT can be done differently?
We can keep, lose, and create habits!
Our brains are geared toward doing as many actions as possible throughout our day habitually. In fact, experts estimate that we spend 43% of our day acting without thinking about those actions. We brush our teeth without thinking about finding our toothbrush, deciding to put on toothpaste, discerning which teeth to start brushing first and so on. Some of our habitual behaviors link together into a routine. Our mornings may look very much the same on any given day. Think about the morning routine that you engage in. Do you follow the same general flow of actions? Do they deviate more on weekends than during the work week? Do you generally have the same lunch routine (maybe even down to the foods you typically have for lunch)? These habitual actions and routines serve the important purpose of freeing up our brains to address vital tasks that require conscious thought and decision-making and our brains are all about that!
Consider your current habits…
Do they empower you or disempower you?
Do they limit you or free you?
Do they help you or hinder you from reaching your goals?
So… our brains LOVE habits! Over the next several weeks, I will post additional blogs that explore more about why and how habits form, how to keep and create habits, and how to let go of habits that have a negative impact. Let’s learn how to keep those New Year’s Resolutions!!
Be Well!
