It's almost the end of the year. Have you assessed your habits lately? Have you changed any of them?
We don't often change our habits. We tend to stick to them like glue. We say we are going to start the new year and change some habits, but do we really? Not many of us do. So, before the end of the year, we are going to look at one habit and decide how will we change it. To help you, this monthly organizing challenge is about setting new habits.
Why do we need to set new habits?
There are many reasons for why we need to set new habits. Here are a few. It will help improve our health and emotional stability. It will help us do more things in a shorter amount of time. It will also help us enjoy our life more.
How do I begin this challenge?
Pick one habit you want to change. I am not going to say "bad" habit because I don't want you to think that all habits are bad. Some may just not be as effective or productive as others. We tend to assume that habits are bad and in turn judge ourselves for doing them.
These habits do not need to be extravagant or life altering. It needs to be something you can change over a month. Here are some suggestions:
- Stop eating before you go to bed.
- Eat more veggies.
- Eat more fruit.
- Pick up stuff left at the doorway every night and put it away.
- Go through your mail every day and recycle the unwanted mail.
- Clear out your work computer inbox each day.
While doing research on this topic, I found this great video by BJ Fogg that will explain why you need to pick small habits to change.
Determine why you want to change this habit.
Why do you want to change that habit? Does the habit not work for you? What is it that you don't like about the habit?
Now that you have determined your habit to change, how to stick to your new habit?
First, you need to remind yourself of the new habit. So, you need to create a "trigger" for the good habit. For example, add the new habit after something you have been doing already, like after I brush my teeth, I will floss. The new habit will be daily flossing. By doing this, it will become a routine. Next, you will need to create a motivation to do this, like it will help bring down the cost of my dental visits which will help me save money.
Here is another video with BJ Fogg that will give you more guidance.
I hope this helps motivate you to change your habits. Good luck on this month's challenge. Let me know what habit you want to change and how it goes. Please leave a comment below.
Autumn Leopold
Changing some of my habits has been weighing on my mind heavily. Starting with a tiny habit is so true. Often when I go big it only last so long then I give up and fall backwards. There is a great book about this called "Habit Stacking" by SJ Scott. Thanks for a great post Sabrina!
Sabrina
Thanks for the suggestion, Autumn. I will check it out. I always feel more empowered by looking at smaller habits that I can change than focusing on the larger ones. It gets me overwhelmed.
Sarah Soboleski
I like the videos you've added to this post - great for visual and auditory learners! I was talking with a friend recently about how long it takes to make/break a habit and research says it's close to 66-days as opposed to the 21-day myth we often hear. It just goes to show this is hard work! Thanks for some good motivation!
Sabrina
Thanks for sharing the research. I understood it was 30 + days. But, I think 66 days sounds more accurate.
Regina Sanchez
Very nice! It's like trying to change the food we eat. Instead of depriving yourself start eating good healthy food. It will push out the bad. Same here. Start a new habit and the bad will be undesirable.
Jill Robson
I want to change my tendency toward negativity, so that is the one thing that I am focusing on right now. Picking just one is enough to see change. Love the videos.
Hilda
I love the idea of reflecting on habits towards the end of the year! So often we only focus on changing habits in January and then spend the rest of the year feeling like failures if we weren't successful at changing them. Who says January is some magical time for habit-forming? It's just a day on the calendar. As good as any other day. Thanks for the tips in this post!
Sabrina
I totally agree, Hilda! I actually like to start new habits in November or September.
Hazel Thornton
I'm fascinated with habit change and have a few of my own that I need to change or establish. Earlier this year I read Gretchen Rubin's new book, and previously Charles Duhigg's. Was not familiar with BJ Fogg, but enjoyed the videos, thanks! Also found all three of them in this article: http://www.macleans.ca/society/life/how-to-be-happy/
Natalie Gallagher
Sabrina,
This is such a key topic...we can purchase nifty organizing tools until we are blue in the face, but if we don't change our habits, new organizational systems will never be successful. Habit change is such a fundamental building block of leading an organized lifestyle. Thanks for sharing
Janet Barclay
I want to break the habit of working on weekends - not altogether, but not as a regular practice. I was doing well up until this summer when I decided to redesign my website. Now that it's done, I want to spend more time away from my desk!
Seana Turner
Habits are more powerful than we realize. Once we form a habit, it is actually difficult to break it, right? So forming habits that serve us worth the effort.
Sabrina
Yes, That's way I like BJ Fogg's video. If one can add the new habit to an existing habit, it will remind he/she to do the habit. It does take some to figure out the best place to put the new habit. Thanks for sharing.