30 Days to a Habit Change - Day 1.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 12:30PM If I could change just one thing in my life, it would be to actually execute the items on my "To Do" list. I'm great at making the list, great at making the items simple and actionable, but terrible at executing them. I know for sure that if I did them, I would be so much happier and less stressed!
It takes around 30 days to start a new habit. Those first 30 days can be tough, so the best way to make them work is to make yourself publicly accountable. One of my favorite blogs, Zenhabits.net, describes this more in detail. Through some kind of web 2.0 magic, he manages to make a connection between pictures of nuns in habits to actually building habits. How, we'll never know. Anyway, I figure that since I have a blog, why not do it here.
Here we go, Day 1.
- I'm already familiar with Google Tasks and love it. I can get to it from nearly any computer and also on my iPhone.
- I've got a bunch (too many) lists, so I've created a "Do now" list that I can drag stuff to from my other lists.
- I put some things on that list yesterday while on a long drive. Not too many. I've read that getting 3 things done in a day is actually an accomplishment for busy people.
- I woke up this morning, read Yehuda Moon, checked the weather, and completely forgot about my promise to myself to do the list thing.
- Sh*t! My list! On it.
- Knocked out a couple of Hornet Juice orders, updated a client's workout schedule. Gotta go to work.
- Got to work really early. Read a client's workout log on the iPhone, sent an email, called the pharmacy about filling an asthma med prescription.
- Around lunch I realized that I was going to fail at this if I didn't do the public option. Wrote this blog post.
Fellow triathlete Jay Martin and I were talking about this stuff the other night. He said that after he did his half IM, he sat down and put together his list of things to do to catch up with life. He noticed that everything on the list was actually short and doable back when he was training, he was just putting it off. "Everything on that list, I could have done already." were his exact words. So true and something to think about.
I'm dedicated to posting once a day about how I'm doing, so stay tuned!
Reader Comments (1)
Lists are my life. Thanks for the cue... I really like that you're focused on making a habit, rather than breaking a habit. Perhaps in the creation of something beneficial, the habit that is unnecessary will fall away. Hmm... gone thinking.