Winning Habits for You!
Building habits and developing rituals are another means of bringing deep satisfaction into your life. They facilitate accomplishing what you set out to do each day. Some habits take longer to develop while others can happen easily and without much effort on your part. All it takes is a willingness to begin.
Staying on the theme of the prior blog – (finishing what you set out to do each day)these are the habits to remove our “undone” frustrations, help us get out of our own way and establish boundaries that prevent unnecessary distractions from others.
Here are a few things that will be helpful to examine before you create new habits of accomplishment -
- First identify what gets in your way.
- Clarify the things you can control.
- List the people you will allow to interrupt your actions and why.
- Develop a list of alternative actions.
- Create boundaries for the people who are frequent “intruders” in your day – for example, what times are you available, when is it ok to contact you etc.
Next create a list of “whys” you want to do “it” or for “this” to change. This is the list you go back to when you are tempted to get off course. The why is what pulls you back.
Examine the answers to the list above and find the time of day and all the other particulars of your life and decide the process you will take to begin and stick to your new habit.
Establish a day to begin your new habit or new ritual. I was reading “Inner Simplicity” by Elaine St. James and came across her piece on creating self-discipline. She suggested you get a calendar, buy some gold stars and every day you do what you set out to do, put a gold star on that day.
At the end of the month you want to have “gold stars” on every day. If not, to establish a new habit or a new routine, you need to begin again. But wait - all is not lost – you get to see the number of days you had increased satisfaction and celebrate as you begin again determined for an all-star month!
What are some of the ways you can gain more satisfaction in your day? How do you go about establishing a new habit or a daily ritual? How long do you find it takes before it is “second nature”?
Next…tolerations and how they affect your life…
Thanks for reading!
The “willingness to begin” is always a slippery slope. We can be willing and yet never begin. To never begin will lead to our unfinished intentions. It is the infamous circle that keeps perpetuating itself. Both of your blogs build on each other to help us build a path to lead us foward! Thanks, Kathy!
Great insights Shannon…what would cause you to begin?
A passion for something that reaches down in my heart and shouts ” see me, here I am.” I am looking, and I know it will come to me and introduce itself. Exciting perspective? You bet it is!