The 21 Day Challenge (Part 1)

I've been thinking a lot about how easy it is to get overwhelmed with all the things that need to be done day in and day out. There are so many areas in my life that I feel need improving, but I almost always fall short of the expectations I have for myself. I think one of my major struggles is having too many things I want to improve all at once. I have to keep telling myself..."small steps, small steps."

I make routines, I set goals, I try to stick to them and I inevitably fall short. I think routines and goals are very important and the idea of running on auto-pilot each morning and evening is very appealing to me. More than routines and goals though I also want to talk a little bit about forming habits.

Sticking to routines and setting goals are excellent ways of forming new habits, however, having a solidly formed habit makes sticking to routines and accomplishing goals so much easier. It's interesting how all three things compliment one another so well. I believe having a routine that includes a long list of things to be accomplished can be counter productive unless most of the items in the routine are already habits.

For example, if I had a morning routine that I did first thing each morning after waking up and it included "showering, eating breakfast and brushing my teeth" I might do alright if I were already accustomed to brushing my teeth, showering and eating breakfast on a fairly regular basis. But, lets say I was feeling ambitious and I added to my morning routine "exercise 30 minutes, take vitamins, water plants, wash the dishes, make the bed, scrub the toilet, sweep the porch" and any other number of things that I was NOT in the habit of doing at all. More likely than not, I am setting myself up for failure by having an unrealistic list of expectations for myself to accomplish each morning.

A much better way of approaching my routine would be to keep the things I am already accustomed to doing and only add one thing (perhaps two depending on the difficulty of the new items). Then I could focus on the new item and set a goal to make the new item into a habit. Intense focus is what it takes to form a new habit. When trying to form too many new habits all at once, it is impossible to give every new habit the intense focus it needs to be nurtured into a regular habit that takes little effort to maintain.

Many self-help gurus agree that it takes around 21 days to form a new habit. It takes consistency, dedication and patience to do this, but the rewards of having a new habit that improves the quality of your life are well worth the efforts. To learn a new habit, first, you must decide on what habit you would like to have in your life. Second, make a plan that helps you follow through with your new habit each day. And third, focus your energies on accomplishing your habit each day and use positive affirmations to enforce your efforts.

Dangers of a cluttered house...

I grew up in a large family. My home growing up was a disaster zone. With Dad, Mom and eight children (me being one of the younger ones), it's no wonder the house was constantly in disarray. When I was young, maybe 6 or 7, I remember the bedroom I was in being so messy I honestly couldn't tell you the color of the rug. There were toys and clothes and all sorts of things strewn about the room completely covering it.

One day while playing with my younger brother in my room, I decided to walk over to the door so I could close it. On my way there, walking on top of bits of clothes and random toys, I felt a sharp pain in my little toe. I looked down and to my surprise, my toe was completely covered in blood. I didn't scream or yell or cry. I think I was more in shock than anything else.

I limped on my heal, keeping my toe off the ground, out the door and down the hall to my parent's room. I knocked on their door and told them I hurt my toe. They told me I'd be OK. I knocked again and told them it was bleeding. They told me to get one of my sisters to get me a band aid. I knocked a third time and told them it was bleeding pretty bad and I wanted them too take a look. At that, my dad finally opened the door, looked at my foot and picked me up in one great swoosh, rushing to the bathroom and plopping me down on the bathroom sink. He put my foot under the running tap water to wash away the blood and see how bad the cut was.

I had remained pretty calm up to this point. My dad's face turned pale and he yelled for my brothers and sisters. I told him what happened and he shouted at the siblings that had come to go look for a piece of my toe in the bedroom. I looked at my dad, probably turning pale myself. "Do I have to go to the hospital?" I asked. "Probably" he said, trying to keep me calm as I began panicking. I begged and pleaded with him not to take me to the hospital. I had never had stitches before and the thought of them petrified me. A moment later one of my sisters came into the bathroom holding my lost little toe piece.

To make a long story short, I was rushed to the ER and had my toe stitched back together. Later I found out what the cause of the accident was. Apparently, a glass jar had somehow broken on my bedroom floor and with all the toy and clothes and clutter I couldn't see it and had stepped right onto it.

Clutter in our homes can be dangerous. Think of the fire hazard a cluttered hall can be. How many toes have been stubbed and how many people have tripped over piles of stuff in their own homes. I tripped over a backpack while rushing down the stairs on my way to school one morning as a teenager. I fractured my foot and got out of gym class for 2 months as a result.

One good reason to take a look around and start picking up those piles is for our own health and safety. Speaking of which, I think I'd better go upstairs and start picking up a few piles myself. Maybe you can find something in your home to pick up as well. How about picking up your bedroom floor or any floor that you walk on. If your house gets as bad as mine, it can't all be done in a day. Small steps to success! God bless!