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.