Habit, Routine and Making it Work
Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 12:52 pm
I was thinking about habit and routine and why yesterday was a failure for No-S for me yesterday.
I couldn't bring myself to call a Wednesday an S day or to declare a meeting/party I didn't really want to go to an S event. It seemed like a waste. NWS days that aren't actually holidays or birthdays of people important to me seem like a waste. And yet...
Did not declaring it an S-day stop me from breaking habit? No, it didn't.
Part of it, of course, was that the simple act of making cookies on a Wednesday wasa break in habit for me. I only make treats on S-days. My mind, when I am making a treat, says that I have permission to nibble a bit because if I'm making a treat, it must be an S day, right?
While annoyed at the failure, I'm happy at the connections that are being made. I can use that strong, natural tendency to my own benefit!
I'm halfway tempted to "practice" by making S-day treats in advance sometimes to create a mental disconnect between the act of baking/making them and actually eating them. It won't be this month, though. My challenge this month is to stick to S days and create the Urban Ranger habit. I won't work on more than one habit at a time for awhile.
I couldn't bring myself to call a Wednesday an S day or to declare a meeting/party I didn't really want to go to an S event. It seemed like a waste. NWS days that aren't actually holidays or birthdays of people important to me seem like a waste. And yet...
Did not declaring it an S-day stop me from breaking habit? No, it didn't.
Part of it, of course, was that the simple act of making cookies on a Wednesday wasa break in habit for me. I only make treats on S-days. My mind, when I am making a treat, says that I have permission to nibble a bit because if I'm making a treat, it must be an S day, right?
While annoyed at the failure, I'm happy at the connections that are being made. I can use that strong, natural tendency to my own benefit!
I'm halfway tempted to "practice" by making S-day treats in advance sometimes to create a mental disconnect between the act of baking/making them and actually eating them. It won't be this month, though. My challenge this month is to stick to S days and create the Urban Ranger habit. I won't work on more than one habit at a time for awhile.