I know how difficult it can be creating or developing a new habit. It could be trying to get up early in the morning, or a developing reading habit or even developing a new workout schedule.
Well, my main goal was to get a lot done in a day, which involved, waking up early, working out, drinking a lot of water, journaling, practicing yoga, meditating, writing (blog post and book), eating fruits, napping, working and going to bed early.
I know some of these may sound ridiculous to you but some people don’t have it as easy as you do.
I’ll share with you tips and the things I did to achieve what I wanted.
Tips
- Stop worrying and stop beating yourself up.
Worrying is about the worst form of mental activity. It doesn’t make it better, it just makes it worse and it is bad for your health. Stop worrying and focus on what you want to achieve.
- You’ll have to prepare your mind for the days that you are going to fall off or miss some things, be open to forgive and be kind to yourself and work towards progress and not perfection.
- Find someone to hold you accountable and keep you in check. If you can’t it’s still alright.
- Recognize the Little accomplishments.
Little accomplishments just like making your bed, cleaning your room, or even that first glass of water you drink in the morning, these were little but great accomplishments for me because once I was done I would just cross them off the list and that meant progress.
Now let’s get started on the things I did.
The first thing I did was to Make a list.
One of the things that kept me in check was writing down the things I needed to do in a day and crossing them off once it was done, it served as a reminder of the things I planned to do that day. That list contained everything thing from waking up, eating, cleaning and also laundry.
Just make sure you write exactly what you want to do and not anything else.
Find your why and your push
While working towards creating a new habit I was also trying to overcome procrastination, and I discovered a tool which helped me with that:5secondrule (I talked about this in my last post) it served as my push to getting the things on my list done.
And why? Why do you want this? Why do you want the change? That’s for you to figure out. Knowing my why also kept me going and whenever I was out of it, I always went back to why I wanted it.
Clean up and clear your workspace.
A clean and tidy workspace is essential I know how out of it and uncomfortable I feel when my surrounding is not tidy. A clean workspace or environment helps improve concentration and reduce distractions.
So, always clean up.
How did I get myself to start working and reading again?
It’s simple, start with baby steps
And I did by timing myself. I’ll set my stopwatch to 5 minutes and I’ll just code or read till the time is up and I’ll do that 3 times it increased to 10 minutes then to 15 minutes and I realized I always end up reading and coding up to an hour and even more. While I was setting time for reading and coding I also did set break times, it’s important to set breaks to avoid getting tired on time.
Waking up early
Well, I had to turn off my alarm, because I was trying to get enough sleep and wake up early, it helped, I started going to bed earlier than the normal time, 5 minutes earlier 10 minutes and before you know you 30 minutes earlier. Ever heard of:
“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” —Benjamin Franklin.
Yup, it works.
Try having your dinner a bit earlier so digestion can take place and you will be comfortable and ready for bed on time.
Turning off my alarm was me trying to stop policing my body or forcing myself to wake up when I actually do need more sleep. Maybe for you it’s turning on your alarm or deactivating the snooze button. Whichever works for you.
And that’s how I developed my new daily routine of reading in the morning, tea, yoga, meditation, working etc.
I know it’s not going to be easy at first but it’s going to be worth it, these are just suggestions and how I was able to achieve what I wanted, you can try it and also find what works for you.
Finally, I want you to know, there are going to be setbacks or days you don’t follow, but I want you to know it’s okay. You’ll need to forgive yourself, be patient and be kind to yourself, it takes a lot of practice and commitment.
Practice who you want to be.
Thanks for reading
Just sharing
Cindy.
Feature Image:
Glenn Carstens-Peters
The gifs are from giphy.com if you were wondering. check them out you’ll find something you like.
