The year 2020. Do you consider it the end of the decade or the beginning of a new one? An even bigger question is: Are you ending bad habits from the old decade/year and beginning new good habits in the new decade/year? Whatever your answer to those questions may be, I would like to encourage you to choose to make some good habits for the coming decade.
As I look back at last year, I see so much wasted time. Wasting time seems to be a bad epidemic that is taking over our lives. It is so easy to pick up that little electronic device and play some mindless game and before you know it an hour has gone by and what has been accomplished? Those Electronic devices can be wonderful learning tools, think of how many books you can carry around and read and they can be stored in your back pocket. All the knowledge available at the touch of the screen. An hour spent reading a book can import endless knowledge into the brain.
Creating Good Habits
Many of us make the choice every January to get in shape, lose weight or just eat a better diet. These are great habits to form yet so often we give up before the habit is engraved in the brain. Before long the old habits of the potato chip bag beside the recliner or the can of pop always in hand slip back into the day to day routine.
I choose to look at this year as the beginning of some habits for a decade. Why stop with just a year? Make those good habits part of a lifestyle. It is not easy for sure. I am learning that planning out my week, writing it down on a planner helps. Somehow the act of pen to paper helps it stick in my brain a little bit longer and each morning I look at my week and create a list of things for that day. I hope to make this a habit that will change my life. (as long as I remember to look at the list)
How Long Does it Take?
Now for a big challenge. According to a study in the European Journal of Social Psychology it can take from 18 up to 254 days for an action to become habit. No wonder I still groan when the alarm goes off an hour earlier. I have been on that treadmill every morning for the past three weeks and it is still not automatic. I hope it does not take the whole 254 days to become a habit! However, this same study states that one mess up occasionally will not derail the whole process of learning. Thank goodness!! So you see, there is still hope for me and you.
I read this definition of the word Success. It is so true.
- S-ee your goal
- U-nderstand the obstacles
- C-reate a positive mental picture
- C-lear your mind of self doubt
- E-mbrace the challenge
- S-tay on track
- S-how the world you can do it
So here is to a year/decade of creating new and good habits to replace some of those self destructive automatic actions that have become such a big part of the daily routine.
What are some of the good habits you are creating for this new decade? Let me know in the comment section below.
