Habits • Tips for making them + following through

Everyone talks a lot about goals. I would (and do) set them all the time, but I never really made any plans on how to reach them. It was more like, I’ll see what happens. I probably don’t have to tell you that I rarely meet them.

With the amount of downtime I’ve had, goals started to become more and more important to me. Without the daily distraction of steady work, I could see that without a plan, I was just going to continue to do the same thing everyday without any real direction.

With that said, this post is not about goals! (but i have some stuff to write on that so i will be sharing more). I read a book earlier this year, Atomic Habits, that changed the way I thought about a lot of things. Mostly, how I was going to achieve my goals; and that was with habits.

I am definitely not an expert (he is, read the book), but I wanted to share a few ideas that have already helped me make progress on small things in my life. I was sort of embarrassed that I never thought of creating habits focused on goals. I mean, duh. Carving away a tiny bit each day at something is bound to create results. I’m still working on consistency… my days vary so much it’s been hard to do things daily. But it has been a large part of getting me out of my 2020 funk and pushing me to get creative / active / healthy / organized / etc.

Here is what I have been working on so far and a few tips that have helped keep me on track.

Reading -

I made this both a personal and business goal of mine. I do love business and self-help type books, but they aren’t always easy to read or stay consistent with. My goal was to read everyday. So I chose 2 books; one business / self-help / non-fiction and one entertaining fiction / easy read. After trial and error, I found that trying to take in important information was not going to happen at night, so I split up my reading each day. This was also an effort to put my phone down and not watch tv (and this always happens in the morning with coffee or at night before bed).

Now in the mornings, I no longer check instagram. Instead I pick up something that is providing value to me or my business and read that with coffee. At night, I go with a lighter read, something entertaining, just to keep me off my phone and not focused on TV.

Chores -

I found this idea on a habit app I was trying out. Every day around 2pm (when i usually get super tired and unmotivated) I set a timer for 20 minutes and do chores around the house. My biggest one is laundry, it is ALWAYS piled up. Within a few days I had it under control. It’s crazy what you can get done in that amount of time. Another perk is you’re usually energized afterwards (if you suffer from the midday slump too), so doing this helps you get on with the rest of your day.

Workouts -

I’ve always been pretty good about getting a workout in the morning but I started to slip recently. It took a toll on a lot of things; my mood, my health, my focus at work, and my motivation the rest of the day. I have an accountability partner now, 6-7 days of the week. If we aren’t working out together, we’re working out virtually. And if we aren’t able to do either of those, we check in and tell each other what we did that day.

I also started using the apple watch and now closing my rings (the watch tracks your workout time, calories burned throughout the day, and hours you spend standing) is a daily goal that I cannot do without a workout.

Time Blocking -

This is last on the list because it has been the HARDEST. I envy people that can do, and stick to, this everyday. At the end of the day, I try to map out my next day, hour by hour. This includes everything; errands you have to run, lunch break, even time to go on instagram if that is part of your job or how you want to take a break. When I do it, it really helps keep me focused and productive. Something always comes up and I have to shuffle the schedule pretty frequently, but that is the idea. To get back on track, adjust and keep making progress.

In the past, I would have one or two major things that needed to get done, besides that I would let me day flow. This meant that I looked at email A LOT, I tackled small tasks that I really didn’t need to just because they were easy to get done, and I wasted a lot of time deciding what to do next.

The main goal behind implementing habits is to actually schedule things that move the needle.

And when you can do it consistently it works.

Habits I am adding

Now that i’ve been fairly consistent with those habits, i’ve been thinking about what i can add on.They’re things that I always have on my to-do list and am always moving to the next day. I know that if i commit to a small amount of time each day, i can make an impact on bigger projects i am working on.

Creating content-

I do love working in batches, but I also love being able to style or create something everyday. This habit is meant to push me to start creating content that has been on my long long list of things to share as well as to spend time being creative. It doesn’t mean I have to fully start and finish, it can be 20 minutes a day working towards finishing up in the future.

Writing-

I have so many blog post ideas that never get written. And not because it’s not in my head and i don’t have the info, I just never physically get to writing it down! Committing under 30 minutes a day will seriously help me get all of this onto paper (or a google doc) putting it one step closer to being published.

Journaling-

I’ve tried journaling and never felt like i knew what to write. I was sent the 5 minute journal as a gift and started that a few days ago. Knowing it will only take a few minutes of my day is huge. There are also prompts so I don’t feel like i’m starting with a blank slate (which always left me with nothing to write). I’ve just heard too many good things about journaling to not try it!

All together these additional habits take under an hour but will make a huge impact.

An hour I could probably steal from something I do that is not productive at all.

If you’re wanting to make changes this year and see progress on your goals,

here are 4 easy steps to map out some habits that will help get you there.

Write down your big goal
Ex. Your want your site to be a resource for your audience and provide valuable stories and ideas consistently
List actions you need to take that will help you reach that goal
Ex. You need to blog once a week
Break that down into smaller tasks
Ex. You will need to create a concept and write the copy for each post
Write down your new habit and set a realistic time limit
Ex. Every day for 20 minutes I will write drafts for future blog posts
Write down when and where you will do this new habit

Ex. I will write on my laptop in my favorite chair while i drink my coffee

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The idea is to have a time amount set for a specific, small, attainable task. The project details around that task can vary (like the example above, i’m always writing, but on different subjects). Imagine if you were trying to achieve the goal above, that’s an hour and forty minutes each week you’d habitually write… depending on the depth of each idea you could potentially write 2-3 posts in that time moving you closer to that goal!