Sticking to goals is never easy, and neither is the stress that comes with sticking to them: I wonder how many people are just about ready to bite their colleges head off if they do that tapping thing with their pen one more time? Three days without cigarettes and coffee can do that to people.
How are you getting on with yours?
This year I decided to take up running again after a break of about 9 months. My plan was to run not just once a week, but every other day – consistently, without fail. I know what you’re thinking… nice idea but you wait until its minus 2 degrees outside, raining and the thought of getting of out a cosy and warm bed before breakfast to go for a run is about as appealing as sticking pins in my eyes.
Lucky for my eyes, I’ve known of a simply trick for forming new positive habits such as running regularly, or meditating each day. It’s actually so simply it probably sounds too good to be true, but try it and you might be surprised.
Commit to just 1 minute today.
Everyone has a single minute to spare, and if you don’t then you have my permission to skip the rest of this post to save one for the future.
Still reading? Good. You see, when you fail to develop a new habit (and I've been there countless times in the past, believe me!) it’s often because it just seems like too much work. Seems great when you’re dreaming it up in the first place though… “this year each day I'm going to write 10 pages, run 10 miles, and meditate for an hour. Easy, I’ll do it, and I'm going to start next week after that work project is finished when I’ll have much more time and energy to spare”. I know someone who used to come out with things like that all the time. In fact, I know him very well.
It wasn't until I started the practice of just committing to a short amount of time that I really started making progress. For example with running, I know that even after not running for 9 months I can go out and run for a minute without feeling like crap. What normally happens is that 1 minute goes well so I think to myself, why not do another 4 minutes? Before I know it I've run for 20. Then, 2 days later and with that small accomplishment under my belt, I’ll commit to another short amount of time. Fast forward a couple of weeks, and after a number of small wins I no longer have to make the commitments because the in-built reward system we were all born with automatically kicks in, and I can’t wait to go for a nice long run! With the small wins to start you off with you quickly learn that it not only wasn’t really all that difficult, but the good feelings you got afterwards actually make it well worth the effort, so eventually it becomes effortless.
This same technique I used to develop the habit of meditating each day, either with or without the Ennora meditations. I started out with just a commitment of 5 minutes a day and quickly built up to an hour. Now, I love meditating every day, and just as with the running I know exactly how to effortlessly pick it up again should I ever take a break from it in the future.
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