At Last, I May be Able to Create Habits for Life

Leave it to Leo Babauta to finally explain a method where anyone can form 6 new habits that last.

Pick six changes I want to make and break it down into eight baby steps. Each step is worked for one week, daily. At the end of eight weeks, I’ll have a shiny new habit that will make me happy and proud. That’s the theory anyway.

The six new habits for 2010 I wish to implement are:

Create an evening ritual.  You know why? no running around like mad in the morning. The first change is also broken down into eight baby steps.
floss teeth
wash face
apply hormones
preparing clothes/books for next day (two classes + physical therapy)/daily wardrobe
clean up kitchen
clean up desk
put away papers
meditate for 20 minutes

The remaining habits to form are below.

Morning ritual: no running around like mad in the morning.

Create and maintain a practice of writing down tasks to do in one place, then writing down a daily task list and a weekly review. (I’m sure you’re not like me….three places to store information electronically, four nice notebooks, but, then, oh, I forgot the notebook and so now I’ll write on a any ol’ piece of paper and where is that paper anyway…)

Planned eating of processed and sugared foods. Don’t do what I do: swear everything off, forever, then find myself within the hour eating the very item(s) I swore off.

Change and refine my listening and speaking (no umms/swearing/thoughtful use of verbs).

No complaining.

I’m also committing to making this habit formation public through my daytum account, where I can record my daily activities.

Like many, many Americans, I struggle to make changes in my life that facilitate a better physical, emotional and spiritual life. I actually think this Leo guy may be on to something. In fact, his approach to forming six new habits made me realize I can use the same methodology to complete six projects in 2010. More on that soon.

Wish me luck and keep me honest. What changes are you going to implement in 2010 for the rest of your life?

The At Last, I May be Able to Create Habits for Life by Jay Sennett, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.