As you return from a lovely long weekend (hopefully all true), notice your good and bad habits perhaps exaggerated by the gift of more free time. The Black Friday sales blew up my inbox and I realized I was scrolling for a very long time each day this weekend. I must admit I bought a new humidifier and a couple of stocking stuffer gifts. Note to self: delete, don’t open.
Let’s start with your phone, shall we? Is it the root of all bad habits? Notice the biggest time suckers. Notice your patterns. Some are good. Start a 3 column list – good, bad and delta-needs to change. You might have a bad habit you don’t want to change. Don’t bother to put it in the delta column. As you go through the next couple of days, add to your list. There is something satisfying about describing the situation even before doing anything to address it.
Where else do you have good or bad habits to be noted? Remember that we really only can control/change ourselves. Some good habits that I am continuing: Drinking a glass of water in the first hour I’m awake. Doing some stretching when I take the dog out back first thing in the morning, with a newly added routine of doing 20 backwards facing pushups off the picnic bench and 30 squats. If I am lucky, he will finally have peed by then.
Perhaps, you have a practice of reaching out to check in with remote coworkers, and you have stayed consistent with that. Or, you have set due dates and times for yourself and your team and it has become their practice, too. When you have added to the list for a few days, review it and see what you should do more of, less of and what is just right. Make the delta/change column realistic. If it is a long time habit, it won’t be easy to change. Give yourself some grace, and some easy wins. I can delete the emails with Black Friday sales. Now to resist the Cyber Monday ones.
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