Forming New Habits

What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make. -Jane Goodall

         This year our life is changing. If you've read my previous posts, you know we are moving but not how we thought we would. We are renting the home we are in now and the landlord is planning on selling it. We have to be out before the end of the year and so we made a quick decision to move back to our home state. With this move there are going to be so many changes in our life and with that I want to make changes for myself. I used to wake up at six every morning to go running and while I do running and pilates now, I don't wake up quite as early. I want to start waking up at six again so I can have some time in the morning to read and work out before the kids wake up. A goal we have is buying a home in the next few years so I'm hoping to either start my own business or begin working again. We homeschool so I would only work part time so I can continue to teach the kids.

       I want to really focus on finishing my book edits and rewrites so I want to put aside a few hours a night to write. At the moment, I have to wait until the kids are in bed to write and while it will still be after the kids go to bed, I'll spend more than an hour on writing. I already have my second book planned out but I need to get the first one edited completely. In the US being a mom, stay at home or working, is difficult. I barely have time to focus on wiring now but when I begin working again that time is going to decline even more so. All my goals boil down to being more disciplined with myself. I've always been a fairly disciplined person but after having children, my discipline changed. I've become more relaxed and less driven so I want to get back to being driven. There's a saying that to be a good writer you need to be a reader. My goal for this year is to read 100 books to keep up with my writing skills and because I love reading. 

      Through life I heard that it takes about twenty-one days to make something a habit. How do you form habits? Most likely they come from doing something repeatedly. One thing that helps me to form habits is to write task lists. Another one is to reflect on my day when I'm winding down in the evenings. Writing down tasks the night before while I'm winding down it helps me to prepare to do things the next day. Now this doesn't work for everyone but I find that it is what works best to help my mindset for the rest of the week. The mornings is the time I like to work out despite not being a morning person because it helps me to wake up and have energy for the rest of the day. I have made that a habit by pulling myself out of bed because I had it as a task on my planner for the next day. What motivates you or helps you get through the day? What pulls you out of the bed? The promise of a good cup of coffee, the excitement of doing something that day, or is it to work on your passions? 

      If you're a creative person it's important to do something everyday that is creative, even if its just for fun. If you want to be creative, practice something every day. This leads to managing your time well and setting aside time to do these things. New habits are good because they lead to growth and you should always want to grow. If you're not learning and growing you can't move forward in life. You stick to one point of view, you don't gain new skills or knowledge. It's like being in limbo. 

          Do you have goals for this year? Are there some habits that you want to become natural to you? What are the things you have a passion for but haven't set aside time to learn or do? As we go through this year I want to try and upload some videos to my site and show some of what I do but that's something Ive been a little nervous to do. I hope that we can encourage each other through our goals this year.

Much love,

M