Your Habit Is Your Habit

Have you ever wanted to create a new habit and wondered if you were doing it “right”? What “counts” for this habit as far as checking that “done” box each time?

And while we often think of achieving a goal, our habits are what get us to that goal. Our habits build the stepping stones to any goal.

Want to run a marathon? You’ll need to create the habit of running regularly.

Want to lose weight? You’ll have to create the habits of eating healthy foods and working out.

Want to write a book? You’ll need to create a habit of writing consistently.

And so on…and so on.

Want some tips on how to create a habit? Go here.

Here are some common questions we ask ourselves about a habit, and I’m going to use my habit of writing for 15 minutes Monday-Friday for my blog as an example:

• Does research count?
• What counts for “writing”?
• Does social media post writing count when I post a new blog post?
• Is 15 minutes too short each day? Should I be writing longer?
• Does creating photos for my blog count?

Here are some other common questions we might ask about what “counts” for a habit:

• Do habits have to be super stretching? Or are small, consistent habits that lead to baby steps of progress okay?
• Who says what’s okay?
• Is this habit legit?
• Will this habit make a difference in my goal?

One of my favorite authors, Jon Acuff, had a goal to read 100 books in a year. And he did it! He created a regular reading habit, and he nailed that goal!

When people asked him how he did it and what “counted” as a book, he told them children’s books, audio books, comic books, etc., counted.

Some people said, “Children’s books shouldn’t count!”

Others said, “Comic books shouldn’t count!”

Still others said, “Audio books shouldn’t count!”

Then he would reply to these people, and I love his reply, “Is this your goal? Or is this Jon Acuff’s goal? If it’s Jon Acuff’s goal, then he should be able to decide what counts.”

#Truth

When creating a new habit (and when working towards any goal), you are in charge of that habit. Not your best friend, not your sister, and definitely not that stranger on social media.

YOU are in charge of that habit.

You get to decide what “counts.” If others question you, remind them that this is your habit. If they’d like to do their own habits differently than what you’re doing, they should go for it!

And when it comes to creating a new habit, one thing I’ve learned that is super important is to make that habit small and simple and totally doable no matter what. Yes, you will have days when that habit is just not going to happen because life happens. But those days should be very few and very far between. I love this quote from James Clear, author of Atomic Habits (a book I highly recommend), that speaks to the importance of doing small habits consistently:

“If you get one percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done.”

I have 2 habits I’ve been keeping since October 1, 2021, and one I’ve been keeping since January 1, 2022. I’m not sharing this to brag but to prove a point. Keeping these 3 habits has allowed me to accomplish the following:

• Habit: Read 10 pages a day from a Success book (nonfiction book) = 3,070 pages read in Success books
• Habit: Write 100 words in my journal = 31,500 words written in my journal.
• Habit: Write for 15 minutes a day, Monday-Friday, for my blog = 32 blog posts written and 54.75 hours spent writing in my blog.

I’ve actually done more for each of these habits from time to time, but these habits are what I’ve committed to myself to do. If I go over, awesome! If I only stick to my commitment, awesome! And without these habits? The number of pages read, words written in my journal, and blog posts written would have been much less. Very much less. Maybe even zero in some cases. And let’s be honest: Anything is ALWAYS better than zero!

Here are the two key takeaways from this post:

When creating a habit…

• • 1. YOU get to decide what counts. Because it’s YOUR habit.
    2. Keep it super simple so you can be consistent.

What is a habit you’re working on? Do you struggle with what “counts” when creating a habit?