Habits Archives

April Mid-Month Habit Check – Determine your Priorities

April 19, 2018 3 Comments

Is this month headed for another slump? As I was looking at my habit tracker earlier this month, I silently grimaced. It seems as though these supposed life-improvements are not improving anything! My thoughts meandered around this subject as I checked off other tasks through the day. Later that night, I realized something. It’s not earth-shattering, but it could be life-changing. The goal is to make these habits come naturally and automatically, but they don’t at first. They need a conscious effort.

Determine Your Priorities

I go throughout my day expecting for these habits to happen (because they’re habits right?) Habits just happen. Well, these are not well-formed habits yet. They are only habit seedlings. Tying back to my word of the year “Grow,” these little seeds need nourishment and given priority. If they don’t get priority, they will get pushed to the way-side and wither. This piece of information was like an entirely new revelation. Why hadn’t I thought of this before?!

In the 365-day project on Skillshare (check out the intro to that class) Cynthia says to get very specific with the time to work on the project. Habits need the same care and planning. The things I practice aren’t going to happen by themselves, and I know as well as anyone, if I leave them to the end of the day, they aren’t getting done.

Ask Every Day:

Every day I ask myself ‘where are your priorities’? Do you want this to really be a habit? As you can see, going to bed and getting up early is not a priority for me this month #5 & #11 and #1 needs work too. But after I shifted my perspective, I started putting more time and effort into making sure I do the other items on my habit tracker. I am nowhere near perfect, but the shift in thinking is substantial.

Determine your priorities: Habit tracking - the shift in perspective that changed everything.

Definitions

There are some habits on my tracker that will never receive a 100% completed mark at the end of the month. Like “not a dollar spent”. I can’t eliminate groceries, gas, and other necessities throughout the month. But I can define it better ‘as no frivolous spending’ or set aside specific days to grocery shop.

There are other habits that are simply not getting priority placement in my day. 8 glasses of water, 7000 steps, in bed by 11 are a few. If I truly want these to become a habit, which is where I don’t have to think about them anymore, then I need to think about them {a lot} to form the habit. They need to sit forefront in my mind and not just exist in my life as something ‘nice to do’. Determine your priorities, do you really want these things on your daily to-do list done? Do you really want to create a habit out of these items? If so, they need a higher priority.

Design This Month – Habit by Number

If you’ve been a reader of this blog for a month or more, you should know that I hated March’s layout. For April’s Mid-Month Habit Check, I resumed grid/box layout. But this month I ordered them by number and added a little flip-out key at the bottom. I went through each item and assigned a name and definition to the number. I filled in the obvious ones first, like 8 glasses of water, in bed by 11, and then I matched up numbers with goals. Some are kind of silly or a stretch, but it was fun!

I don’t think I’ve ever posted what all my habits are, sometimes I let you find out on your own if you want. Sometimes I cleverly crop the photo to exclude those habits, but I decided to share them with you, partially so I could explain my method, but partially because I am now more accountable for them because I shared them publicly and with friends. Hold me accountable ok? But be nice about it – life happens. I’d do the same for you.

What DO the Numbers Mean?!

Not 1 dollar spent (the opposite page is a spending tracker – I am excluding all of those things on the spending tracker. If we need gas or if I take the kids to the doctor, I exclude those from my tracking. But if I buy medicine at the store and some other things too, that counts against the tracker!)
2 Prayers said (personal prayers)
3 kids need attention (it’s a good thing I don’t have 4 or more, I’d be neglecting at least one each day)
4 pillows on a made bed – truth be told, we have more pillows than that, but I want a made bed!
5:30 up – I have a love-hate relationship with mornings. When I’m up, I love them. When I love my bed too much to get up, I hate them.
6 Dinner ready. This pairs nicely with #1, if I have dinner ready, we will be less likely to go out to eat. The hubby gets home at 6, so it all works out.
7000+ steps. I know the recommended steps are 10,000, but 10 was already taken and I am building up to a higher number. A month ago, the steps goal was 5,000. So I am doing well!
8 glasses of water. The best way for me to do this one is to start early in the morning. Get 4 in me before I leave for work then it’s not so daunting.
9 minutes of reading. I didn’t have something that fit 9. Nine is less than 10, which makes it seem even less overwhelming right?
In my 10 minutes – give myself credit for the things that I do.
In bed by 11. I have to chuckle as I look at the clock right now, it is 11:09 pm. Oh, the Irony! If I can make this a more regular habit, #5 will be easier too.

Overall Summary

I LOVE the idea of “Habit by Number” and that may become my new thing. It becomes less overwhelming assigning a number and specifics to the task. The goals are clearer and I can see an end in sight. Numbers add specifics. Changing my perspective and giving priority to these tasks that I hope will become forever part of my life promises to be a phenomenal shift in perspective.

Habit Tracking by Number - with flip down key chart, assign a coordinating number to each of your habits

Question:

When you’ve said ‘I did a thing’ what did you do?

If you’ve bought a traveler’s notebook – where did you find yours?

Remember to plan your life so you live beautifully and don’t be afraid to find your inner muse.

~Tricia

March Mid-Month Habit Check

March 19, 2018 3 Comments

It’s been a busy month! February for me was unproductive and slump-ish. March has been the complete opposite. This month has been very productive, with the results so far are delightful (though you may not know it from my Habit-Tracker). Here’s the March mid-month habit check.

The Results

The result of the mid-month habit check (so far) is that I haven’t been tracking them. I’ve done them more than I’ve indicated. The last half of the month I am definitely going to put more effort in marking them if nothing else than just to keep the habit of tracking.

The Layout

There are some fresh, clean, fantastic layouts tracking habits individually and not in a big block like I usually do. The quote took over the minimal look and the thing just…does not work the way I imagined. Next month I am going to track my habits in a block style again. The quote is a great one though!

Additional Habits

You may have heard (or read) that I love Skillshare. (Here’s one reference: My Muses: Sources of Inspiration). One of the classes I took was about creating a 365-day project. Well, that seemed to fit in very nicely with my habit tracking. But which habits do I want to track for a whole year?

Skillshare Mini-Overview
Ok, let’s stop for a minute and talk about Skillshare classes. ‘Classes’ is a strong word. Many people think they don’t have time for ‘classes’ because they think it is a time commitment and think that they have assignments and blah blah blah.
No! Not like that at all. The ‘classes’ are broken down into hour-long courses but what’s better is that each one is then broken down into 5-10 minutes, you can download them to your phone and watch them when you can.
Infact, the 365-Day Project is just 34 minutes long. (Sign up for a FREE Trial and check it out!)
While drying my hair or cooking dinner, I stick my headphones in and watch a video and learn how to paint or draw or manage my time or learn how to cook a fantastic meal. I even watch while grocery shopping. It’s some great ‘me’ time.

365-Day Project

Like most things I do, I usually can’t settle on just one thing (the bane of my existence.) So I chose 6 items for my yearly project – where I’ll spend at least 10 minutes per day (or other designated time) doing these projects.

Work on my blog
Products
Spiritual reading
Prayers (am/pm)
Laundry
Workout

Thinking back, I probably should have left laundry and workout off the list, but I want to create a habit of washing and working out that just ‘exists’ in my life and I don’t have to think about it anymore. So I’ll keep working on those.

365 day project is like a giant habit tracker

Betterment to the Core

Looking at the results for the first month and a half, I can tell that the first two are high on my priority list. I work on them regularly and put in at least 10 minutes per day. The shocker to me is the spiritual study and the prayers. I think of this as the self-betterment to the very core. You may have practices where you work towards a similar goal, regardless of your theological point of view.

Not Expected

Why is it so hard for me to study my scriptures or read a spiritual thought or get down on my knees twice per day? Another thing I didn’t expect is how hard it is for me to write about it. This is my personal journey, and I have invited you along for the ride, hoping that we can strengthen each other along the way, but this is something that I hold dear to my heart – or so I thought. The results say otherwise, and I didn’t expect that at all.

The Way I Use Habit Trackers

The way I use habit trackers sometimes is just as an assessment as I like to do a ‘status check’ with tasks that I want to turn into a habit, and this 365-day project was eye-opening. I am going to reassess my mindset because the reality is that I am not really committed to these tasks on my tracker, and that is where I need to start to make a change.

Question:

What would you track in a 365-day project?

Plans, Ambitions & Attitude of Gratitude

March 1, 2018 4 Comments

Alright March, I’ve heard you come in like a lion…let’s do this thing. I’ve got ambitions and a bullet journal set-up to prove it. I’ll post the bullet journal set-up later.

Plans, ambitions & attitude of gratitude — Inspiration for picture layout: Patti @as_a_rye AsARye.com

February Review

Unfinished Projects Bullet Journal Spread

One day, because we’re kind of nerdy, my husband and I looked up why February was shorter than all the other months. What I remember of that brief Google search is that they hated that month. Farmers didn’t like that month, and it was a month to be cast aside and anticipate what was coming next. Well, this year, I can’t say I disagree.

My February mid-month habit check was pathetic (my habits and I were on a break) and nothing seemed to work well last month. After some introspection, I discovered that I was not writing things down and I was just trying to keep it all in my head.

Why?

Partially because I was moving to a new notebook and I wasn’t making consorted effort to keep track of all my projects. So I just got frustrated. Then I was frustrated that I was frustrated. Have you ever been there? I know am not alone. A minimalistic mind map layout showing my unfinished projects seemed to clear the fog.

Plans Do Not Have to be Linear

My February weekly spreads are distinct and different week to week! I recorded videos and walked you through how to create them. I even did real-time freehand drawings so you could see more of the process. Well, guess what? I never posted them. During my slump, I wondered if it would even be worth posting. The month ended, and it wouldn’t be ‘in the month that I created it.’

So is it worth it to post? Absolutely! I figure you wouldn’t have used it in February anyway.

I’m Thankful for Sunshine

Thankfully the cloudy thoughts parted, and figurative sunrays enlightened my mind. I realized that just because the week has passed, the information is still useful! So I will post those weeks later. I got so caught up ‘in the moment of relevance’ that I forgot to take time to ‘be in the moment.’ Posting my March welcome page the day before or the week before on Instagram isn’t necessary. I realized that I love seeing past month’s posts from others and it doesn’t matter to me if it is for that month or not. Inspiration doesn’t need a timeline to be inspiring.

There’s so much I want to share with you! Pages and pages of ideas scatter through my notebooks. I hope you come here hungry for inspiration because I want to serve you a feast. My ambition is to live by the concept of the design rather than the date in my notebook.

My Inspiration:

I have to credit a couple of people for this inspiration. One is my friend at TheAniKay.com – Ani and I got to meet when she was here in Atlanta for work. We got dinner at one of my favorite spots (Tacos & Tequilas), and then we went to Michael’s. It was a good day! When Ani posted her change of mindset on her blog (read it here), and it got me thinking. I am not one to follow the crowd and never have been.

Tales of a 6th Grade Nothing:

In 6th grade at lunch one day, I remember one of the popular girls asked me to sit at her table (an outsider’s dream!). At first, my heart pumped, and I could hear my heartbeat throbbing in my ears with excitement. But then I told her no.

When I told her no in that split second, I knew that I didn’t want to do what the other girls at that table did. Their hair was the same, and their clothes were from the same store, they even talked the same. I didn’t want to be a copy. Most of all I didn’t want to act the way they acted, they weren’t very nice.

Ambitions: What’s coming:

Since then, I have thought a lot about what I wanted to do. I love posting my monthly & weekly spreads, quotes, mantras, etc. That will continue, but maybe not in the order of creation.

I’ve also wanted to curate inspiration from all over to get your creative gears turning. That is, after all, the goal here. I will be adding a ‘favorites day.’ I want to share with you what inspires me and what my favorite things are.

Who I am & what I like to do, a definition of me, Bullet journal Collection

Instagram Does Not Rule My Life

Instagram’s algorithms display my content days or weeks later than I post. So why does it matter when I post the content? I am not going to live and die by the way Instagram decides to serve (or not serve up) my content. If I am busy living life and don’t get to post something the day I should according to the current platform algorithm, well, good for me. I’m living life.

What Does that Mean?

That means my posts won’t be timely when it comes to weekly & monthly layouts (posting the week/day before the date occurs on the calendar). But I think that timelines are irrelevant when it comes to that anyway. You can recreate a spread from my March into your October or December journals without caring that it came from my March spread.

You can use an idea from a collection and turn it into a tracker or another spread.

This blog is meant to inspire. If it is only inspirational right this minute, well, that’s a lot of effort for just a moment. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and let that take over. I have three kids, a husband, a house, a job, a cat, church responsibilities. I drive like a civilized human being, I try to smile at strangers (I have an ongoing battle with RBF), and I am trying to make the best of things in my life. Following my advice: plan your life, so you live beautifully. Sometimes living beautifully means that I live on my schedule and I go to the park instead of edit a video.

Ambitions: Help You Find Your Inner Muse

I love creating content for you. Hearing that I helped make a difference in your life and ignited your inner muse is AMAZING. I lived through years of what I call the ‘dark ages’ where I never touched a paintbrush or picked up a pencil. When I finally rediscovered my inner muse, I vowed never to let her go. I intend to help others find their inner muse and enjoy life too.

Life is complicated and messy. My bullet journal has helped restore some order to my life, and for that I am grateful. I am also grateful to create and be creative.

I hope that no matter when you find this content, you will be inspired in some way. And the figurative sunrays will find their way through cloudy thoughts and lighten your day.

My goal in life is to be happier. I read books on the subject, make goals, create habit trackers, all to lead a happier, more fulfilling life. Forgive me if I am behind on posting my weekly or monthly layouts. I am working on forgiving myself for it too.

Here’s Your Challenge:

Decide who you are and be that. Choose what you do, who you talk to, your friends, when you post to social media, and how you live your life.

Mid-Month Habit Check – What to do if You and Your Habits Were on a Break

February 22, 2018 5 Comments

What to do if You and Your Habits Were on a Break?

I feel like Ross shouting at my habits “We were on a break!” or maybe my habits were yelling at me? Not sure which, either way, we parted ways for a while. I had good intentions, and I swear this month I thought I was going to rock at everything. But I just crashed and burned. So what to do if you and your habits were on a break? I used a simple shift in mindset to recapture the flame after a habit break-up.

We were on a break - what to do if you break up with your habits

Is It Just February Blues?

I don’t know if it is just February blues or if there is something else going on, but I know I am not the only one who feels it. Today my boss commented (by the way, I have a job too!) that he feels like it is February blues. He said that all the things to look forward to are far away that it’s hard to get excited about them. So it’s a time between events and just feels, well, blah.

My habit tracker shows that I feel the same way. This blog post is supposed to coincide with the middle of the month (give or take a couple of days) and I am nearly a week late just writing it. I do have good news…in just the past couple of days, I have managed to crawl out of the crazy unmotivated slump. But that wasn’t easy. You can read how a simple list turned things around for me here.

The simple mindset to adopt if you and your habits were on a break

Falling Off the Wagon is my Specialty – Getting Back on is Not

Falling off the wagon per se is my specialty. I am good at starting something, but continuing when I mess up or get off track is a whole other story. I feel like the wagon runs off while I am off smelling roses and continues faster than I can run, so I just pretend like I was never on that ride.

Change of Mindset After a Break-up With Your Habits

This whole running after the wagon mindset changed when I read a book by Gretchen Rubin called Better Than Before. She suggested that if you are going to have planned break in your habits, then plan a time when you come back. I figure that if I have an accidental break, I just tell myself that we were on a break, but not to worry ~~Rachel~~ habits, I am back and we will live happily ever after.

This change has helped me immensely move on from incidental breaks and just pick up where I left off as though I never missed a thing. So using that mindset… it doesn’t matter how terrible the last six days of February, here I come!

By the way, I am trying a new layout for March. I’ll give you a little sneak peek even though it’s still in pencil mode. Oh, and just so you know, I still do dishes every day so at least that habit stuck, it’s these new habits that are causing me trouble.

Sneak Peek - tracking habits by category instead of log style in my bullet journal

Question:

I’ve never met a single person who hasn’t broken up with their habits at some time or another. So I’d like to know how you handle your habit break-ups. What strategy do you take?

Remember to plan your life so you live beautifully and don’t be afraid to find your inner muse.

~Tricia

Creating Habits: Dishes aren’t a Dirty Word Anymore! + Video

January 20, 2018 5 Comments

Last Month’s Review

For last month I am happy to announce I fulfilled one of my ‘habits’ every day of the month. I posted on Instagram every day! (Lol) I’m so proud of myself. Creating habits is not an easy feat as you can see from my other habits on the tracker.

Dishes – Not a Dirty Word Anymore

One habit surprised me: Dishes. In September, I posted that ‘dishes’ was the d-word and apologized for saying it so many times. Admittedly, as long as I can remember I have hated doing the dishes.

When it was my turn for Sunday dishes growing up, I would spend as much time dawdling as I could. Then I would stand forever and wash the dishes until my legs itched (we went a long time without a dishwasher – so I had to do the dishes by hand for what seemed like most of my life – though it probably wasn’t that long). I HATED doing the dishes.

Patience and Diligence

Months of tracking and trying to improve have paid off. In December, I consistently did the dishes 26 days of 31, and I am happy to say that it has become a habit I do it almost without thinking. My kids are even getting into the habit of checking if the dishes are clean and if not, they load their dirty dishes into the dishwasher.

We Were Both Losers

Defeating this habit of NOT doing the dishes was actually quite the undertaking. Now it is one of the most consistent habits in my tracker. My husband and I used to play a game of who could stand the dishes in the sink the longest. Sometimes I would win and sometimes he would win. But in all honesty, we were both losers in this game. This is a huge reason why I decided to track it in the first place.

A Shift in My View Point – Creating Habits

Another thing that has completely changed the way I do things: 10 Minutes. If you haven’t seen this post, please read it, bookmark it, pin it and put it in your bullet journal. LIFE CHANGING. Unless you have your life completely together and you never have a sock left on the floor by one of your kids or a speck of dust lingering on your furniture – read it. I can tell you that it has completely changed the way I think and the way I do things around my house.

You know that bin full of broken crayons that the kids never use or the shoe bin that never gets cleaned out but is always in the back of your mind as an unfinished task? Oh, wait, those things are now regularly done. I do think I need to create a secondary 10 minutes task list, so I give priority to other tasks.

This idea is not a revolutionary way of thinking as far as the world goes, but for me, the impact was substantial. I included things on my 10-minute mind map that I often neglect. Such as syncing my finances. Self-care has not been so much a burden. I put make-up on more consistently because I feel like I can take a couple of moments just for me.

I signed up for SkillShare and listen to classes as I cook dinner.

This one little switch in my mindset has been utterly fundamental for me to feel more accomplished and to get more done in the day-to-day. I will even use it to calm down if I have dealt with an obstinate 8-year-old or an emotional 6-year-old and my temper is flaring. As you might imagine, I could go on and on.

Habit Check Progress for the Month – Sometimes it’s the Journey Not the Speed

Now then – here’s my habit check for the month. Probably my most favorite design of the month. I LOVE how the moped turned out. And then I am not sure if I read the quote somewhere, and it was in my subconscious – but I thought of it one day when I was creating my habit page. Sometimes it’s the journey, not the speed. I think it pairs perfectly with the moped and with creating habits. Like I said above, I started in September making dishes a habit instead of a fight with my husband.

It didn’t change overnight. Creating habits takes time. Since I have been patient with myself and my progress, the speed has increased. But the journey was enjoyable – and that may be the best part.

Circle Mood Tracker

The circle mood tracker is one of my most favorite creations ever. I’ve tried out several compasses and tools for creating circles, and the helix tool is my favorite – because it has the degrees around the outside. I realized that a lot of people out there who may not know how to create a circle. Guess what? I am working on some supplies for you. I’ve decided to scale back my weekly posts so I can create some additional resources for you.

I like the circle tracker because it takes up less space. I added a weigh-in result (TWI) and a weekly tracker for cleaning those spaces that need a little more care. Then I added a blog & video post tracker to the side. Next month, I plan on keeping the blog post tracker but moving the weekly tracked off the tracker page and to the weeklies.

creating habits, mid-month habit check, sometimes it's the journey not the speed

What I’m Going to Change

After I tabulated last month’s results, I decided that for March I may switch back to a color instead of a number; only because it was not easy to count and average all the numbers. But I do like the look of using gray/black to complete the trackers.

Creating habits takes a lot of work! I’ve decided that I need a plan to carry out the habit. A when, why, where – questionnaire of habits. For instance: what do I mean by ‘water intake’? I have worked on drinking more water, but I didn’t define whether it’s one cup or 8 to mark it off. It’s easy to ‘cheat’ and just mark something off if I do it half-way, but I try to acknowledge my true intentions.

I have learned that I have to be patient with myself and developing a specific routine around forming the habit is essential. For February, I think I may remove dishes from my tracker – just to see if it is a real habit now or if I still need the thrill of marking it off in my habit tracker.

So…Have 10 Minutes? A Challenge.

Using my 10-minute method, before I start next month’s habit tracker, I will: write down expectations of the habit defining the when, where, and what so I can honestly improve and make it into a habit.

Here is my challenge for you:

Do something for you or do something that has nagged at you. You don’t have to get it done, just spend 10 minutes and do part of it. Then when you have dinner in the oven, and there are 10 minutes on the timer, do a little more. Do you have a habit that you are trying to form? As you can see, I have lots to work on, but with a plan and around 10 planned minutes, I bet it would make a difference in how full my tracker is. We will see what happens next mid-month habit check – creating habits is a long-term investment.

By the way, I have had people tag me on Instagram after seeing my post on Pinterest and tell me that it changed their lives too. If you try it out, use #InMy10Minutes and tag me @ChocolateMusingsCreates either on Instagram and completely change the way you task. I’d love to see it and feature you.

Remember to plan your life so you live beautifully and don’t be afraid to find your inner muse.

~Tricia