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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
