Time flies, but you're the pilot.

Tiiiiimmeee is on my side, yes it is.

I was chatting (over ice cream, with sprinkles and caramel) with a friend the other day about establishing wellness habits.  She professed that she's an "all or nothing" sort of person that has trouble taking smaller steps and wants to jump in with both feet.  I can relate.  I'm guessing few of us can.  

Personally, I blame 80s film montages that encourage us to believe if we punch a few haunches of frozen meat and run up some stairs in a sweatshirt that we'll be the next prize fighter.  It's the "heroic" thing to do.

This approach certainly has an explosive momentum to it.  Like a firework.  It's great for initially generating actionable, noticeable movement, but also an "easy out" for failing.  By taking the "go big or go home" approach, we put up significant barriers to establishing habits, so when we start to slip (which is totally normal and ok!) it's much more difficult to get back into a mindset and adjust your schedule to make the same big commitment again.  Also, it just won't seem as appealing the second time around.

This is somewhat related to my previous post, but less about defining the actual steps and more about the idea that you can set your success criteria around spending a fixed amount of time on something, but give yourself free rein to do whatever makes sense for you in that moment.

A personal example...  I've recently taken up learning to play the dobro.  I've committed to spending two hours a week on this.  I can split up those two hours however I want.  I can spend the time strumming it.  Watching dobro videos.  Listening to artists who inspire me.  Looking for dobro festivals.  Practicing scales.  Practicing tunes.  Playing around a campfire.  Whatever!  But my "success" criteria is spending the time on it.  Whatever comes out of that time will somehow contribute to my appreciation of the instrument and, most likely, keep me more engaged in the process than if I had a regimented criteria that I felt bad about failing at if I wasn't in the mood to practice a particular technique when I was "supposed to."

Is there anything in your life that you've let slip, lost passion for, or are putting off that you can commit to spending a small amount of time on on a regular basis?  The key is to just spend the time on something related to it, but try to avoid feeling "regimented" about it.  

Aymii
ensomastudios.com