Quiet Habits

In 2019 I want to resurrect my Year of Change program, something I did for several years to help me change habits, try new things, and reflect on what I learned. This year, however, I'm doing things a little differently.

I used to choose one habit experiment to try each month. At the end of the month I would reflect on and write about the change and the impact it had on my life. Then I'd usually go on living my life the way I did before I tried the habit for a month. I'm not saying that in previous years what I did was wrong or ineffective. I treated each month like an experiment and was more interested in the journey and the short-term results rather than making tons of lasting changes in my life. This year I want to change that. I will focus on lasting changes I want to make in my life.

So I'm going to choose habits or goals that will help me make lasting changes. I want to focus on things that I feel I need to change or improve in my life or set milestones for where I want to be at the end of each quarter and work towards those changes for 3 months. Every 3 months I'm going to focus on one physical change (like exercise or diet) and one mental or emotional change (like meditation or taking a break from social media). Instead of just focusing on doing or not doing something for a month I'm going to set goals and milestones so I can track my progress and better understand how well I'm doing at making the change and how it's affecting my life. I don't want to just do something for 30 days, I want to learn, grow, and improve my life and habits over a longer period of time.

Before the beginning of each quarter I'll write a post outlining the 2 habits I'm going to work on and the plans and goals I've set to help me with the habit.

My family and I have chosen the word “Value” to be our theme word for the year (another post on this coming soon), so some of my habits and goals will fit in with that theme.

Here are my plans for the year so far, subject to change if my needs or desires change throughout the year.

Quarter 1 (January – March)

• Physical – Do 100 push ups in one go
• Mental/Emotional – Monthly/Weekly/Daily Planning

Quarter 2 (April – June)

• Physical – Spend 30+ minutes playing outside every day
• Mental/Emotional – Create a daily meditation habit

Quarter 3 (July – September)

• Physical – Bike a local bike trail (34 miles)
• Mental/Emotional – Social Media sabbaticals

Quarter 4 (October – December)

• Physical – Work up to 30 minutes of yoga/5 times a week
• Mental/Emotional – Read 6 books