A Simple Guide to Cultivating Good Habits

1 October 2012

Hi everybody!

It is October 1st, and I've just completed my first stretch of monthly resolutions. Back in August, I came across a blog post addressing daily habits, and how to create good ones while siphoning off bad tendencies. I was really inspired by the fact that one good habit a month meant 12 good habits a year! Wow! That's bananas. And why stop at one? You can do 2-5 at a time. That's too much math for my brain to handle, but it seems more beneficial to have several good habits that took a month to attain each, instead of writing a bible's worth of impossible resolutions to start on New Year's day. So here's how I did it, and here's what I'm going to keep doing:





















































1.Start simple. I chose daily flossing & a 10 minute meditation session every evening. I know flossing sounds random/silly, but that's what I read on zenhabits, and I decided it was easy enough (plus I could get even prettier pearly whites!). Did you know only 10%-40% of American's floss daily? Yikes. Fight the gingivitis! [Source: American Dental Association]. As for the meditation... if Oprah can do 1 hr a day, I can do ten minutes. The benefits of meditation are all over the place. Nuff said.

2. Add a reminder. I put one in my phone. Every evening at 8pm, I would meditate and do my nightly routine.

3. Stick with it. Once that alarm goes off, stop making excuses. If you're in a situation that doesn't allow you to proceed with your plans, then make sure you do them before going to bed. Don't freak out if you miss a day, and then give up. It'll get you nowhere. You can do it, just keep going.

4. Bask in the good habit ambience. By the last week I did not pay attention to my reminders, because I had become so used going through the process on the daily. It's really exciting once you reach that point. Right now those two habits I focused on have become second nature, and I'm ready to add two more this October.




































Remember:
It takes 30 days to form a habit.
Choose one and rock it.

Helpful links: ndoherty, zenhabits, happiness-project

10 comments

  1. This post is just what I needed to read to get back on my feet from a wacky and somewhat lazy summer.

    Also, utterly jealous your mom is traveling to Paris and will (fingers crossed) remember to find you a pair of wax/leather leggings. Ugh <3

    te amo,
    j
    www.sanitynotebook.com

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  2. Beautiful pictures!
    I just started blogging not too long ago and was wondering if you will come visit my fashion blog. Hope you enjoy the visit and maybe we can even follow each other! :)

    Have a lovely day!

    Thanks

    Stylejourneys

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  3. Hey Jessie,

    I see momma bear on Friday so I hope it also involves warm lits and wax leggings. ^-^

    C

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  4. Great post! I too want to start meditating. Thanks for the link to zenhabit :)

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  5. Agreed, getting rid of bad happens and replacing them with good ones is a great idea all year around, not just new years! I'll have to make my own list now!

    Great photos by the way...so freeing!

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  6. Thanks guys! It's seriously such a refreshing thing to do every four weeks. It's like a January 1st but every month.

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  7. this was such a good post! definitely inspiring to make a few healthy changes!

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  8. Really great posts! I will try it:) Following you!

    Kisses, Lucy:)

    ReplyDelete

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