Habits

A few years ago I was interested in habits. I was looking for a cure to what felt like an ongoing sludge of time management and organizational issues. While on a trip to Seattle I picked up a copy of Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit. 

Duhigg believed in finding a "turnkey" habit that would be the start of a whole-life turnaround. I always thought that mine was getting up at 5:30 AM, which I have yet to accomplish. 

The funny thing is, I've always liked the idea of scheduling and habits. I remember my sister making fun of me for wearing a watch with my bath robe and pajamas; I was destined to be a time nerd. I'm attracted to planners and stationary stores.

            

But early in adulthood I seemed to hit the opposite end of the spectrum. Bags of paperwork and magazines followed me to every address. As a teacher, a frequent critique was "slow turn around time" on grading (a violation of SCAD's contract, I was reminded). For the sake of my income and other reasons related to sanity I've been determined in the last few years to recoup at least part of my organizational nerd. 

My strategies? I do set my alarm, though at 6, not 5:30. When I'm on track I try to be in bed by 9:45 and inch the alarm earlier by a couple minutes every week. I reward myself with a mark on that day in my calendar with a favorite colored pen. Small things, but pivotal. The To Do list! For some reason I resisted it for years and kept transferring a daily list. Crossing things off the To Do list is magical. I also have a daily list when I'm really / paying attention.  

I'm actually not so bad about good habits; once I do something at a well-suited time of day, I'll keep doing it at the same time or in the same sequence.

A bigger hurdle is to stop repeating bad habits. That may seem like an obvious part, but the attraction to bad habits can have an extra twist of sabotage: It felt more familiar, hence weirdly comfortable, to charge ahead with the bad stuff as opposed to the good. Or, it could have simply been the usual, child-in-charge approach to what's in front of me (this refers to the child - nurturing parent - rational adult triad of self-parenting). 

I've stopped a few destructive habits lately and it feels good. My "parent" voice has stepped in and promised me future rewards or replacements. My relationships have improved. I'm much more careful about maintaining physical balance (eating / sleeping, etc.) to prevent sliding toward the brink of bad behavior. A few piles of papers still exist, though. Maybe if I wear a watch with my pj's ...