I have certain things that I like to do every morning, and it’s become very rare that I don’t keep to these habits.
I meditate & journal. I exercise. I have coffee with or after breakfast.
While I’ve become very good at maintaining those habits, and they all feel critical to having good days, sometimes I would scramble in the morning to get going on my routine. After a conversation quite some time ago with another coach, I started to look at how I could prepare differently in the evenings in order to have good mornings.
It’s been rocky. As a morning person, I’m much more with it in the a.m. than I am in the p.m. Evenings are my time to wind down, relax, cross stitch, or read, and so on. So then waking myself up a little to be productive and prepare for the following day sometimes feels counter-productive.
It isn’t. It’s extremely productive. Not only am I accomplishing things that will help me have better mornings, I feel better going to bed because I’m ready for the next day.
I set out the clothes I’ll wear for exercising.
I program the coffee maker.
I am getting better at prepping lunches for the following day as well as setting up my desk to be clear so I can sit down and work right away if that’s on my agenda.
How long does it take to make something a routine or a habit?
Honestly? It’s going to take as long as it takes for you to be comfortable with and happy with your actions. The so-called age-old wisdom that it takes 21 days seems to be up for debate. I saw an article that said it takes 66 days to build a new habit. That’s more than TWO MONTHS. Two months is a lot longer than 3 weeks, and it feels overwhelming and intimidating.
So…I’m not going to think about how long it takes to make a routine or habit.
I’m celebrating that I’m working on those habits and routines and that I feel good about how they work in my life.
For the record? BREAKING a habit also takes a long time. I’ve been working on breaking the habit of eating potato chips. (I’m happy to say that I’m being successful, and I’ll have an update on how I feel about it in a future post!)
Keep on going. Celebrate the successes. Understand the roadblocks, and understand how you feel about both the successes and the roadblocks.
Healthy habits & routines are totally doable!!
Cheers! Here’s to your health!