I have one more day left before I can actually start to believe I have formed a habit. Remember we have learned over the course of this experiment that a habit takes much longer to develop then the mythical 18 days. The road to discipline is paved with the establishment of good habits. I now understand this. I can already tell that the 365 commitment steps are automatic for me. I do not forget to seek out my journal where I logged the tasks that I wanted to keep that were the most important to me. At the end of the day, I feel a bit of peace as a I quietly reflect on the day asking myself – “Did I live today to the fullest? Am I proud of what I accomplished today? Was the activities I did today in harmony with the will of God? Did I actually help others today in a meaningful way? How can I do better?” Closing out the day has power, and I cannot imagine forgetting to do that now.
So that is what it takes to develop good habits. A ton of initial hard work, a force of will to get you to the 60 – 90 day point and then it becomes easier. I am already naturally seeking other good habits to develop now. This is a benefit to The 365 Commitment that I did not expect. A desire to start finding other habits to develop.
This leads me to the mirror. Not all habits are physical acts. Some habits are mental, in fact probably the most important ones. I have developed some bad mental habits over the years. There are certain triggers around me that get my mind to quickly go into self pity mode and it seems that I have allowed this to happen over and over again. Probably for more then 90 days in a row – so now I have this nasty bad habit of thinking all is lost because I have a mismatching sock, a few pieces of paper on my desk, a messy interior in my vehicle, etc. So why not develop good mental habits and replace these bad ones?
I started this on March 1st when I took a long look in the mirror. This is one of the things that General Lynch taught in the speech I heard, so I did it. I took a look in the mirror and started asking myself some pretty difficult questions. For example, Do I like what I see? Not just in physical appearance, but the look behind the eyes? Does this person seems like someone I would hire, invest in, talk to, become friends with, or buy something from? I have to say I did not like the answers. When I really looked at myself I saw someone that looked a little tired, worried, stressed. My suit was a little worn down, my shirt had a small stain on it. My hair was not quite right and that seemed to reflect my entire persona, something is not quite right. So I kept staring in that mirror, thinking.
I started to visualize in 365 days from now when I come back to stare in this same mirror – what am I going to see? The answer to that question is what I repeat to myself now in the morning. I think about it, ask myself if I am making progress, record tasks in my 365 list that are going to help me get there. I pray and ask for inspiration to get there. I am asking others for help. I am going to transform that worn out person in the mirror and next time I have that conversation I am going to be staring at a motivated, powerful, energetic person that has the combination of intensity of sincerity behind those eyes. I know exactly what that person in a year from now is going to look like, act like, and what that person is going to be engaged in.
So go take a long look in the mirror!
Guy Reams (59)
365 Member – Ride at Dawn – Embrace the Suck- Slay the Dragon
P.S. I slayed Chevron again today – my quest to slay RTA (the bus stop) is still in progress. But RTA is next. He will be mine by the end of the week!
