I have been keeping the same seven basic habits for several years now. Every day, no matter what, I must complete the habits before I can go to bed. Admittedly, on some days, I just did the bare minimum, but I still got the habits done and kept the streak alive. One of those has been writing this blog. This marks the 3,181st day in a row I have done so. Not all have been the best quality, but I can say that I did it at least. One lesson that I have learned along this journey is this: the longer you wait to get something done during the day, the difficulty rises exponentially.
If I were to give someone advice on maintaining a life-changing habit, the first thing I would tell them to do is do that habit first. Get that habit done before you do anything else. Wake up in the morning and do the habit, no questions asked. No delay, no excuses, no time to think. You don’t need to prepare anything, and you don’t need to buy anything. In fact, you do not even need to think about it; just do it.
In my case, one of the early habits I built was running, or at least walking or a light jog if I could not do that. When I woke up, I rolled out of bed. Threw something on, laced up my shoes, and just went out the door. No matter the conditions, no matter how I felt. Just out the door. Did not matter how far or how fast; it was just the fact that I made it out the door. Early on my brain would fight me even at 5am, but eventually, I would be 10 minutes into a morning run before I even realized that I was awake.
There were days that I would have to catch an early morning flight, so I could not run that day. I would have to wait until later in the day when I got to my hotel room and then go for a run around the block or on a treadmill. Those were extremely difficult to do. My mind would invent a million reasons to take a rain check on my commitment that day. I remember one evening in Minnesota during a snowstorm at 11 p.m., leaving my hotel to run on icy sidewalks. I did not make it that far, but I did it. Despite my brain screaming at me not to, I did it anyway.
One of my early blogs talks about the Mark Twain quote about eating a live frog for breakfast. The idea is that if you do the worst thing to start the day, then everything else is downhill. This may have some truth to it, but I have revised this concept. Instead of doing the worst thing first thing in the morning, do the most important things. The things that you cannot afford to skip. The deposits you are making toward your health, well-being, and spirituality.
The day gets on, and as the world wakes up, so do the demands on you. The distractions, the important deadlines, the urgent nature of what is expected of you. The longer you wait to do the things that are the most important to you, the more likely they will not get done at all. You increase the likelihood that your brain will defeat your intentions and quietly say to yourself, I will pick back up tomorrow, or next week, or next year.
Do not let that happen. Get the first things done before you can come up with an excuse. If you are struggling to keep a life-changing habit, try doing it first before doing anything elaborate.
