The last day of the month brings an update on my intentions for mind, body and spirit. This bite of wisdom by James Clear caught my eye because all that I’m trying to do by setting intentions and following them is better organize my day so that I’m filling it with good habits that produce fruit in my life. We all have the same amount of time and it is to our advantage to try and be intentional with it so that we feel a sense of fulfillment, both while living the day, and looking back at how far we’ve come.
To that end, I also took Clear’s advice and made a habit tracker, but could never quite get into the habit of tracking habits! I am a person who loves the idea of organization and order, but struggles to actually implement it in my day. Too many things come up that are unanticipated but necessary, and my planned-for day often turns into call it a day.
I did a good three weeks of tracking (playing catch up from time to time) and what this did show me is what I say is important and what I actually do are sometimes very different things. For example, I had “Eat 5 servings of fruits/vegetables every day as one of my habits. I think I only checked this box a few times during those weeks. In my head, I know it’s important; my daily life shows a different story. Maybe this is telling me I set the bar too high, and should start by aiming for three a day instead of five. Baby steps.
Other things I was able and am still doing consistently are: prayer and meditation, step count (up to 10,000 most days), exercise/yoga, reading and taking my vitamins/supplements. Writing and learning through MasterClass are still happening… just not every day. I am consistently blogging twice a week and finished Amy Tan’s class on creative writing, and am currently into dog training (much needed).
I am thoroughly enjoying my Goodreads account (free) and find it motivates me to read, helps me find what to read, and even gives me free advanced read copies of books to read by entering their Giveaways. I thought 50 books was a pretty lofty goal, but so far, I am one book ahead of schedule (I know this thanks to the reading challenge I started on the app. Of the 8 books read so far, I highly recommend The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, The Last Thing He Told Me, by Laura Dave, and a collection of short stories called Seasonal Work, by Laura Lippman. Jodi Picoult’s Wish You Were Here is also very worthy of a read, but I would suggest sometime in the future, as it is a deep-dive into Covid-19 and the pandemic, and a bit “too soon” for me personally. If you are on or decide to join Goodreads, find me and friend me so we can talk books!
And I am still immersed in my photography time; taking pictures out in beautiful nature, editing my photographs and posting my favorites. I’ve even started a Flickr account and am dipping my toes into the world of showing and sharing my work.
Here are a few shots from my latest expedition.
Love and light to you.
I love all of this!! I bet it’s a great sense of accomplishment! I mentioned in a blog I fell on the ice on my tailbone. 3 weeks in and it’s still sooooo sore! I had to take a break from yoga which is killing me! I miss my morning yoga!!!
Thank you, Jackie! I’m so sorry about your tailbone. Ouch! Hope it gets better soon!!
i have never done well with a habit tracker, despite my insane obsession with organization and goal setting. What actually did come out of my last attempt at it was this. After a few weeks each time i started noticing that my actual habits were only about 3-4 of the 7 or 8 things i planned each day/week. Somewhere along that line i learned about how too many goals and too much discipline with things you really really dont want to do forever actually works “against” making good habits. So i went back through all of my trackers and found the ones that i had consistently kept, and ditched the ones i couldn’t seem to get a handle on.It made a huge difference in my mindset every day. I had to understand and recognize that i did in fact have 4 or so good regular habits. After continuing those for awhile i was ready for one more, then another and so on..but i went very very slow with the new ones. I still havent mastered the ones form the old trackers( stop drinking coffee, drink 64 oz of water everyday, and so on) so, they will just rest in peace..lol
Glad to hear about your experience with the habit tracker. I am also thinking I may be tracking too many things. I like your idea with sticking with the ones you are consistent with and then maybe slowing adding in one at a time after they’ve become habits. And yes, I think some may need to rest in peace, lol. Thanks for reading and commenting, Lovie!