Creating New Habits

One of the interesting books that I had to wait in a library queue to read has been James Clear's Atomic Habits which explored habit development, its advantages and its impediments.  As I start to select the next dozen projects for the coming half-year, I looked at my daily and weekly task lists to get a better idea of what activities have become entirely ingrained, what get done but not really habitual, and which have defied my efforts or met with resistance.  On Mondays I weigh myself and measure waist circumference, largely without fail, though I do need to schedule these.  Same with checking the oil level of my car on set days twice monthly.  My wake time is set by a wrist vibrator, bedtime by the clock.  My day always begins with dental care, for all practical purposes now habitual.  Treadmill sessions are pretty reliable but need a conscious prod from my conscience.  I take my medicine at suppertime.  Each morning I make coffee, arguably my most truly habitual activity.  Food is off limits from 8PM to 6AM, something done so long and so successfully that it probably makes the grade as a habit.  I check my indoor plants and the containers outside my front door every morning with little prodding.  Dishes in the sink from the night before get washed early each morning.  I retrieve the newspaper from the end of the driveway and deposit it at the front door for my wife's reading pleasure.  All largely now ingrained activities.  It's hard to say how long it took to create these largely habitual activities, probably longer than the three weeks often cited for habit creation.

Some of my initiatives would have gone better if habitual.  Writing times never got fixed.  Even my contractually obligated monthly submission requires scheduling and fortitude.  OLLI classes remain a defined task more than a habit.  I have been writing three laudable activities at the end of each day so appreciation seems to be on its way to becoming habitual, or at least an evening task that I rank higher than other options.  Thursday review of weekly Parsha commentary happens each week, but more as a scheduled task than an automated activity.  It gets done for all practical purposes 100% of the time.  And alas, no truly recreational activities have become inviolable.

As I embark on my annual June effort to assemble twelve laudable goals for the remainder of the calendar year, I need to recognize that none really go without effort, though most can still take advantage of the many things I now seem to perform without much thought.