Photo by Prophsee Journals on Unsplash
I've been reading Atomic Habits by James Clear. It's not a new book but I keep hearing about it and decided it was time to dive in. The tagline is, "An easy & proven way to build good habits & break bad ones."
I'm not finished with it yet, only halfway through, but I came across this section that really sparked my interest - Habit Shaping. The author recommends making your habits as easy to start as possible using the 2 minute rule.
The purpose is to get on the path of action to form a habit by doing just the starting part for no more than two minutes. He gave the example of someone wanting to run a marathon. The "gateway habit" is to put on your shoes each day to practice showing up.
I like small bite sized things and a gateway habit sounds perfect to get me started on some of my goals. I jotted down some gateway habits to help me be more consistent with all my goals. I'm a great starter but where will power fails, habits succeed.
So I started looking at my habit of journaling everyday. I do it everyday without fail but it wasn't always that way. I took a look at my daily journaling routine through the lens of what I read in the book and I do almost all of the ones I've read so far:
What I did to build a habit for Journaling everyday:
I created an environment for journaling. I have a dedicated writing desk/ side table I keep my journal on so it's in sight, visible.
I have a set time and place to write in my journal - first thing in the morning or last thing before bed at my desk or couch
I piggy back my journal writing with other daily habits to remind/cue me. In the morning, my cue is after I light my candle for the day. In the evening, it's when I'm turning off my lamps. I have about 4 in my office and I leave the one by the couch for last which is where I journal in the evening.
And when I was first getting started and wasn't sure what to write or didn't feel like it, I made myself sit down with my journal in my lap or in front of me. I had my pens, stickers, and stencils around me and sometimes I would just there and not write or doodle anything but I made myself try.
I'd love to hear how you are making journal writing a habit, drop me a comment.
November Journal Posting Month - Day 21
