NEW ROUTINE

 

WITH the new year around, we are all set to make resolutions. What are these resolutions? The majority of them are habits that we are attempting to instill in ourselves.  Habits are the things you do on a daily basis that come naturally and without effort. These habits or routine affect and define your personality. At first, you're excited about starting a new habit, but as time passes, your enthusiasm starts waning rapidly, and you find yourself back at square one. It is very well said by James Clear that "Habits are created based on repetition and frequency”. With the frequent repetition and knowing a little bit more about this new routine, you can make your new behavior automatic and effortless.

Think about all the habits that you are attempting to establish. Have you started off well with your new routine? Were you persistent? If the answer is "no," then I am sure that you will feel driven once more and have a clear notion of how to proceed after reading this article.

 

PREPARATION OF MIND

Let us begin by deciphering what the term "habit" actually means. To put it simply, it is a behavior that you repeat until it automatically becomes part of your routine. Adopting new habits would be easier if one is mentally firm and focused. This entails having tenacity and not giving up, especially as time passes. Reminding yourself time and again the purpose and significance of this new behavior may help you to stay on track. The article MIND IT may help you to understand how to strengthen and stabilize your mind even more.

 

IMPORTANCE

Knowing the significance and utility of a habit in the life will make it easier for the subconscious mind to adopt.  So, after mental preparation and comprehending the positive effects of the habit, understanding the rationale for the new behavior would be beneficial. For example, if you want to begin walking every day, first tune your mind and mentally prepare yourself, remind yourself the night before you go to bed, especially when you are about to fall asleep, that you must walk in the morning. Don't stop there; provide an explanation for why you need to walk. Walking will give you more energy, increase your endurance, keep you fit, and provide you with other benefits. You can convince your mind to be steady and persistent by justifying your activities and knowing the relevance of the new behavior you suggest to begin with. It will be easier if the early weeks of establishing a new habit are motivating. Try to inspire yourself and be eager to follow your new habit when you get out of bed.

 

TARGETS

After learning the importance of the new routine, try to set goals; this will give you more clarity in managing your time and will help you do things more accurately. It is best to start with one habit at a time. If you have multiple targets, you may miss your aim, but if it is one, you will sooner or later hit the bull's eye. Setting targets that are which too high or too low for your caliber may be risky, so make your decision wisely. For this self-assessment, it can be of great help. This allows you to evaluate your own strength, stamina, endurance, and time management abilities. If you wish to walk, determine the length of your walk; if you want to start reading a book, determine the number of pages you can cover; and if you want to learn a new skill, determine the number of days and hours you can devote without disrupting your current schedule, trying to write a blog or make a vlog, determine the content and number of posts to be uploaded within an interval of a month. Be honest with yourself when conducting self-analysis. Because it will be difficult to restart if you make a mistake at the start.

                                                        

MAKE IT SIMPLE

If the new schedule looks difficult to follow, it could be challenging to do.  So, another trick is to make it simple. Assume you’re in the second week of your new routine and now your motivation level has dwindled. You start making excuses like I need a little more sleep, I am running out of time, it was long and a very tiring day and so on. This piece of advice will be useful in this situation. A little preparation the night before will always guarantee a good start to the next day. Consider a scenario wherein, you forced yourself to get up early for a walk and succeeded. After freshening up you are struggling to find your track pants, your socks, you are running from one corner to another to find your bottle of water, find a napkin, taking out your running shoes from shoe rack, setting up your speedometer app to track your speed, distance and time etc. Now, what if all this has been done a night before? That is to say, if track pant and t-shirt is already placed in bathroom, shoes and socks are ready near the main door of the house, bottle and napkin already placed on the table, wont it be more easy and less tiresome? All you have to do is wake up and in no less time be out of the house as everything is in its place. Your mind will have no time to rationalize for not going out for a walk/running. By making it easy you are helping yourself for not giving it up.

TURN UP

Just show up, regardless of what your mind tells you to do about skipping a day of your new habit. That means put on your running shoes, if you desire to go for a walk, or open a book if you're trying to read, or be present in the environment if you're attempting to learn a skill or if you're trying to write, open your laptop or a piece of paper. It is more like to mark an attendance for an important class that you don't want to attend. But recording your presence is required. Showing up to your new routine is even more important if you have missed it for a single day. If this happens repeatedly, your mind will begin to accept that it is okay not doing it.          

                                                           

MAKE IT ENJOYABLE

We happily do the things that we enjoy.  Try to make your new routine more enjoyable. Read about the topics that interest you more; listen to your favorite music while taking a walk. If possible, try to involve the people who can join you in your new routine. This may be difficult because it is hard to find someone who shares your interests. But it is not impracticable. Nowadays, there are numerous WhatsApp groups, Facebook communities, and other platforms that bring people together who share common interests. Try to have a reliable partner who motivates you and makes this new routine enjoyable. Reward yourself for successfully completing your new routine for a set number of days, say 15 days or something, or take a single day off after continuing your new habit for an X number of days. As a token of appreciation, give yourself a small treat. This will increase your motivation and confidence to do it every day and be better.

The key to your success is your daily routine. Your future is determined by what you do today, not tomorrow. So, buckle up and make a fresh start on everything you've always wanted to do on a regular basis but have been putting off for one reason or another. Because tomorrow is always uncertain, the time to act is now. Today is a gift; that’s why it’s called "PRESENT”. Make use of this present and begin with your new routine today itself be it just for a single minute or be it only the mental preparation or be it only knowing the importance of your habit or be it setting up your targets but do it today. Don’t think about it any further and try not to be a procrastinator. Also, be cautious, as rightly said by Josh Lajaunie "Having a routine is great, but only if it serves your goals." If it’s not doing that, it’s called a rut."

Finally, I want to wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR and the best of luck with your NEW ROUTINE!

                                                                                -----Avani Gandhi