Howdy, everyone! I thought this might be a helpful follow up to the sermon I gave recently about making changes since the Feast. (Well, the sermon I gave everywhere by Columbus — sorry Columbus!)
I’ve come to enjoy some of the nice, brief articles I receive from James Clear’s website, and he had a good one today titled “3 Things That People With Good Habits Do Differently.” I thought I would share his points, since they might help those of us who are doing our best to make this last Feast’s stirrings last longer then they did for Nehemiah’s cast of characters. Here is what Mr. Clear recommends:
1. Start with a habit that is so easy you can’t say no.
He gives as examples:
- Want to build an exercise habit? Your goal is to exercise for 1 minute today.
- Want to start a writing habit? Your goal is to write three sentences today.
- Want to create a healthy eating habit? Your goal is to eat one healthy meal this week.
It’s important to build consistency more than anything at first. You can always ramp up the intensity as you go along, he points out, saying, “In the beginning, performance is irrelevant. Doing something impressive once or twice isn’t going to matter if you never stick with it for the long-run. Make your new habit so easy that you can’t say no.”
2. Understand exactly what is holding you back.
This comes into play in the “Take Stock” point I made in my sermon. He points out that examining ourselves and understanding what has kept us from doing the things we believe we should s important if we don’t want to fail again. He says, “You might think that you’re the ‘type of person who doesn’t like working out’ or the ‘type of person who is unorganized’ or the ‘type of person who gives in to cravings and eats sweets.’ But in most cases, you’re not destined to fail in those areas. Instead of making a blanket statement about your habits, break them down into smaller pieces and think about which areas are preventing you from becoming consistent.”
He concludes the point, “Once you know the specific parts of the process that hold you back, you can begin to develop a solution to solve that problem.”
3. Have a plan for when you fail.
I thought this was interesting, and his opening comment here grabbed my attention: “Dan John, a popular strength and conditioning coach, often tells his athletes, ‘You’re not good enough to be disappointed.’ The same is true when you build a new habit. What were you expecting? To succeed without fail from the very beginning? To be perfect even when people who have been doing this for years make mistakes on a regular basis?”
“You have to learn to not judge yourself or feel guilty when you make a mistake, and instead focus on developing a plan to get back on track as quickly as possible.”
This last comment reminded me of Proverbs 24:16, which mentions a righteous man falling seven times but rising again. Part of the beauty of being forgiven in Christ is knowing that our fall does not have to end our claim towards the Kingdom forever, but that, rather, we can get up, ask God’s forgiveness, and allow Him to help us get back up and keep on moving.
It’s a great article — like all things from those who don’t know God’s truth, we should make sure we have a grain of salt with us, but, still, some good stuff. Read the whole thing if you would like here: “3 Things That People With Good Habits Do Differently.”
