Revisiting Old Habits and Forming New Ones
Facing the New Year with lots of plans and projects, I find myself a bit overwhelmed. As one challenge of sorts winds down, another fires up, leaving some I started last year swinging in the wind. While I’m not happy with myself for letting some things hang unattended for a couple of months, I have to remind myself to avoid wasting time chastising myself over unaccomplished tasks, missed deadlines, and the like. If I learned nothing from having staff, the time spent complaining or whining about what hasn’t gotten done is better served picking something up and addressing it.
The advice I give others is, these days, best directed inward. So once again, I follow my own guidance and start typing words on the page until an idea comes to mind. It seems the more progress I make, the higher I set my expectations. As long as I use it to inspire, and not impede progress while I wallow in unnecessary self-pity, those expectations are a useful tool.
Old habits die hard. I still fall back onto self-defeating tactics which stop me in my tracks and make me feel bad about myself. This is when I drag my focus back to what I’ve accomplished, and away from the looming and ever-growing mountain of things I want to accomplish. I re-assess the schedules I created on Trello without focusing on all the due dates I missed, and begin re-setting those due dates to something I can reasonably expect to achieve.
Mixing Things Up to Avoid Boredom
One thing I’m learning about due dates is I need to revisit them every few months. Things 
happen, priorities change, and new projects show up in the midst of it all. There’s no harm in re-evaluating priorities periodically, and in fact, I’m learning it’s actually a healthy thing to do.
The more I put myself on a schedule, the more I learn about how I work. You’d think I’d have figured it out after 60-odd years, but strangely enough, I’m still learning how I function best. When I had someone else setting deadlines and expectations, it was easy to follow along, knowing I’d always meet or exceed them. When the one in charge of deciding when things get done is me, a number of factors interfere.
At the top of the list is my tendency to be easily distracted. The ADD side of my brain likes to chase shiny things. There’s no getting around it. I’ve learned the best way to keep it entertained is to introduce variety frequently. It means I won’t stay with a single task for months at a time. I’m lucky if I’ll stay on task for weeks. But if I mix it up and have several projects going at once, I’m more likely to stick to a schedule.
Even so, after a couple of months of working the same schedule, even if it’s 3 or 4 different projects, I still need to mix it up. I’m only now learning how important it is to keep a brain that’s usually going at warp speed happy, and what it requires to do so.
Tasks are Nothing More Than Habits Performed Consistently
I’ve discovered tasks are a lot like forming habits. Getting them started is challenging and often frustrating, but there comes a point where I’m keeping something going without even thinking about it, and even starting to work ahead. Such is the case with my blog posts. Except for a couple of weeks when I let things slide during the holidays, I’m finding it easier to stay 3 weeks ahead, and even start creeping towards my ultimate goal of 4 weeks. At this writing, I’m only 2 posts away; closer than I’ve ever been.
When keeping to my self-imposed schedule for one task becomes automatic, I know it’s time to up my game on something else, or even introduce something new. This year, I have a couple of things I want to finally introduce or re-introduce. Some are later in the year which gives me time to catch up on things like uploads to ChapterBuzz which got way behind in the last couple of months of the year. Knowing me like I do, I realize catching that up is going to have to happen before I try to add anything new to my game plan.
Keep it Simple
Which brings up something else I’ve learned. If I try to add too many things to my list at once, I 
get distracted and confused, and nothing gets done. Yes, I can add, say, one self-care item, and one writing item, but never two of either. It sounds silly, and maybe even a little juvenile, but knowing myself and what will or won’t throw me off track means the difference between success and failure; feeling successful, or wanting to slip back into a cycle of self-castigation. As the latter further impedes productivity or success, it’s best avoided at all costs.
My big successes this year were my blog posts and my gym routine. I did great publishing chapters of “Sasha’s Journey” until the holidays hit, and my daily walks took a hit when the weather shifted to windy, rainy, and downright frigid.
As you can see, I’m good at fabricating excuses even though I know I’ll pay the price in the long run, and at my own hands, no less. Fortunately, I’ve had enough successes in the last couple of years to be able to counter the excuses with: “But look at all you accomplished when you made excuses a non-option; when you got up, got dressed, and did it anyway.”
Building on Success to Set New Habits
Maybe that’s why a month or so into a habit, it gets easier. Success breeds success, just as failure breeds failure. If you sit on the couch for days at a time, it’s harder to get up. If you get up every morning, throw on gym clothes and sneakers, and get moving, it’s easier to do it every day. It becomes habit, and the day no longer seems right without it.
Habits are a combination of persistence, and being kind to myself, which sounds counter-intuitive. Yet if you think about it, people are more likely to aspire to greatness when they’re encouraged as opposed to berated. It took me a long time to internalize that concept. I share a lot with others who treat someone else far better than they treat themselves. Still, I’m learning to do better, and the results are clear.
I’m going to close this post with a list of things we, as entrepreneurs need to get into the habit of doing for ourselves every month (borrowed from a post I saw on Facebook).
About the Author
Sheri Conaway is a Holistic Ghostwriter, and an advocate for cats and mental health. Sheri 
believes in the Laws of Attraction, but only if you are a participant rather than just an observer. Her mission is to Make Vulnerable Beautiful and help entrepreneurs touch the souls of their readers and clients so they can increase their impact and their income. If you’d like to have her write for you, please visit her Hire Me page for more information. You can also find her on Facebook Sheri Levenstein-Conaway Author. And check out her new group, Putting Your Whole Heart Forward.
Be sure to watch this space for news of the upcoming releases of ” Rebuilding After Suicide” and “Sasha’s Journey”.
