Habit Chains

     This past week I did very well with all of my new habits, except one. I didn't write a blog post. I know this because I write an email to a friend of mine each Monday morning, outlining the status of the new habits I'm working to establish. It's an 'accountability' email, designed to keep me on track. photo-43

     Last week I declared that I would write a blog post every week. I wrote one last week but I didn't this week (until now). So I asked myself, "why are my new daily habits coming along so well, but this weekly habit isn't?" And the answer is that I have linked my daily habits to other daily habits. 

     I have a new morning routine. I get up early (just before 6am) and I start my morning routine, following the same routine I went through the previous morning. In fact, I check back in my scribbler to see what I have to do next, and then I just follow that sequence. So when I added 'doing The Work of Byron Katie' to my morning routine, it happened 10 days in a row because it simply followed Feng Shui something (tidy/simplify/throw something out). 

     The problem is, I don't have a weekly routine yet. My new weekly habits are 'stand alone' and unlinked. This makes it more difficult to remember them / get them done. And so, this morning, I have linked writing my blog ... to my accountability email. 

     Today, I'm writing it just after my accountability email because I didn't like reporting that I hadn't written it. Next week, I will write my blog just before doing my accountability email so I can report that I have done it.

     So if you have something you'd like to institute as a new habit, link that habit to something else you already do, with the same desired frequency. This will make it much, much easier to establish and maintain.