You’ve Made It to Day 31, Now What?

You’ve attained what 88% of the people that established a New Year’s Resolution haven’t been able to live up to. You’re a proud member of the 12% club. Now you are faced with what to do next. We are a little more than the sum of our habits and being aware of what our habits have taught us so far is critical. So we can keep them going, below are three ideas to get you through the next 31 days.

1) Make It New Again. One of the biggest things you can do is keep you’re newly established habit from getting old or stale. If you can find subtle ways to change it, but not lose the integrity of the habit, you can make it feel new and exciting just like it felt when you went after it January 1st. For example, instead of continuing to say, “I will keep myself more organized and keep my play areas cleaner, you could say, “I will make my bed and separate the laundry before going to work.” Your achieving the same thing, just more specific and doing it in a new way that’s less vague. Once that gets to feel kind of old, move onto a different area of the house and another area you want to keep organized or clean. Another example I can personally share is one where I wanted to keep the habit of writing alive everyday. I was recommend by a colleague Micheal Potuck to check out The Five Minute Journal by Alex Ikonn and UJ Ramdas. It had a way of taking what was laborious about writing daily and made it more about discovery, almost into a adventure of self-discovery. I was already journaling daily and found this new way of journaling an incredible way to keep this habit of writing daily alive almost to the point I couldn’t wait to write.

2) Pay It Forward. Here’s where you get to feel that sensation of an altruistic reward or recognition for yourself. There is someone, somewhere that is facing the same struggles you did along the way to get to the place of achievement you are at. Letting others know what you went through to get to your 31 days, what you learned on that journey, some of those obstacles you faced, and how you overcame them might just be the fuel they need to continue on with theirs. Start a blog or us your favorite social circles to get the word out. There is bound to be someone out there that can benefit from your learns. Find someone in your work life or personal life that you can mentor. You will find that you both will begin to depend on one another and create accountability with one another to keep the habit alive. In his book, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business Charles Duhigg states:

“For a habit to stay changed, people must believe that change is possible. And most often, that belief only emerges with the help of a group.”

Groups create accountability and belief which are definite keys that are critical to feeding us onward to new heights with our newly established habits.

3) Evolve it. There is going to be a time where your habit is going to need to change. It’s not going to feel as fulfilling. Or at work, it may not be what gets you the recognition you need because the goal you’ve been asked to achieve has changed to a different focus. You will need to move from that 5k run into a 10k run to feel that excitement about the push and focus it takes to reach the same satisfaction of that initial 5k. Continue to research and find out whose done the same thing and reimagine it. Innovation is seemed to be usually thought of as creating something new and never been done before. I challenge that thinking, innovation can also mean problem solving something that’s been done before and taking it from good to great or doing it in a fresh new way. Find a way to innovate what you’ve done the last 31 days and make it amazing and different. Set a new standard of excellence at work by reimagining a current expectation and creating something far more valuable to your company’s benefit.

Aristole said:

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”

In our daily lives there is so much distraction it can take us off track of establishing our habits long term. Putting into action the three ideas above, a little discipline with groups versus on our own, and some focus in a different way we can make it through the next 31 days. Congrats on being the 12% if you’re New Year’s Resolution has got you this far. If you didn’t make it, you can start over, there is no losing in that.

Below I have listed some resources that can get you back on the habit building train or reinforce those that you continue to drive. Good luck on your next level of achievement!

• Shawn

Resources

The Five-Minute Journal by Alex Ikonn and UJ Ramdas

Bringing Out the Best in People: How to Apply the Astonishing Power of Positive Reinforcement by Aubrey Daniels

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg

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