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My Problem

I tried to make a goal last month that was a little bit too much. I read the book Atomic Habits by James Clear this January and it really inspired me and gave me hope that I could get my life together and be the person I wanted to be. The plan I made for March was to make a programming project each week. This sounded easy enough but when it came to it, my work schedule and whole month was too inconsistent and busy to stick to a consistent schedule to build the type of habits I was trying to build. Even on the days I had time to do what I needed to do I would get overwhelmed because I felt like I had to do as much as possible with the time that I had or else I wouldn't get it done. This made me not do it at all and ultimately not get anything done. I took too big of steps too soon and tried to skip steps to get to my goals which is totally missing the whole premise of Atomic Habits which is all about how to start small to make the habits so easy that it's hard not to do them before building up. I need to slow down and work one step at a time!

My Solution

My solution is to follow the lessons from the book as close as I can and stop making excuses and getting ahead of myself. I will make small plans that are way too easy and do them until I don't even think about it and then improve slightly. It's just like working out, and I was trying to bench 225lbs at my first gym session; some people can go to the gym and lift that easily, even on their first try but they have had previous work that has lead them too that and it isn't embarrasing when your max is less than you're peers warmup, you are just in different places in life. My main point is that I am at the start of my journey and it will take a lot of embarrassing little steps to become the type of person I want to be.

Steps

Make it Obvious

In the book it talks about making your habits obvious. This means to put them in plain sight so that you don't forget about them. It also means to make it as easy as possible to start the habit. Such as when you want to floss maybe you leave the floss on the sink in the bathroom so you see it before you go to bed or even lay it on your bed after you make the bed so it's in the way and right there.

This also means to be specific when making habits. I will do this by using wording such as "I will [Habit] at [Time] [Location]", and then using habit stacking such as "After I [Habit} I will [New Habit]".

Make it Attrative

To make my habits attractive I will use strategies such as tempation bundling. This is when I would pair an action with something I want to do, like if I need to fold the laundry after its done drying then maybe I could listen to a podcast I like while I do it or watch my favourite show. Another example might be if I have to study I could pair it with good music, some good candy maybe, or even some friends in a study group.

Speaking of friends, a good way to make habits attractive is to have a friend group that has a culture where my desired behaviour is the normal behaviour. I will do this by joining a study group or making a group with some of my classmates once I am in university. I can also do this by joining online groups.

Another step to make a behaviour attractive is to create a motivational ritual by doing something I truly enjoy right before doing what I am supposed to do, just to get the ball rolling.

Make it Easy

I will make habits easy to do by reducing the steps it takes to start the task, setting up my enviroment, downscaling how much I do, and automating certain tasks. I will reduce ethe steps to study by making sure that I have a notebook ready and my pencil with it. I will set up my enviroment after each task so that it is easily ready to be done again the next day. I will downscale the amount of time I spend on each task at first. I will only spend 15 minutes or even 5 minutes working studying/working on programming just so that I can get used to starting first. I will also make desisions beforehand so that I don't have to waste time thinking about what I want to work on. I will try to automate tasks like organizing notes with a system or with technology.

Make it Satisfying

This is where I struggle a bit. Making habits satifying is sometimes hard to do for me because sometime I don't know myself well enough to know what satisfys me. I will try to make it sastisfying by using reinforcments like immediatee rewards right after. I will make "doing nothing" rewarding by looking for the benefits of avoiding bad habits like going on my phone. I will track my habits to see how good I am doing and make it a challenge to keep a streak. I will not miss twice, by this I mean I will not miss 2 days in a row or else that will be harder to get back on it.

Specific Goals This Month

Conclusion

March was just part of the learning process. I made some mistakes and definetly repeated some mistakes, but I did get better. I will continue to get better this month and keep on my path to keep the streaks of being the disaplined professional I want to be. I will keep my why in mind this month as I face the struggle with laziness and procrastination. My why is my family, my fiance, and my future. I want to be able to provide for them and make it so they can have everything that is necessary to do what they have to comfortably without having to worry about money.

Date

April 15th 2024