It took me an extra month to figure out my goals for 2018. Then it has taken me another month to tell people about it. But here it is: I want to adopt one new habit per month. I started successfully with a January habit, which inspired me to keep going with a new habit per month.
Monthly Habits:
January: Get up at a regular time, and do 15 minutes of yoga stretches.
Janathon helped by giving me fun daily reminders to report my effort.
Our local PBS station has been the other help, by showing Priscilla’s Yoga Stretches each morning from 6-6:30. They fit two 15-minute sessions in that time slot. I’ve been doing the 6:15 session. Perfecto!
February: 90 minutes of ‘Monk Mode’ each morning.
I’ve seen various descriptions of what ‘monk mode’ means, so I’ve tailored my own version to what I need. I’m trying for a straight 90 minutes of office work, in the morning before I get distracted by other things. During this 90 minutes, I am trying to refrain from checking online news sources, blogs, and of course, Facebook. Ideally, the 90 minutes would be with no TV or radio. But, there are things I listen to in the morning to get my daily current events updates. So maybe I need an afternoon monk mode session as well, in total silence. Maybe that is a habit for a later month.
https://www.bbc.com/ideas/videos/monk-mode-and-five-other-tips-for-work-life-balanc/p05t70bk
March: ‘Spring cleaning’, baby! One hour, one room, per day
I am focusing on one room per day for cleanup, decluttering, rearranging, reorganizing, etc. I’m trying for an hour per day on this task. Do I include the yard and car as ‘rooms’? Looking at them, the answer is an emphatic yes! Does it make the goal too broad and undefined? Maybe.
April: I haven’t decided on April’s new habit. I want to decide month by month. I have ideas for some of the upcoming months. Potential categories are home management, productivity, conservation, health, fitness, enlightenment, budgeting.
How’s it going so far?
- The yoga habit has stuck like glue. I feel great, my posture is better I think, and I love the jump-start it gives to my morning.
- The monk mode habit, hmmm. I’m now aghast at how sporadic, sloppy and undisciplined my work concentration has become. If I had charted my month of devotion to this habit, the chart would look like a roller coaster. To me, this means I need to keep ‘monk mode’ in my morning routine, and need to make a consistent effort to accomplish it.
- The room-a-day habit is not a habit yet. But each day something gets done. I’m looking forward to what the place looks like on March 31.
The regular activities continue. Fitness, food prep and nutrition, sewing. I don’t need to set goals to make these a regular part of my routine. For that I’m truly thankful.
On 2017 projects:
The puppy/dog fostering has been a wonderful addition to my life:
run | sew | read 
Maybe try doing your cleaning & straightening while you watch your morning shows. Then do the Monk mode after that with no distractions. I know how hard it is to concentrate – I work from home a lot and any kind of media takes my productivity right down every time. Oh, and yes to yoga! How does anyone live without it?
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The morning shows are on the radio, which isn’t as distracting as TV, but you are still right that it takes away from the total concentration on work. I feel like monk mode is more important and should be done first. The cleaning is the right fit with listening to the radio. I can podcast at least some of the radio stuff. And the yoga! I think you ‘get’ my routine. 🙂
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I surely get this kind of thinking. I am forever trying to figure out what I do best and when. Some people start the day slow & are most productive later, but I am like you and try to do the most important things first. If I want to get any kind of project started I must do it in the beginning of the day. But, once started, I can work on it at night when I am drained. I am only just learning to think about these things. I have no idea how I got along the first 50 years of my life. lol
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