Pages

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

In Pursuit of Habits for 2021

Nothing makes me want to set some new goals more than a fresh start.  Recently, I read James Clear's national bestseller, Atomic Habits (yes, I realize I'm about 3 years late to the craze).  If you've been around me or my blog for any length of time, you've probably heard or read about my yearly, monthly, weekly, daily (hourly?) goals.  I've read many books on the subject and consider my ability to identify my weaknesses and then pursue strategies to correct them as one of my strengths.  

While many of the habit books I've read are incredibly helpful and insightful, James Clear speaks about habit formation in a very straight, scientific way that simply makes sense.  He begins by shedding light on the misconception that while goal setting and intentions are great and all, it's really the systems we put into place and committing to the process that produce the desired habits that can allow us to achieve our goals.  It is with that in mind that I present to you the habits I wish to create and fine-tune in 2021.

2021
Go to bed earlier (for real).  
There's no denying 2020 was a weird year.  With plenty of at-home time to devote to developing solid habits, the uncertainties often crippled efforts, and ultimately late nights and sleeping in won.  Many of the lines in Atomic Habits speak to expanding healthy living habits and the ones that I've constructed to help my processes in place are the following:

"I will start my bath as soon as we put the children to bed."
We've established pretty solid systems for making sure the children get to bed on time each night, especially during school nights.  In order for my winding-down time to be able to begin as soon as they are in bed, we've created firm daily rituals and boundaries to ensure all housekeeping and to-do's are completed by the time dinner arrives.  This makes certain that evenings are spent relaxing and reconnecting with each other.
...so back to this bath.  You might be thinking- "You don't need to put this process in place- we follow your social media accounts and know for a fact that you take plenty of baths."  This process is less about the actual bath and more about the timing of it.  The ritual of the nightly bath is the beginning of my bedtime routine.  I start the bath, remove my make up, take everyone's dirty clothes from the day down to the washing machine where I set it to begin right before we wake up.  I place my fitbit on its charger, grab my water for the evening (a 1.5 liter Smart Water bottle which I'll drink between then and the morning), and snatch my book from the nightstand.  By starting the process right after we put the children to bed, I'm setting myself up for early-to-bed success.

Move every day.  
While quarantine brought with it many walks, there were also plenty of times where we would go days without walking.  Rewind a year before quarantine and you would have found me moving way more in general.  In the past when I've set movement/exercise "goals,"  it's been with an end result in mind: 
"I want to lose weight so I will run a mile every day."
"I want to run a half-marathon, so I'll train 3 days a week."
"I want to be flexible so I will do yoga every day."

While these are all great mindsets, they're just not very motivating on a daily basis.  Running a mile can be (and is) daunting most days.  Following a daily yoga routine requires intentional planning and sacrifice to dedicate 20-60 minutes to something that's not even that fun.  And the setting of a goal to run a half-marathon may motivate you up until race day, but what about after the finish line?  I gave myself a week off... which very easily expanded to more and more weeks.  My new movement rule will be:

"I schedule my daily walks into my calendar and never miss them."
and
"I will do yoga or run one day a week for 10 minutes."

Ten minutes may not seem like enough time to actually improve fitness, but as James Clear points out, it's more about developing the habit.  Once I get into the habit of making sure I'm walking every day and either running or doing yoga once a week, I plan on expanding these workouts.

Read 25 Books.
Last year brought much more downtime for us and I was able to read more books than I had the previous four years.  While I didn't meet my goal of finishing 25 books, I came very close at 21. In looking back at why I didn't complete the 25 books, the easiest thing to pinpoint is the lack of evening time dedicated to book reading.  To help reach the number 25, this year I am implementing:

"Once I get in the bath, I will set a timer for 20 minutes and read without looking at my phone."

Again, this may seem like a silly statement and, of course, once I read for 20 minutes, I'll most likely want to keep reading.  Really this rule is in place to help me focus on reading a book rather than scrolling through social media.
Help More People Buy and Sell Homes.
2020 brought with it my first closings in my new business.  The beginning of the year looked promising with a crazy "Spring Market" kicking into high gear... in January!  Needless to say, everything came to a screeching halt for me come March.  While I was presented the gift of time for additional training (including my Christie's International Real Estate Luxury Specialist designation!), I was certainly excited when things began to pick back up and I was able to resume helping friends and family buy and sell homes.  I learned more with each transaction and every interaction.  
Looking ahead to 2021, I've registered for even more training to help fill in any gaps and to continue the constant learning that's so important to any career.  I would love to implement my experience and upcoming training to help even more individuals and families in 2021.  I'm so blessed and fortunate to have a career I truly love and strive to continue to develope luxury experiences for my clients.


Cheers to 2021 and all of the wonderful opportunities and experiences it holds for us!

Thank you to the following photographers for the use of their photos!  Please check out their work on Instagram!

0 comments

Post a Comment