HabitShaper

So, here it is. Finally my first Habit Shaper blog post, and no less than a good 4-5 months after promising Adriano that I would do this on the regular. Well, as we like to say around here; better late than never! However, even better than later is right now. As in, do it. Now. Stop procrastinating, stop putting it off until a better time, stop trying to come up with the perfect blog topic.

So, in celebration of my brand new work station, I give to you, dear habit maker, my HabitShaper blog numero uno! (If you’re interested, our office is starting to look like a proper work space, and we no longer share a desk! Yay us, all coming up in the world and stuff.)

But really, I just couldn’t think of a single new excuse not to post a blog.

As I was fiddling with the current goal I am working on in HabitShaper (push ups….which seems to be the our go-to habit), it occurred to me that some goal makers out there might not completely understand why the goals are so stinking easy in the beginning. I mean, really…2 push ups? Yeah, even I can handle that. (I laughed out loud once, when we were testing the goals, and my goal was to “Breathe 100 breaths” daily –clearly I was just goofing around, I’m already a professional breather- and I was asked to breathe twice daily.)

But I digress. The reason for the uber-easy target for the first several days is meant to get you in the swing of things. Yes, you can do more than 2 pushups, we’re not saying you’re incapable of it. The challenge is not in the 2 pushups themselves, the challenge is in the doing. Daily. This so-called “Daily Doing”, (yes, a habit) is the tricky bit… we begin good habits with the best of intentions, going at those pushups like there’s no tomorrow, pushing-up our little hearts out. Then the next day, when your arms are sore and you feel it’s better not to overdo it so you skip that day, then the next day you “just don’t feel like it”, and the day after that you “just didn’t have the time”, and then it’s the weekend and you’ve decided you deserve a break anyhow, then Monday rolls around and you’re too busy, then…well, you get the point. Habit fail.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what we’re avoiding by starting small. Get used to the “doing” idea, and the rest will follow.

Start small. Stupidly small. Insignificantly small. Ridiculously small. But do it. And tomorrow, do it again.