21 Days

They say it takes twenty one days to make a habit stick. I don't know about that. With all that we do in our lives, how is it possible for anyone to do anything twenty one straight days except sleep, eat and check Facebook and Twitter?

What is a habit, anyway?
Merriam-Webster defines it as a behavior pattern acquired  by frequent repetition or or physiologic exposure that shows itself in regularity or increased facility of performance.

Personally, I thought doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same result was the definition of insanity but I can see some wiggle room here.
So, it's time to build some new habits for 2013. On day 15, I'd like to think I'm doing pretty well on my goals. Well, on some of them. One of them?

I've gotten very good at logging in to My Fitness Pal every day and journaling as I'm supposed to. I think this is already an ingrained habit because it's like Facebook -- sort of an addiction.I have friends on there whose progress is highly motivating and I'm eager to see what they're up to today. I'm a news junkie so I equate it to that: what's going on today? I have to log in to find out. Done.

We don't even need to discuss Facebook and Twitter. I'm an addicted user of those services.

Image courtesy of adamr at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Another of my goals is to write a slew of books in 2013. And by slew I mean thirty gazillion. Or twelve. I don't remember the exact number. Being a crazy person  (trying to form habits makes you crazy, remember?) I broke down the approximate number of words for each book  then how many I'd have to write in a month, a week, a day then an hour. Trust me, I know that was a form of procrastinating but it actually helps me. Instead of seeing the entire elephant (say 1.5 million words in one year), I see doable elephant bites ((6) 685 word sprints a day). 685 words in thirty minutes? Dude, I am all over that. Trouble is...well, doing it. Making a habit is darned hard when life intervenes and you end up with a cold that keeps you in bed and unable to focus for two days or you have a migraine or you're having computer issues. I'm usually a roll with it kind of person but some days the roller wins and after setbacks and false starts I say forget it, I'll come back tomorrow.

Does that mean I'm failing in my attempt to create a daily writing habit? Yes. Does that mean I'm going to fail at writing a slew of books this year? Nope. Not one damn bit.

I think habit is just a sly word for persistence. I'd rather be hitting my head against the brick wall of writing than doing just about anything else professionally (except sing but since I can't carry a tune, that's out.)
In my mind, it's not necessarily about doing it every single day as it is getting it done.If that means writing ten hours in one day after losing time the previous day, then fine. Technically it doesn't count as a day two in a habit forming attempt but the work is still getting done.

As you can see, it's all very convoluted.The bottom line is: do what you want to do, the way you want to do it as long as you're getting it done.Whatever it may be.

Now get out there and make some habits or something!

Happy reading,
Jennifer