January is the month so many are working on, hoping to and longing to establish new habits. And, yes, we are a website devoted to Habits for a Happy Home. So, here we are a couple weeks into January. How are you doing? You may be wondering how do you make habits stick? Today we share all the best helps for building habits – from each of our authors – from the archives.
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10 Helps for Building Habits
Excellent post full of encouragement from Angie about Habit Formation Once something is a habit, you don’t even have to think about it, you just do “it”. Isn’t that a gift because if we had to think about every single action we took, we would be beyond worn out.
Forming Habits – The Ones We Shouldn’t Have are the Easiest to Form. Sherri says, “When I have formed a habit, it’s usually because I have taken the time to write something down on my calendar and keep doing so until I don’t think about it anymore. I just do it. If I think I might forget to do something, I’ll set a reminder on my cell phone like an alarm or I’ll send myself an email. I also write myself notes EVERYWHERE.”
Fight Fire with Fire – Kendra says Our lives are driven by devices. Devices that distract us so, so easily. So I guess I’m fighting fire with fire here, because I use those same distracting devices to help me with habit building. For me, this is the modern day equivalent of a string tied to my finger.
The Habit to Remember – Trisha shares a wonderful, visual way to build a habit of remembering.
Help for Making Habits Stick For me, over the years with babies, toddlers, stacks of school books, hungry mouths and now towering teens, these are the basic routes I’ve discovered for seeing results in building habits. The habits for building habits, if you will
Making Habits Stick: 31 in 31 …other avenues for habit building. One is making three goals to reach in 30 days. So, three habits in a month. 3 in 30. But this is the one that I really like…
In His Ways are not Our Ways Kim A. reminds of the basis of all. Put love first, and let everything else fall into place…schedules, schoolwork, chores. All important things, but remember “the greatest of these is love.”
Habit formation: What About Our Own Habits? by Angie includes a Getting Started Plan.
Psalm 139: 1O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
Stuck? Try Micro Goals by guest contributor Cassandra Frear. “When I’m stuck in a rut or intimidated by a large project, this works like a miracle. It makes possible things I never thought I’d be able to do.”
And let’s not forget the Power of Prayer by littlesanctuary. “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.”
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. Romans 8:26-28
How are you doing with forming habits? What are one or more things that have worked for you this new year?
-originally published January 2013
Great!