Thirty Days Makes A Habit

Sometimes we need a little inspiration to help kick start the journey to reach our goals.  This is one reason I have become a big fan of TED.

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to "Ideas Worth Spreading" in the areas of:  Technology, Entertainment, Design.  The organization sponsors two annual conferences -- the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh Scotland each summer.  In addition, TED hosts the award-winning TEDTalks video site.  The motto on their website is:  "Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world".  And they live up to that motto. 

On the TED website you can watch such videos as:  Steve Jobs (Apple) giving an awe-inspiring commencement speech, "How to Live Before You Die", Elizabeth Gilbert (author of "Eat, Pray, Love") talking about "Nurturing Creativity", or, Salman Khan (Khan Academy) suggesting "Let's Use Video To Reinvent Education".  I watched all three of these and they truly are "inspirational".

I recently came across one video that I especially found helpful.  It was a video by Matt Cutts on how "thirty days makes a habit".  Essentially, Cutt's hypothesis is that if there is something you really want to achieve in your life, doing it consistently for thirty days will make it become a habit.


Try Something New for 30 Days
By Matt Cutts

This works for both positive and negative goals.  For instance, if you want to make flossing your teeth a daily habit, just setting the goal to do this consistently for 30 days.  Likewise, if you want to stop biting your nails, consistent progress for 30 days would soon have you kicking the bad habit. 

So how does this work?  To answer that, first we need to think about what happens during the goal setting process.  Many times, we set goals for ourselves that seem too big to actually achieve.  So, no sooner do we write them down, then we begin telling ourselves they can't be accomplished.  We are our own worst enemy.  Psychologists suggest we censor our inner critics by making a 30 day commitment.  A commitment to do something temporarily doesn't seem quite as hard as a commitment to permanent change.  Any deprivation you perceive will only be short-lived and at the end of the 30 days you can always go back to ways things used to be. 

For me, my biggest 30 day success story was giving up TV.  At that time in my life, I was on verge of starting a new business and I needed to find a way to fit a new business into my already busy life.  I was working full-time, plus I had a newborn baby.  Someone suggested that if I REALLY wanted to find the time to launch my business, I should consider giving up my evening television watching.  Ouch.  That was the time I set aside to unwind and snuggle with my new baby.  Not too mention, I had my whole week planned out according to when my favorite TV shows were on.

I opted to try it for just 30 days.  I have to be honest and tell you that it was really really hard.  I missed that  downtime.  I even had to add in new things just to help me break the habit.  Instead of turning on the TV after dinner, I started taking my baby out in his stroller for a walk.  I made big pots of tea and sat in the kitchen (where there was no TV) doing my work each night.  I also asked my family members to support me, by either not watching TV, or watching it in another room.

At the end of 30 days, my business was starting to grow.  I began to see how it just might afford enough of an income that I could quit my job and stay home with my son.  Two years later, I achieved that goal.  Sixteen years later, I still don't watch TV.  And interestingly enough, no one in my family watches TV on a consistent basis either (well, except for my hubby, who loves football).  Thirty days made a good habit for not only me... but the rest of my family too.

So I hope you will consider watching some of the TED videos and become inspired enough to set some goals. Once you do, try the thirty day plan and see if it works for you too.