Good morning or afternoon or evening ~ or whenever you read this. Fifteen years and counting, 365 days out of the year, I begin my morning sitting at the dining table in the Great Room (as I dub it – the addition, kitchen/eating area, we built 15 years ago). This morning I’m in my craft room where my computer is located; my tea mug is close at hand and I am journaling via the keyboard rather than by pen in hand. Just as I was retiring last night, I realized that today was the last Tuesday and I had not drafted today’s post. Ah yes! Guess that habit – my 2020 one little word – hasn’t taken hold, yet!
This month, my focus has been on visiting my routines and tiny habits – the things I do consciously, intentionally or out of habit. For example: I’ve dubbed my mornings as MSQT – morning solitude and quiet time. I go downstairs to the Great Room, make tea and set the table with my journal/s/, pens, AM good reads and planner/s.* This past month, I added to my routine the practice of taking a minimum of 350 steps as tea water brews (in my new electric cordless kettle, just sayin’). This is a tiny habit that’s easy to implement: I can simply walk briskly around the perimeter of the Great Room and get my body movin’. Win Win!
Tiny Habits is also the title of a new book published the end of 2019. BJ Fogg, the author has been studying habits for several decades and has narrowed the formation of new habits to the tiniest cue, e.g., you tie a desired behavior to something you already do. In my example, I want to be a little more active in the morning, get a jump start on my daily step count, so I tied walking with flipping the switch of the electric kettle.
BJ offered a free 10 sessions ‘ online class to the book’s purchasers; I joined and have been attending the ‘class’ this month. The interaction between BJ and class participants via text chat has been illuminating. Today is our 7th session.
How is life with your word proceeding ? Please do share in the comments and if you’ve written a post, please also include the link in the comments.*
Looking forward to reading the stories of your February love affair with your 2020 one little word. And now, it’s time for me to hit publish, go downstairs and walk my 350 steps as water boils for my second cuppa tea.
Cheers~
*Yes, I have more than one planner; that’s a story for another post … and mark your calendar: Tuesday March 31 is the next OLW update! Apologies for no linkup party this month… I need to understand how the feature works. I’m sure it’s easier than their instructions and it’s past time to hit publish.
Morning Glory Studio 
My OLW is Listen and some days Listening. I haven’t been listening to myself for a while. And then yesterday I did. I moved more. I got UP. Together me and Dear Hubby trimmed branches with a pole saw, chain saw, and loppers and then moved all the limbs and brush to the firepit in the backyard. It was a couple hours of work. Yes, we were out of breath and our comfort zone. We felt like a team. We were happy with our accomplishment. We saw it through. AND we slept great, lol. We are still waiting for the kids to NOTICE, lol! This success encourages me to LISTEN more. Big vugs!
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I really like the idea of linking a new habit to something (the cue). I’m going to think on that (ponder). Post up on my blog as well!
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I love the idea of pairing one habit with another. I once heard of a person who paired heating up her lunch at work with meditating – just those couple of minutes of meditation while her food was in the microwave. How clever is that??
I have a post today as well: https://katiegilley.com/2020/02/25/word-of-the-year-present-february-update/
Thanks for the link up!
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I liked BJ Fogg’s ideas (he was my facilitator when I did Tiny Habits) and what a great idea to move your body while waiting for your cuppa! (I am typically unloading the dishwasher which is moving but in place basically, lol) Thanks for the link up and here is my link:
http://askatknits.com/2020/02/25/an-intentional-life-2/
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Morning solitude time sounds like a PERFECT way to start the day.
http://deekissinger.blogspot.com
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Linking one action to something you already do to start a habit is an easy yet brilliant idea. A while back I started sort of marching in place in the bathroom while I dry my hair to get my blood moving and wake my body up, and it’s gotten to be so much of a habit now that I feel super lazy when I don’t do it! This sounds like a clever way to use the oft-used practice of multitasking for a productive outcome (certainly better than staring at a phone while waiting for the water to boil!)
My post is here: http://paknitwit.blogspot.com/2020/02/one-little-word-february-2020.html
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My morning solitude happens four of the seven days, sitting in the living room with the fire on (during the many chilly/cold months of our year), reading, and occasionally taking notes. The other three days begin at the gym. Sometimes I move to my chair after my shower, but more often I move on to the to-do list. My journal writing happens at my desk at the end of the day. I’ll be posting an update on my OLW at the end of the week (or perhaps on March 1) as we are traveling to Wisconsin over the weekend.
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I completely spaced out on doing a OLW update for today but at least now I know what I’ll be blogging about tomorrow! It sounds like you’re finding good ways to incorporate new tiny habits into your routine.
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Morning solitude is such a nice beginning to a day. Habits are so interesting to me. Here is to a good year of exploration of habits. I posted here:
https://prairiespirits.blogspot.com/2020/02/tender-questions.html
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I’m fascinated with your tiny habits and tying them to something you already do. I may give this a try myself!
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I really like the tying together to habits idea … and though I don’t make as much use of it as I should, you are reminding me of its value. I just love your ‘Great Room’ – it sounds almost medieval, and brings to mind a crackling fire, warm drapes and rugs, and candlelight :). Looking forward to hearing more of your online class – very enterprising and determined of you to get on board! My thoughts about my One Little Word in February are over here: https://simplyalexa.typepad.com/trimmingthesails/2020/02/olw-2020-february-reflections.html
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Reading about your habit word is always interesting. My habits: eating after dinner. Must work on this. taking the wipe from the grocery store stand and cleaning the cart handle and seat . For a long time. If I don’t have one, I use my sleeve.
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I started a blog post and then I stopped. I am not sure how to connect right now. But I am grateful that you are hosting because the words I am reading are very important.
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Those tiny little habits add up to good living! XO
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I DID remember to share a post yesterday! That sounds like an interesting book and very cool that there’s a class to help make it practical and applicable. (also, would love to know about your cordless tea kettle – our “coffee corner” is full of ugly cords … tea kettle, coffee pot and milk steamer … and I’d love to eliminate one!)
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I have a morning routine where I sip my coffee and journal away. I love mornings best especially because I’m by myself and it’s completely quiet.
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Love your comments on habits and I’ll definitely check out that book! I already have Atomic Habits by James Clear and High Performance Habits by Brendan Burchard on my Unread Shelf – companions to all the job search books! Habit is a companion word to my OLW “RISE” for this year. Don’t have my OWL update post up yet – hoping to do that today!
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I do love my morning solitude and do my best to not let anything disrupt it. My OLW is [Re]Connect. So far doing great-have connected [I hope] with a local book club. I enjoyed the first meet up so hopefully it will continue. Still working on other ways of “connecting-reconnecting”.
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