Easing Into Change
How I sneak up on good habits and gradually eliminate bad ones.
Several years ago I stopped making resolutions and started naming aspirations.
Rather than declaring what I’m going to stop or start doing on January 1st, I name what I want to do less or more or over the first few weeks of year.
Instead of quitting processed sugar cold turkey on January 1st, I enter the new year intending to eat less processed sugar than I did the final week of December. Given how much sugar I consume around the holidays, the bar for achieving this goal is ridiculously low. Each day, for the first few weeks of the year, I try to take in a little less sugar than I did the day before, until I reach place of realistic and sustainable moderation.1
Rather than resolving to write for thirty minutes a day beginning on January 1st, I ease into the new year by writing for a few minutes. Maybe only a paragraph or two. Each day I try to write a little more than I did the day before until I reach a realistic and sustainable amount of time for a daily writing practice.
Over the past few years, I’ve snuck up on some good habits and gradually eliminate some bad ones by easing into my aspirations instead of going all in on day one and giving up on day ten.
I’ve also found this approach works well on the first day of any month or the first day back after vacation.
If you’ve already given up on your resolutions for this year, you don’t have to wait until next year to start over.
Over the next few weeks, how might you ease into a positive change by doing a little less or a little more?
I’ve made peace with the realization that completely eliminating processed sugar is not only impossible, but also something I don’t want to do. If eating the occasional Haribo gummy peach is wrong, I don’t wanna be right!