The Year of Routine

At the beginning of 2020 I planned for a year of new experiences, but instead, it became the year of routine. Wake up at 5am. Meditate for an hour (or rather set an intention to follow your breath for an hour but end up lost in thought instead). Write or exercise for another hour. Make a couple of phone calls. Breakfast. Go to work. Lunch. Back to work. Dinner. Read. Write some more. Sleep. On weekends, replace work with a long walk, tai ji class, and longer writing sessions. Sprinkle in a few chores and appointments and add a hefty Read More …

It’s the Little Things

It’s the little things that often make the biggest difference. It’s a truism for many aspects of life, but especially for success in habit formation. While there have been times when I’ve made big, lasting changes on the strength of one powerful insight, there have been many more times when the changes have been incremental. Sometimes these incremental changes were what paved the way to a big transformation. More often, though, the changes weren’t sustainable. I’d keep up the new habit for a week or two; a few months even. And then a minor disruption would kick me off the Read More …