On Feathers and Habit Creation

On Feathers and Habit Creation

I have a confession to make -- I can be incredibly lazy.?

For example, there are about 10 steps from my bed to the corner of my room where I store my yoga mat. ??

There is also a spiderweb in that same corner of my room!!?

Seriously though, as a leadership coach, I’ve given a fair amount of thought as to what is involved in making habits stick.

In my case, I have asked myself what prevents me from :

?? picking up my yoga mat

?? unrolling it and

?? doing the sun salutations that I resolved to do?

In this short article, I’d like to explore 2 avenues for the creation of habits:

1)????? ?by looking through the lens of the Chinese character for habit ? 习 (in simplified form; ?習 in traditional )?and

2)????? by passing on some recommendations from an extremely practical book on habit creation called Mini Habits by Stephen Guise.

Let’s study the Chinese character first.??

习/ 習 is the first syllable in the word habit 习惯 (xí? guàn) and the second syllable of the word “studies” 学习 ( xué xí).? ?

Very often I like to use an ideogram’s components to tell a story….

so here’s one I put together from traditional character for habit.

Habits are all about consistency – performing an action every single day… come rain or 日 shine.?

If we could teach ourselves to act with the same regularity as the rising of the sun (the Chinese character for sun and day are the same – letter A below), think of what we could accomplish! ? ??

If we were able to stay with just one small action our future would look much brighter or literally so much whiter (B) ?(a dot over the sun represents the color white in Chinese). ?

Forget about broken resolutions and past failures…we’re going to wipe the slate clean!!

Now let’s turn to the top of the traditional Chinese character for habit -? 習.?? Over 白 we find two feathers 习习….bird feathers (C).?

If a bird should lose one of its feathers in flight….the feather will stay in the air for a certain period of time.?? It does not require a gust of wind (or much effort) to keep it drifting.? ??Feathers, unlike negative thoughts do not weigh us down. ??

So, at 7 am, what am I to do??

Ignore my negative thoughts and visualize myself as a feather?!

All I would need to do is drift to the corner of my room and unroll my yoga mat???

That sounds too easy…too simple…

but that is EXACTLY what Stephen Guise encourages us to do.??? Simply put, he advises us to choose what he calls a stupid simple Mini Habit to get the ball rolling…. ?One that takes very little effort …so much so that it is almost impossible to fail.??? It is not the difficulty of the task, it is the continuation of it that matters.

In my case, I do not have to put pressure on myself to do 20 push-ups…one will do quite nicely.? ?That should take all of 10 seconds.?? I cannot use the excuse of “I did not have time this morning!”

Chances are, once I roll out the yoga mat, I may do 5 or 12 or all 20 of those pushups…getting started is what matters!?? ?

Below are a few more of Stephan Guise's tips:

1.???? Choose a Specific Trigger: When the cat jumps on the bed, when the alarm clock goes off…

2.???? Repeat for 30 Days:? I like to start on the first of the month and manually add a checkmark to a box on a wall or desk calendar.???

3.???? Make It Unavoidable: Put the yoga mat in front of the door so that I have to pick it up to leave the room. ?

4.???? Believe in "Too Small to Fail": Begin with small, manageable steps.? Little drops of water which, at some point, will turn into streams….

5.???? Think Long-Term, Act Short-Term: ?Visualize long-term improvement through short-term actions.?? Imagine the energy and flexibility you will have in the morning!

6.???? Opt for a Gradual Increase (Optional): You may wish to very gradually increase the length or the habit difficulty.?? Remember, easy does it!

So, dear reader, I wish you the best of luck in pursuing this strategy.?? My apologies to the spiders in the corners of our rooms!

Leo Yang

? Mandarin Teacher | ?? Go from A1 to B2 Mandarin fluency with my course. Enroll today! ??

1 年

学而时习之,不亦说乎!??

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Josh Dietrich

Executive coach leveraging neuroscience, ontological coaching, and software executive experience within higher education and EdTech.

1 年

Timely for me! About a week ago, I re-hung the pull-up bar in the doorway to my closet and decided I'd do at least one pull-up a day. The habit is already taking root - yesterday I did 10!

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