One "thank you" at a time...

I have been asked how my three new habits program is going. I must say that I went off the rails a little and lost focus of those habits as a program of starting new habits each month.

Unfortunately my experience with the first three habits - sleeping an average 8 hours a day, drinking 1.5L of water at work and keeping a clean desk - was not as lasting as I had hoped. While all were maintained during December and for a little of January, I have drifted away from the discipline. You can see by the photo below what my desk looks like this morning. By the end of the day I promise to clean it up.




What I have been doing instead of adding new habits each month which didn't seem to stick, I'm trying to add a new habit here and there that I can and want to maintain forever.

I decided that I would not eat chocolate for the whole of January and from then on would maintain 23 chocolate free days a month. I achieved the January target and am on target to complete the goal for February.

I also committed to working out at the gym ten times a month. Although I missed my target in January, only working out six times, I am confident I will achieve the goal in February, with ten, and will overachieve in March to make up for the deficiency in January.

With Valentine's Day passing I realized that to show special appreciation for your loved one once or twice (on your anniversary) a year is inadequate. Every day I tell my wife that I love her and that I appreciate what she does for me, but since our daughter was born, I've noticed that we focus less on our life as a couple and more on our lives as parents.

So I decided that if on the monthly anniversary of our wedding day (the 20th of each month) I would treat it like our anniversary, doing something special or giving her a gift. My first was a couple of days ago, and I wrote my wife a nice card and gave her a gift. She was very appreciative and I'm already thinking of what I will do next month.

I've also decided to be more appreciative of people around me and people who have influenced my life. I want to create my own personal attitude of gratitude. So I try to send a card every day, but it works out to be four or five a week, to someone who has been or is important in my life and show them appreciation for how they have made a positive impact. It keeps me thinking about who and what I'm grateful for , and why I'm lucky to have these people in my life.

Hopefully showing the appreciation to others will make them think also about showing appreciation to people in their lives. The more we appreciate in life the better we all feel, and the better we all feel, the nicer this world will be to live in.

One "thank you" at a time.