Hello friend! Welcome back to Blonde Girl Writing, where I talk about writing, God, and reading. Today I wanted to share my thoughts on consistency and how I've been trying to be more consistent with certain things in my life.
I'm sure we've all heard "it takes 21 days to form a habit." But this is actually false! According to research, it can takes anywhere from 18 to 254 days to form a habit, with the typical number being 66 days. I think it's less about the amount of days that you perform a task and more about your consistency in doing it.
Think about it: if you're trying to form a habit to, say, ride your bike, you're going to want to perform that task consistently until it becomes apart of your daily schedule. This means you might have to fit other tasks around this one--maybe you eat dinner later or set aside some homework so you can ride your bike before the sun goes down. You'll also probably want to ride your bike around the same time every day, so your body gets used to doing this new thing. And setting a reminder to ride your bike will probably help a lot, too, as well as getting some accountability from a friend or family member.
In my life, I'm trying to be consistent in writing, doing my schoolwork, exercising, and taking care of myself. This can be pretty hard for me. There are days when I'd rather sing, or draw, or play with my siblings rather than write. There are days where I don't feel like doing my schoolwork or exercising. There are days when taking care of myself falls to the bottom of my list of things I have to do. But I've been trying to build consistent habits for these things so they become apart of my schedule.
To summarize my example above, a few ways you can practice consistency to form a habit include:
Prioritizing it, which may include fitting other tasks around it
Performing it around the same time every day
Setting reminders and/or setting up an accountability system through a friend or family member
Let me know below: are there any habits that you're trying to form? If so, we could become accountability partners for each other, so we can meet our goals and form better habits!
Thank you for reading, and have a great day!
Best wishes,
~ Jonah
Comments