Week 7 Update: on habit stacking, and the plan for designing a night routine.
HELLO DENIZENS! Squeeze 2018 was iconic (watch out for the mid-2019 squeeze, we'll have more fire) but one thing I missed out on was— having a solid gameplan.
I've been reflecting on the last 6 weeks and my eyebrows and wig flew away because... I hardly got anything worthwhile done.
Week 7 has started, and I'm ready to take some serious action. If you're tired of being a victim to time, and wanna do something with the remaining 45+ weeks, join in.
What I learnt in the last 6 weeks:
You're literally getting nowhere without a plan. It's fun to be all hype, yell hurrah and take action on one random day when you're motivated, but in the long-term, you'll miss out on a lot of things you could've accomplished had you been more systematic.
What's the plan ahead:
I journaled down three main priorities for 2019. They are:
1. establish morning & night routines customised for my lifestyle
2. incorporate habits like:
gratitude list
tidying up my room
reading daily
writing something for my blog daily
journaling daily
3. make weekly progress on my 2019 goals
Integrating priority 1 with habits (priority 2) is my first Attack 2019 Challenge. I read Habit Stacking last year. In short, it was about stacking habits on top of each other, one by one, and building a habit stack that eventually becomes your habit “routine”.
Designing my night routine; I've never really had a night routine, because I often sleep at irregular times, but that'll have to change this year.
In the last 3 or so weeks, I've laid down a foundation for the first habit in my night routine (got something meaningful done lmao, yay for me): brushing my teeth.
Doesn't sound like much, but it's the first step to a lifelong routine, and something I'll definitely use as a cue for other habits.
Here's the current nightly habit stack that I've been following for the last 5 days before going to bed:
Brush my teeth
Tidy kitchen table & desk
Plan for the next day
Read one chp (the minimum, if I'm really tired, is 5 pgs)
I eventually plan on expanding this a bit more—and get in stuff like washing my face, moisturising and writing down 3 things in grateful for—but for now, this will do.
How long am I planning to follow this before I add another habit to the stack? Hard to say exactly, but I'll give myself at least TWO WEEKS to make this stack stronger.
What's coming up?
With my night routine in place, the next couple of things I'll attack:
Build a morning routine, with stuff like connecting with my vision, exercising, writing posts etc.
Build a afternoon stack for the hour after lunch, with habits like journalling, brainstorming & outlining, replying to messages etc.
Follow a fixed running and stretching schedule
Finding a way to track weekly progress on my 2019 goals
There's lots to fix and re-do this year! I'm determined to upgrade my lifestyle, and there'll be a lot of purposeful planning involved to do the same (ain't Christmas pals, put in the effort), but I'm excited.
Lastly, answer this: what's YOUR next (or first, we a bit late to the game, but it's alright) Attack 2019 Challenge? Take steps to be in control, than let life control you. The hashtag I'll track for your updates is (#attack 2019) and (#team conquer) so do tag me if you're with me in this!
Sending love for the best year of our lives,
— Nandini 💌
