5 Habits That Will Guide The Second Half Of My Year
Last week we took our first vacation in over a year. It was the first time I completely unplugged and didn’t touch my computer for days — even now, as I write this, I’m doing so on my iPad so that I don’t have to open my computer until after. (It’s actually one of the challenges I’m posing to myself, more below.)
By the time I put my OOO on, I was running low on energy, motivation, and clarity. Not just with work, but with all of life. The last few weeks in therapy have been transformative and eye-opening to the point where I knew I needed an in between pause to help me bridge who I was before those conversations and who I am now.
One of my areas of focus has been really been trying to find what “work-life” balance means to me. I don’t believe it’s a 50-50 split, but I do want to make my days feel like they have more flow and “my life” in them as much as they have “work” (as defined by client work but also time and energy spent dedicated to others’ needs/wants/priorities). My soul-searching led me to five things that I want to work into my daily habits through the rest of the year.
While there are many habits that I know will last the test of time — drinking water, going for a walk, connecting with friends daily even if in a small way — these are my 6-month trial run kind. I don’t know if they’ll stick through to become permanent habits, but I also know that they are what I need right now. As you’re mapping out your own inventory of how and where you’re spending your time and energy, consider the fact that you can pick up a temporary habit just as much as you can fold one into your life permanently. One isn’t better than the other, in a lot of cases I would argue that being a tuned into yourself enough to know that you need a temporary bridge speaks volumes to how self-aware you are.
Here’s where I’m starting with mine.
Stopping endless scrolling and endless tabs opened
The goal is lofty but I’ve broken it up into microsteps that I think will help me interrupt my reflex to lose myself in the abundance of the internet. First up, if I’m writing, I will only be doing it on my iPad. I’ve tried to implement this one before and failed, but I think I’m more motivated to stick to it now. I don’t like how I feel when I have 15 tabs open, they make me anxious and less focused on the task at hand. They also make me feel like I should be able to manage 15 things at once and feel like a failure when I’m on one tab at a time. Using only my iPad for writing, for instance, means that I am sending myself the signal that this is dedicated time between me and words, I’m not reading, researching, or editing. On my phone, the main swap will be on how much I consume and what I am consuming. I think if we have a history with harming ourselves, whether physically or emotionally, it can manifest as subtle habits that off the cuff don’t look harmful. Endless scrolling is that for me. I play the comparison game too often and it puts me in a headspace where I believe I’m not good enough for output. For the time being, I’ll be hitting publish, sticking to only noticing my own content, and consuming only what serves my higher good.
IMPLEMENTING A THOUGHT-ACTION RULE
I am a really deep thinker. It’s one of my favorite qualities about myself, but it’s also my downfall. I can think about something to do and then get so lost in the thought of it, how it will play out, or what will happen next, that I never actually do it. For the next few months, I’m going to try my best to follow through on an action within 5 seconds of thinking it. I will live with the good and bad consequences of no in between time.
CHECKING EMAIL TWICE A DAY
I haven’t had email notifications on my phone for years and it’s been so peace-giving. I want to take this one step further and not keep my email tab open 24/7. I will only check my email once in the morning and once towards the end of the day. I’m already excited about how much time this is going to give me back.
LISTENING TO NEWS PODCASTS
I have a deep love of politics. In a different life, I may have pursued a career in politics, but the endless news cycle isn’t good for my anxiety and I’m not in a career that requires me to pay that much attention…and yet. I want to rework my relationship to the news by consuming it in pre-fixed ways: a 15-minute morning podcast, 30-minutes reading the paper, Stephen Colbert’s monologue because it’s my favorite, or a few minutes to watch CNN, are just some of my go-to ideas. Ultimately what I’m trying to do is implement moderation to something I’ve been indulging in without boundaries.
CHALLENGING MYSELF THOUGHTFULLY
I really like my life and the pace at which it flows, but I can sometimes get too comfortable existing right inside my comfort zone. I want to spend the rest of the year (and my last few months before I turn 30!) challenging myself to step outside of my comfort zone in different ways. Lately that’s involved trying to make new friends, booking a solo trip (something I loved doing pre-COVID restrictions), and taking myself on as a content creating client (in that I would follow through with deliverables for a client in ways that I give myself grace when it’s just my stuff).
I’ve written posts like this before and they are ones I love doing because they ground me. I’m hopeful that they also give you the push to take audit of how you’ve been living your life lately, whether you absolutely love all your habits, or permission to swap up anything you’re not obsessed with.