I’ve been neglecting this blog for the last few days, partly because I’ve been flat out at work, partly because I lack discipline (Arnie voice).
I’m having trouble staying motivated and focussing on my goal. I think a good way to get myself out of this pattern (which is certainly not new) is to start integrating life habits that will support goal achievement and personal development. These are habits I can incorporate by doing 30 day trials Credit: Steve Pavlina). Here is a list of 30 day trials that look good to me:
- Get up at the same time every day
- Exercise first thing in the morning
- Shower after exercise
- Learn a new word every day
- Dress well
- Nasal Irrigation
- Write a new blog entry every day
- Write my goals out every day
- Visualise my day
- Write a to do list
- Read a book that interests me
- Read a personal development book
- Read a fiction book
- Have a good friendly conversation with someone
- Start a conversation with a stranger
- Ask someone out on a date
- Get a new album
- Go out every evening
- Listen to motivational audio
- Spend 30 minutes writing about my daily lessons
- Have a self-conversation in my journal
- Recount a significant life event in my journal
- Write a post on Steve Pavlina’s forum every day
- Meditate
- Practice my singing
- Practice the guitar
- Learn and/or analyse a song
- Write a song
- Work on a speech
- Monitor my diet
- Write a journal entry
- Clean or organise something
Ok here are my rules: 30 day trials can be concurrent, but there must be a minimum ten day period in between starting new trials. There can never be more than two running at the same time. I say this because I’m prone to setting plans that only an android could execute (Pavlina again). It’s very important for me to keep my plans simple and easy to execute. There will be no excuses! As for the 21 Habits I’ve already posted – I’ll continue to research them and do posts on how to achieve them on this blog, in the order I’ve posted. In all likelihood they will spawn 30 day trials to add to this list as I go. It’s better I think to pick options as I go rather than have a set plan and order and timeframe on how I’m going to achieve my goals. My goal remains the same, my plan of attack is highly flexible.
Obviously, doing one of these trials doesn’t mean I neglect other things, It’s just the thing I concentrate on the most and write about on this blog. For an indefinite period, this blog is the record of my 30 day trials.
I’ll simply pick items off this list at my leisure and start one that looks appealing. This list is by no means exhaustive. I’ll modify/augment it as I go, and I may use 30 day trials that aren’t (yet) on this list.
I am currently on my tenth day of a thirty day trial of nasal irrigation, so tomorrow I can start a new one (While obviously continuing the nasal irrigation one for another twenty days). An obvious one would be getting up at the same time every day, but I’m going to Pennsylvania in three weeks, which has a 12 hour time difference to my home city of Perth, Western Australia. So my next 30 day trial will be reading a book that interests me. I’ll start with “Impro” by Kenneth Johnstone. If I find a book is boring me, I’ll move on. The key for this trial is to be absorbed in a fascinating topic for 30 minutes a day.
Until Tomorrow!
