Small Wins

I have been able to shift some of my habits faster than I expected. It’s definitely a lot of work to constantly self-check yourself but for me it has been more than worth it. Truly owning the fact that only I can make stuff happen for myself has been a motivator. I definitely attribute the new motivation to personally vibing with the approaches in Atomic Habits.

Two of the places where I have been successful:

Exercise: I bought a Peloton for the household just before the holidays and recently received it. It has been a game changer for me more than I could have possibly anticipated. I have always been an active person for the most part. I used to play sports and I have always preferred to be outdoors hiking or at least taking long walks, but over the years of letting myself succumb to depression and also moving into a sedentary career path has led me to self-sabotage and I am finally getting back on track. So far I have used it for at least 20 minutes everyday since getting it set-up.

Writing: I have been successful in writing at least a little everyday outside of the writing I do for work. In a new combo approach at finding people with similar interests and writing even more, I started running a Shut up and Write virtual meetup group. I always want to go to these Meetups but they are often in the middle of the workday and that is just not the optimum time to write for me. If any one reading this is interested, the first one is next Saturday next 7pm PST.  And while it’s not writing, I have also been taking the time to stop and take pictures of the small moments when I see them.

Eventually, these small wins will lead to big changes. I’ve seen it time and time again in my own life and watching others from the sidelines. The biggest challenge is to keep pushing through and making those better decisions by constantly asking yourself: “Is this who I want to be?” “Is this what the person who I want to be would do?”