They say that if you do something regularly for 3 weeks it becomes a habit. Take this blog for example...If I blog daily for 3 weeks, then I should not have to remind myself to blog. I mean, truly, this is an exercise to get what is in my head down in interspace, so as to free up and defrag my overloaded thinkster. I am committing to the bandwidth that I will blog daily to create a 'good' habit.
I am compelled to question to myself, as if to validate the theory above about creating good habits, making mental note of the habits I have that I can attribute to self discipline. I've come up with dental hygiene, housecleaning routines, and organization at work. Hmmmmm.....my nose wrinkles, I look up to my right in my thinking pose, and I come to the self-realization that there is still a lot of work to be done as far as the development of 'good' habits.....
Now bad habits, well, that's another story. Case in point: try as I may, I can't seem to stop myself from 'cleaning up' other people's paperwork when I come across it in the house. This is a good/bad habit in my opinion. It is a good habit to clean up a paper trail, cleaning up a paper trail and then having said paper join the land of the lost, not so much. In fact, this habit has been the seed from which 'big trouble' is grown. The kicker is, try as I may to leave the paper trail alone, something subconciously drives me to do away with it and it is a fact that there are times I sincerely do not remember doing this. It is an unconcious response. I find humor in the fact that this unconcious response is the antithesis of how I manage paper trails while at work. In fact, I am known in the building as the 'go-to' person for all things that have gone missing, knowing what drawer or drive, box or bag, corner or can to find it.
So is it possible that bad habits can be broken in three weeks if approached with intention? I suppose I could examine other theories to see what merit that might have, but it may be too late. At the ripe age of 53 I'm afraid I've become conditioned to pick paper up and put it where it can't be found. So, I'll start the process of developing a 'good' habit. If I'm sucessful, I will thank the devil out of Dr. Whothephuq and preach his ethos. As for the flip side of the coin, well, let's just start with the blog!
It's kind of amazing, the formation and retention of habits, good and bad. Unfortunately, it seems the bad ones are a hell of a lot easier to hold on to!
ReplyDeleteI think any habit can be broken, but it has to be something that you have completely decided upon on your own and something you are determined to actively break. Someone telling you that you should or have to does not work.
I would argue that you have many more good habits than you listed. Though you are very self-aware on the paper trail front! Maybe we need to get you a "junk box." A pretty box (that fits with your decor!) that you pick out and whenever you find a random paper (such as another family member's W-2 forms, ahem) that bothers you in its current position, you merely relegate it to the box. Then, when said family member gets red in the face and rages around the house looking for their paper, you can calmly and with confidence direct them to the box. Voila!
Compromise, adaptation, and evolution, my dear, are the keys to success!