500 Posts

Bartholomew Cubbins had 500 hats, and now I have written 500 posts on this blog. 500 posts in exactly 1200 days (which makes for easy math: 1 post every 2.4 days).

Many people write more frequently than me, and if you are a long term reader you know that my posting goes in spurts - from nearly daily to longer breaks - due to my travel schedule and other things. The main reason for the variability though is what I'll call a micro habit.

Posting every 2.4 days over the course of time, probably means that I am in the habit of blogging (though people who posts 2.4 times per day - or more - would likely scoff at that comment). The variability is what I'll call the micro habit. When I am posting more regularly I get into a flow and generally write better posts more quickly, easily and efficiently. When more time has passed between it takes longer and more effort.

I believe this idea of a micro habit affects many areas of our lives. Here are a few examples.

Physically. Many of us get into a micro habit of dieting or exercise, when it is going well, we are motivated and we stay with it. Then somethng changes and we lose momentum.

Professionally. We give more feedbacxk and coaching, provide greater support or listen better, for awhile. Then something happens and momentum is lost.

Developmentally. We read regularly for a week or two or three. Then we are on a buisness trip, or our scheudle otherwise gets changed or we turn the TV back on, and the micro habit is lost.

In Realtionships. We keep up with friends, call and email more often and even send thank you cards, for a bit. Then our micro habit falls by the wayside.

Any of these ring a bell for you?

While there is nothing wrong with these positive micro habits, the key for us is to keep the momentum up to turn these micro habits into full fledged habits.

Here are two keys to making that transition:

Lower your bar. Maybe you can't get from reading 30 minutes a day everyday when now you don't read at all. Maybe you can't get to excerise, two calls to friends or 1800 calories a day right away. Yes, you'll tell me you've done it for a few days in a row - but that is the micro habit. Lower the bar to start, and move the bar once your first goal is truly a habit.

Know why you are starting down any path. Know your goals. then, keep those goals in mind and you will do a better job of transitioning from micro habit to habit.

Thanks for letting me sharing some thoughts in this my 500th post. I'm pretty confident it is better than my first one.

Labels: habit, micro habit

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