What Habit Will I Alter or Eliminate?

This is the tenth post in a continuing series designed to help you create a great 2008 - using questions to reflect on last year, and project into the future. All of the questions and additional information can be found in this tool, available for you to download now.

The tenth question is:

What habit will I alter or eliminate?

This is a close cousin to question #9, and your answer may be even more powerful.

I have several habits I'd like to alter. Here are three examples:

• I'd like to refrain from turning the television on without knowing what I am going to watch.
• I'd like to discipline myself spend the last half hour of every day reading something uplifting and educational.
• I'd like eliminate language or comments that could be seen as hurtful or mean to others - even if they are truly meant in jest.
  

While I am going to work on all of them, the first one - only turning the TV on when I know what I am going to watch is going to be my focus. Studies show American adults watch an average of four hours of TV per day (see here), and while I enjoy some television I don't nearly approach that on average (though some football Saturdays, Sundays and college basketball tournament time days head that direction!), I do find times when I seem to binge, or don't turn the set off.

For me the culprit is the times I just turn it on and surf. In these cases I'm not choosing to sit and watch with part of my family, and I don't have a particular program that I want to see. The reality of these situations is that when I turn the set on in these times I am procrastinating, and therefore actively (by turning on the set) moving away from my goals.

I do enjoy TV and don't want to banish from my house (I'd even like a new one on my wall), but I don want to manage it more effectively. Altering this habit will, for me make me happier, healthier and feel better about my results every day.

What more could we ask from a habit?

Think about this question, answer it, and take action. It is one more way to make your 2008 great!

Labels: habit, questions