Home Organization - Edited by Laura Wheeler

Building Life Changing Habits

 There is no point in making a change if it is not going to be permanent. Repetition of failure just perpetuates failure, and nobody needs that!

So work on ONE thing at a time. Pick something that you can form a habit around. One that makes a difference to several areas if you can.

Examples:

Get up earlier.

Plan dinner ahead.

Keep one room neat - do this by setting a simple cleaning habit once a day.

Do "evening rounds" to make sure nothing is on the floor, or any other spot you designate as important (but you can only pick ONE spot).

Get the idea? One thing, that you can form into a habit. Do that one thing for ONE MONTH. Then maintain it. When you have done it for one month, pick another thing and work on it, but remember to maintain the first thing. Resist the temptation to pick more than one thing! Trust me on this, you will fail if you try to enforce two things, your family can then divide your attention by resisting on two fronts. Focus on one thing and you can triumph!

There is magic in this. You won't believe me when I say it works, but it does. Somehow the sum of the effort adds up to way more than it looks like it will. By the time you have done this for three or four months a miracle occurs. You notice that somehow while you have been doing this one thing, other things have happened. You can't even quite see how, but they have. This is because when we develop one new good habit (or get rid of one bad old one), it makes other things easier, and other problems we did not realize were even related somehow take care of themselves and resolve due to our efforts in that one area. It is just the coolest thing! It really works!

So pick ONE thing to work on. JUST one. When we work on only one thing at a time, we do it well. When we work on two, or three, we get distracted, discouraged, and lost.

Now, there is a catch. After the second week, everyone in your home will be done cooperating. Perhaps even YOU will feel like reverting to the old habits. It is critical that you stick with it for ONE FULL MONTH. It won't work if you don't. It will look like it won't work in the middle, but if you stick it out, eventually you, and your family, will realize that you are serious, and you are not going to back down. STICK TO YOUR GUNS! If you don't, then you set up a habit of failure, and then it gets harder because your family will pressure you harder to stop the change.

Resistance will set in whether you are trying to help them develop a new habit, or even if you are just trying to change yourself. And it happens EVEN IF THEY LIKE THE CHANGE! When you change, that makes you unpredictable. Your family likes you predictable! So they unconsciously try to persuade you to go back to what was familiar. The nice thing is , if you stick to the new routine, pretty soon IT is familiar, and they will help you maintain it. And once you have done this three or four months running, CHANGE becomes more familiar, and the resistance each time is less!

A miracle happened in our home by doing this, along with the other steps. It CAN happen in yours if you follow the rules.

But you won't know until you try it!

1. Building Life Changing Habits

2. Decluttering and Doing 5 Minute Swift Attacks

3. Creating Lasting Routines for You and Your Family

4. Moving up to Improvement and Beautification