I wrote the title of this post with another idea in mind, which I’ll get to in a moment, but it reminded me of something else. With the new year coming up, January 1 is a fine time to start a new habit. I wish you well if you do, there’s no reason to wait until then. Start now instead.
I started blogging daily on October 29 a few years ago.
I started regularly exercising 5x/week on May 23 this year.
Both were chosen because it was time to start, not because of some arbitrary date. January 1 might work for you, but don’t wait on it if you don’t have to.
Act As If
This post really comes from an episode of The Long and The Short Of It podcast from a few months back, where they talked about “dressing for the role you want, not the one you have”. In their case, though, it wasn’t about dressing — it was about doing.
Some people think about various life changes they’ll make if something else happens first. In Pete’s words from the podcast:
Too often we put positive habits/positive change behind something that we need to achieve first, like, “I will change, but just first I need to get that role.”
Or, “I will meditate, but first I’ve got to be the CEO of the company, and then I’ll start to meditate.” And it’s like, “You could start to meditate right now.”
It can be taken further, too. Not only can you start those habits now, but learning them now will help when the time comes in the future. To quote Pete again:
The habits that you have when you’re in that dream role are able to be cultivated right now.
Don’t wait. If you want to start meditating daily, start today.
Exercise today.
Blog today.
You can wait until a certain date on the calendar or a particular role to come your way first, but why?
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