I used to think I was someone who would never eat breakfast. Not only do I despise eating in the morning, but I am also not a morning person so my routine after I reluctantly get out of bed is always rushed.
That said, over the past few months I’ve managed to work breakfast into my life because I started to make smoothies using a Nutribullet. For whatever reason, this appliance has helped me make a much-needed change in my life. Ingesting nutrients early in the morning leads to a more balanced, productive day.
But this post isn’t an advertisement for a blender. What I have been thinking about today is ways in which very small shifts in my lifestyle have led to new habits.
Another example: I used to only do yoga when I went to yoga class. At home, I very seldom managed to take my yoga mat out of the closet and do any yoga on my own. Then I realized that if I moved my bed three feet away from my windows, I’d have just enough space between the far wall of my bedroom and my bed to keep a yoga mat there all the time. And what’s crazy is just the small shift of not having to unroll and set up my yoga mat every time I want to practice has me using it all the time.
I tend to gravitate towards all-or-nothing solutions in my life. I’ll make a resolution to practice yoga every day, and then when I break that resolution I feel like a failure. This year, I’m focusing more on setting up my home, my schedule, my entire life, to make room for healthy habits.
For me, waking up at 7:30AM feels almost impossible most of the time. And yet. I still continue to tell myself this is when I should get up every single morning. To reframe this goal, I’m now realizing that I need to focus on being in bed by 9:30 and asleep by 10:30PM. Such a simple shift in mindset, and so blindingly obvious, but I never focused on bedtime in the past to try to rise earlier! Really. I’ve always known that was important, but the time I kept in my head was the AM time as opposed to the PM time in terms of what needed to change. Once I thought about what small shift would set me up for success in the morning, this became so obvious, that I needed to change my night routine to facilitate better mornings.
This year, I’m hoping to do more yoga, write more posts on this blog, read more books.
I love to read about how to form new habits and be my best, most productive self. Here are some of my all-time favorite books/blogs if you’re looking for some inspiration in 2015:
The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg
The Zen Habits Blog, Leo Babauta
Four Hour Work Week Blog, Tim Ferriss
Making Ideas Happen, Scott Belsky
One Small Step Can Change York Life: The Kaizen Way, Robert Maurer
Getting Things Done, David Allen (a classic)
(I’m just realizing these books are all written by men! Anyone out there have productivity gurus that are women? I’d love a more diverse list.)
Happy New Year!
Your Bipolar Girl 
I bet you’d enjoy reading about one of my favorite authors SARK’s “micromovements” theories – it’s right up your alley about how very small actions are so life changing.
I love all of SARK’s books & I have a feeling you would too – she’s incredible. I’ve met her several times and had the honor of interviewing her a couple times back in my freelance writing days, and she has over 2 million books in print! ;) To get more of an an idea about her, you can call her free “Inspiration Line” and hear her message 415-546-3742 which she has offered for over 15 years. She speaks anywhere from 3-5 minutes, quotes poetry sometimes, and she changes it when the spirit moves her.
take care & have a wonderful day!
Dyane
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Cook I will have to check that inspiration line out … I had no idea!
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It’s fun and you ca’t go wrong with free!
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I never used to eat breakfast. I think the years of meditation have made survival instincts flow up from deep inside. I stopped my nightly urges of being drawn to food, not by gritting my teeth or clenching my fists, but naturally it happened. By morning, I am hungry for breakfast. And due to that and eating meals throughout the day appropriately, the nightly food attacks are curbed. I still am drawn to food when something bothers me, which I wish happened less. But new habits are slowly forming. And I am finding some grey with black and white.
My body also dislikes sugar. If it’s around I eat it, but when I used to crave a Snickers bar, now I see them in the check-out line and think, ugh.
Love that you made Yoga easy to use, and find yourself enjoying it at home too.
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Always good to find the grey! Nice that you are forming those new habits—I often eat before bed. I know people say it’s unhealthy, but I usually can’t fall asleep on an empty stomach ….
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oh well, I wouldn’t go to bed on an empty stomach either. I will have a piece of fruit or a yogurt if I’m hungry. Except during these holidays where there is too much junk around that others gave us. I should have thrown it in the trash.
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I am reading interesting articles of research on TV, iPads, smartphones, and blue light before bed. Wow! Some scary, powerful s— out there. I am dabbling with sleeping: Gabapentin, Xanax, Ambien, and Melatonin. Not falling asleep in twenty minutes? Bummer.
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