December 31, 2010

Have you noticed all the diet and exercise  ads already flooding your Inbox? Tons of advice is available for breaking bad eating habits.

One idea I read was about how to stop relapsing into bad eating habits. The article seemed equally applicable to breaking bad writing habits.

Setbacks and relapsing into old patterns is so common! Carol Lewis in Stop It! asks, “Have you ever noticed consistent patterns when you fall?” She says we need to build into our lives a plan that guards us against getting off track.

Writers need such a plan every single day!

Great idea…but how?

The idea is to create a plan ahead of time to head off your bad habits. [I'll show you how below.] My worst writing habits are wasting time on the Internet, getting online way too early in the day, and trying to write for long periods without breaks and rewards to make the writing fun.

I need a plan of attack for each of those habits. Here’s a template you can use to head off bad habits.

Template

• My problem area is: ____________
• My goal is to not fall into the habit of ___________.
• I know it creates the following harmful circumstances: ____________
• I want to create a new sustainable habit. Therefore I will guard myself by changing the following circumstances: ____________________
• I will remove the following temptations: ________________

Making It Work

So, for example, with my Internet issue, it might go like this:

• My problem area is: wasting time on the Internet
• My goal is to not fall into the habit of  getting online before noon.
• I know it creates the following harmful circumstances: hours hunched over the laptop make my neck cramp, wastes valuable writing time, makes it hard to finally settle down and write.
• I want to create a new sustainable habit. Therefore I will guard myself by changing the following circumstances: I will only work on the computer that has no Internet connection, I will set a timer for ten minutes if I MUST check email for something, and I will plan blocks of writing time to work at the library or book store coffee shop, packing my book bag the night before.
• I will remove the following temptations: Since I can’t really get rid of the Internet, I will remove myself from it when temptation is high and work in places where there is no Internet (bedroom, porch, coffee shop, library).

It’s almost the New Year! While most of us would like to break a few bad writing habits, it probably won’t happen without taking time to think it through. Make a plan and follow your plan. This is an easy template to use.

Give yourself every chance to succeed in 2011!

3 Comments »

1. 

   Happy New Year, Kristi! May 2011 be a wonderful year.

   Andrea

   Comment by Andrea — December 31, 2010 @ 11:54 am

2. 

   I think we all do this, Kristi! Removing yourself from the temptation really works. By going to a coffee shop with a selected project to work on, it also helps me focus totally on that one thing instead of being constantly distracted at home. And my lovely cup of good coffee is my reward.

   Comment by Sherryl — January 3, 2011 @ 12:16 am

3. 

   Thanks, Andrea–and I wish the same for you.

   Sherryl, I know you’ve done that for years, but it’s new to me. I always assumed I couldn’t write in a coffee shop because of the noise. But not all of them are noisy at all–and certain times of the day are really quiet. I make too many negative assumptions, I’ve found. I need to try more things BEFORE I decide they won’t work!

   Comment by Kristi Holl — January 3, 2011 @ 7:56 am

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