Taking imperfect actions

Have you ever wanted to start a new habit but just struggled to do it? I’m right there with you. Making a change isn’t easy (go here for several reasons why this can be). 

Today I’ll share 

• a personal struggle with a new habit

• tips to get into action, even if those actions are imperfect.

• how I’ve applied the tips 

My new habit

There are many benefits to a meditation practice! I’ve long desired to meditate in the morning. However, a consistent morning meditation practice has been a struggle for me. 

And hey I’m a yoga instructor so shouldn’t meditation come easy to me? 

Nope, not at all.  

My mind is a busy one. I’m one of those people that’s constantly in their head. Because of this, I want to develop a morning meditation practice to help clear my mind before starting my day. My goal is to have it be part of my morning routine. 

Well. It’s easier said than done. 

A while back I sat down and decided to really take a look at what I can do to establish this new habit. I’m using the following tips. 

Tips for a new habit

Check-in with your mindset

Sometimes our mindsets can hold us back. If you’re holding on to any negative thoughts about a new habit, then it’ll be harder to implement. 

Ask yourself, what does a person that ________ (meditates, works out, runs, is productive, is more positive, etc) do? Leave out the negativity when you answer.

Start small

Have you ever made a BIG change only to realize it’s not a sustainable one? You’re not alone if you have, I’ve been there too. This “go big or go home” approach doesn’t always lead to positive changes in our lives. 

Starting small can lead to those changes you want.

Schedule it

Scheduling something makes it real. Habits grow when they’re repeated in predictable ways.  For most of us putting an activity on the schedule tends to lock us into doing it.

Plus, scheduling a habit means you have to look at your day and figure out when it’ll work to fit it in.

Make it easy

James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, states that making a new habit easy makes it more likely to happen. This may mean you set up your environment in some way to help you.

He also suggests you habit stack to make it easier. You connect the new habit to one you already have established. 

Track it

Tracking your new habit in some way can help you stay consistent. And when I say consistent I mean that you are doing the habit more than not. 

Clear argues that tracking your habit gives you a visual reminder of the habit. It’s also encouraging to see the progress made and is satisfying when marking it off your to-do list. 

Applying the tips

I had to look at my mindset. Because I’ve tried and failed to establish a morning meditation practice I had negativity around it. 

These are some things I told myself

• My mind is too busy in the morning to meditate, I can’t do it.

• I’m better at meditating in the afternoon.

• I have too many things I want to do in the morning to meditate.

• I’m better at movement meditation, not sitting while meditating.

I realized that all these thoughts are total crap. Time to take some action, even if it’s imperfect.

I started with a 10-minute meditation. Too much. It actually caused me some anxiety thinking about sitting for that long. That is NOT starting small for me. 

I cut it all the way back to 2 minutes. 2 minutes! But I soon found that it was too short. So I upped it to 5 minutes. A timed 5 minutes. That was me starting small. 

I scheduled my meditation for the morning time. I didn’t actually write it into my planner, though truth be told I probably should have. 

To make it easy I planned to stack it with other habits already in my morning routine. After getting up, using the bathroom, drinking water, scraping my tongue, doing my 5-minute energy routine then boom, enter meditation. 

This was my attempt at habit stacking.

I wanted to set up my environment. Since I was timing my meditation I needed a timer dedicated to it to make it super easy. There are lots of meditation apps that have timers but I don’t like having any electronics in my bedroom. 

And walking out to grab one in the morning would make the habit less easy, so I chose to buy a timer. This is the meditation timer I really want and have on my “wish list”. But I settled for a cheap kitchen timer right now. 

I’ve been tracking my new habit in my planner. The one I use has a “habit tracker”, which is a little square I can check off each day I meditate. I LOVE checking off tasks, so this is very satisfying for me. 

How has it been going, you ask?…

It’s been almost 2 months and it’s going….well, it’s a work in progress. I’ve meditated most days, but then there are some days I forgot. And I mean, it completely slipped my mind. 

A few times I sat down with my breakfast and realized I forgot to meditate. Dang it. I did that for almost an entire week! 

But, I didn’t get down on myself. I laughed and told myself “oh well” with the goal to meditate the next morning.  

I’ve definitely taken lots of imperfect actions.

• I had to adjust the length of time

• I’ve totally forgotten, for days

• Several times I stopped before the 5 minutes

• A couple of times I used the excuse that I didn’t want to wake my husband and didn’t meditate

But you know what?

• Most days I did meditate

• I feel more centered when I meditate in the morning

• Checking off the habit in the tracker makes me feel good

• I wasn’t hard on myself when I forgot

I wouldn’t say that meditating in the morning is a habit yet. I’m not quite there. 

But I’m slowly getting there, through imperfect actions. 

So whatever it is you want to start or change, don’t give up. 

Take those actions. They don’t have to be perfect, you just have to act.

What habit are you wanting to start? Comment below!