More Good Habits, Less Sitting (I'm looking at you chair)

Here's a conversation we all need to have... have you ever glared at your sofa, your office chair, your freaking toilet, bean bag, recliner, rocking chair or bed and said, "You're the freaking bane of my existence, chair!"

"Stop looking at me, Bed! You seriously need to set some boundaries for yourself  and stop letting everyone take advantage of you. That alarm goes off, the snooze button gets hit, and you get rolled over on. What happened to the Murphy Bed? Setup the alarm to automatically fold that thing back into the wall and you better bet your cozy comforter, you'll gets rolled out of right quick!"

"Don't you 'Pfsh at me toilet! You see that smart phone come out but I don't see you backing up and overflowing on anybody. Start flushing in the opposite direction and see how long that dumb phone stays out."

Seriously people, sitting has got to be biggest productivity killer since... I don't even know what. Who came up with these things!? Oh yeah, here's an idea, why don't we place these comfy little things EVERYWHERE to sit on, so that when we really NEED to get stuff done we can quickly escape responsibility by entering rest mode!

And "Rest"room. It's like the person who coined the term was trying to sell something. "Hey there's this thing in public where everyone can go to dispose of human waste together, what should we call it? Bio-hazard Communal? The Stank Tank? Nah, nobody would go! I really don't see anything positive about putting these things in a public area for people to gather into. Well, I guess you can sit down for a while - why not call it a rest room? BINGO, Disneyland will take 24 please, put stuff on the doors like "Lady, Princesses, Gents, and Princes - make them feel all dignified.

All poop jokes aside, siting has got to be one of my worst bad habits. You know, we get up from laying down, to sit on a toilet, only to move to the breakfast table to sit and eat breakfast, walk to our car, sit to drive, sit at a desk all day, sit for lunch, sit when we go on break to relieve ourselves, sit back at our desks, sit to drive home, sit on the sofa or bed to binge-watch netflix, or at least sit on a bed to wind down for the night to a book, journal or some other evening routine. No wonder there's so much fat back there! We spend most of our lives sitting around on that lump some call rumps! Good glory!

Ok, so a rant wasn't what I had in mind,  but you got one anyway, hope you enjoyed it, "NOW back to ME!" I've developed plenty of bad habits I'm not proud of, a lot of relate to sitting or being idle. It's affected my parenting (barks at kid from sofa instead of intervening - I've always hated that "from the couch parenting" model - #ImTotallyGuiltyHere #TimeToChange) to my work - I've actually got a sit to stand desktop. Need to return it to the upright position. Very conducive to working in 30 min intervals btw - great for working from home with kids. Marriages in general "when did we become such boring people" - said a docile sedentary sitting position. Friendships (scrolls through Facebook feed) I'll even quote my dear Grandma Ethel who I'd dance with as a child, and who knew the dangers of being idle. When asked to relax and take a load off, she'd respond and say "Oh, no thank you. The minute I sit down is the minute I'll start dying." "If I sit down, I'll waste away." Or something to that effect.She lived to the ripe old age of 94 folks, heart problems for 60+ years and all.



So I got all gung-ho, and listed every daily/week-daily good habit that's ever served me really well throughout my life, and devised a way to reincorporate them back in. All of which I've been good at, at one time or another, but most  I've abandoned to mediocrity. Thought I'd try a big change and do them all every day, all at once... Yeah that didn't work too well, so I separated them into section of the day that will best serve me for this time in my life. Also tried to keep them all pretty flexible so I could even keep up on the habits when I go on vacation, or unexpected routines or changes come into my life. Nothing hampers a good habit or routine like change, sickness, or some other interrupters.

I'm focusing on 1 color at a time - once I get a 7 day streak, I move to the next section. If previous sections need re-emphasis, I can revisit for a 7 day streak to reinforce, then resume advancement. Also, do set deadline for this one - just open until they're all second nature. Could take me a couple of month, could take me years. Doesn't matter. These are things that matter to me, and serve me best. I may make minor adjustments, but mostly I need to do less revamping and more sticking.



So far, it's been my most successful approach. I've been working on several previously failed models for the past year or and am finally finding some solid success. I think my focus was on important but less effective approaches. Time management, discipline, energy management, feelings, mental health, physical health, stuff that would go great for a while then collapse. What I think it boils down to though is - when I'm out of will power, and can't find my grit, what do I have to fall back onto? Where do I revert to? Life long built habits, good or bad - so if I want enduring change, focus on changing my fall-back - background programs, what runs on auto-pilot -- habits. Thoughts, actions, habits, character, destiny. Time to get out of my head and put some good actions on repeat.



What routines or good habits are you striving to get back into or start anew? Any way I can help? Please feel free to ask me how I'm doing at any time. I'm hoping to apply a bit of grit into this for years to come so, don't let me abandon my resolve if you ever have the thought to follow up. Thanks for your support and for reading! If you're still reading, I love you. Thanks for your interest in my life - not just as a dad, husband, employer, stranger, or otherwise - but as an individual!