- Structuring your life is just like exercising a little-used muscle: You can’t expect it to start functioning at full potential from day one. That, I feel, is the biggest mistake people make when they try to create a routine, or the one I made, at the very least. Armed with visions of turning over a new leaf, a brand new improved Ragini v.2.0, I’d overwhelm myself with a barrage of tasks from the get-go and run out of steam shortly afterwards. It took me a very long time to understand that it’s simply not possible to wake up one morning with a fully kitted out to-do list and have it all ticked off by the end of the day.
It seems the elements of this article can be summarized into two parts. 1. Wiggle your big toe. Or: Success Spirals. Starting small, and feeling successful in small tasks lends momentum to do bigger tasks. "Spirals are deviation-amplifying loops in which the positive, cyclic relationship between perceived efficacy and performance builds upon itself." From the abstract of this article. Heres a blog post from ZenHabits that also talks about it. 2. Form routines&Habits Or: Avoid Ego Depletion. Ego depletion is the idea that self control & willpower are limited tanks of gas, and when you run out self control becomes extremely difficult. The other part of this idea is that Autopilot tasks don't take as much willpower, and so take less gas.
On the weekends, I tend to play too many video games. I get up in the morning, and don't feel like doing anything productive, so I make myself some coffee and settle in for whatever I've picked up. I realized that I can set a timer while I'm playing, so I'll play for ten minutes, then practice guitar/read/clean for ten minutes. I can do this all day, and even if I'm feeling like crap, it seems to work.
"You can't expect it to start functioning at full potential from day one." That was always my problem with everything. I wanted to get in shape so I went full force into dieting and working out, only to burn out in a week or two and go back to the same old habits. The only thing that worked for me was to change one thing at a time so that I didn't feel overwhelmed. Good article on something that affects many of us.
I'm on the same boat as you. We all like to see instant success in the changes we try to make, but the reality of everything is that incremental changes are what build up and lead to the more profound changes we seek. It's hard to say "I'm going to progress slightly each week for 26 weeks until I hit my goal" and follow through with that.