It is common to talk about resolutions in the new year, I’ve also tried labeling them commitments so it’s more about committing to the here and now than resolving to change in the future, but I’ve decided this year to think about new habits instead. You only have to search “habit forming” and you’ll come up with over 44 million results from definitions, to self-help, to psychological research. Whilst there are contradictory views throughout these articles, the clear message coming from all of them is that habits take time.

There are 3 habits that I want to develop this year, two are pretty standard (healthy eating and exercising) and I’ll come to those at another time, but the final one is the one I’m starting on first – planning.

Luckily for me, one of my lovely friends bought me a planner for Christmas this year – it’s not just your usual week-to-view diary, it’s also got weekly to-do-lists, goals, appointments and blank spaces. I would always have an old-school diary with birthdays and the odd plans scribbled down, but the huge open spaces would make me feel like my life was boring: work, eat, sleep, repeat. Whole weeks would go by when I wouldn’t even open it. In contrast, my new planner has small boxes and breaks things down into bite-sized chunks that make me want to write things down just so that I can actually tick them off. I’m writing to-do-lists and actually planning the time to do them, rather than waiting to get bored of sitting on the sofa before I get up to do things.

There are two parts to this habit:

(1) The habit itself of spending time planning my week ahead and being brave enough to plan further into the future

(2) The benefits of the habit – so far I’m seeing myself being more productive (I’m writing a blog post first thing on a Monday morning before work instead of lying in bed scrolling for 3 hours), and I’m feeling more satisfied due to being productive.

I tell a lie – I think there are 3 parts to this habit. As well as initiating the habit and reaping the benefits, I now have to maintain it and that’s the hardest part. Hopefully the satisfaction of achieving something with my days will help to build the intrinsic motivation needed to keep going until it become a natural part of my rhythm and routine. I won’t be overly prescriptive with when I sit down to fill in my planner, or become overly critical if I don’t tick off everything on the to-do list, but I will hold myself accountable and ask myself “why not” if I’m not achieving my goals.

I’m putting this all down in a blog post as the first step to holding myself accountable for doing this. I’m not qualified to give advice on life when I’m still trying to figure it out for myself, but what I would say is this: find a way to hold yourself accountable, whether it’s by sharing with someone close to you, telling the world, or even by finding yourself an accountability buddy to talk to. Finding a way to hold yourself accountable is like taking out an insurance policy – even if you let something drop, there is a mechanism in place to get you back on track again.

I’m trying to live my best life after all, so surely the best place to start is by actually DOING STUFF, and giving myself a hand to get it done!