1. Whole-body-yes-commitment. Let’s start right in the beginning: whatever habit you are trying to establish, it must feel right on all levels. That is, your head should understand why you are doing what you are doing, your heart should feel impassioned about it, and your gut should at least not protest at the mere thought of it (synonymous with your flesh not crawling, but rather staying tight where it’s supposed to be). For me, I conducted a thorough check of all these aspects well before I started, performed a quick reevaluation just before going public, and I periodically revisit that commitment. Rationally, I wanted to start writing because it does improve thinking and makes me ask myself whether I really understand the subject, and there are times when I realize “No, actually I don’t get it yet, so I’d better get back and do my homework”. (This is probably also a nice excuse to reread some of my favorite books). Emotionally, I was thrilled by the perspective to write about things I feel so passionate about. Finally, on the level of the gut – well, it just felt right and natural.
2. Make it public. While the whole-body-yes-commitment is essential to get started with a habit, odds are it will not take you straight to your ultimate destination of a well-established and deeply rooted and wired habit. There will be days when you are more motivated, there will be days when you are less motivated and when you are tired, and your prefrontal cortex with the helping hand of your limbic system will be finding “reasons” why today you could skip the new routine. The thing that has helped me was my own yet publicly made commitment to bring a blog entry every two weeks. There were a couple of people who also took me up on that and were “checking in” every now and then to see whether I’m still on track – and boy am I grateful for that! Making my commitment public intertwined my self-identity as someone who walks the talk with my determination not to let others down—an unbeatable combination, in my view.
3. Find a place in the calendar. It is a good practice in general to do periodic checks on how closely your verbalized agenda matches what you live and breathe on daily basis. If something is of significance for you, there surely will be dedicated place for that in your calendar, right? (And if you realize that it is not the case, this is a great reason to brush up your agenda and calendar). For us, this means ensuring your new habit secures a firm spot in your busy schedule. Does this mean that something will have to disappear of get shortened? Probably yes. Is it worth it? This is a great moment to revisit the first point: if you have your whole-body-yes, then it is. For me, the cozy spot for writing has become the timeslot in the morning, between my morning sports routine and breakfast, replacing daily journaling. Moreover, having this dedicated time in the calendar also helps with the next crucial step: doing something on regular basis helps me “accept” my new identity: it’s not just that I write daily, I am a person who writes daily. While it might seem like semantics, it is not: your ultimate goal in habit building is achieving a different definition of your lovely self as of somebody for whom the new habit (in our case, writing) is just as natural as brushing your teeth or breathing.

These were the three top points from my list. As my plan is to celebrate each anniversary, looking at the whole list, I think it is safe to say that we have enough content for the couple of years – stay tuned!