A Habit Journal Reset

I’m a big proponent of using a habit journal. I’ve kept one on-and-off since January 2019 and found habit journaling to be really useful. I’ve also found that if I push my habits too hard I tend to burn out, and that’s exactly where I found myself as I rounded the corner in July and headed into August.

What Happened?

I pushed pretty hard between May-July. I really filled up the majority of my waking hours with activity. The biggest changes I made in that span were to add a daily mindfulness practice, really ramp up my exercise regimen, and commit to blogging once a day. I was able to sustain all of the new activity, but I recognized towards the end of July that I was running a little ragged.

As a result of this general tiredness, 13 days into August I abandoned my habit journaling and basically gave myself a pass on most of my habits. This was a conscious decision. I had finished the 100 days of blogging challenge and at the same time some youth sports activities that my kids are involved in kicked-off, and I recognized I needed to just back off the gas pedal a bit.

I did stick to my workout plan, and met my goal of working out five times per week, but I took a break from mindfulness, blogging, and reading, doing each only when I genuinely wanted too and simultaneously had the time to do so.

What’s Next?

I feel like I’ve recovered. I took a month off and I’m ready to climb back in the saddle. However, I am going to make a few changes. For the rest of September, my personal habit goals are the following:

• Workout: Complete a bodyweight workout 5 days per week (Mon-Fri)
• Cardio: Complete at least 30 minutes of cardio (spinning, swimming, or running) 5 days per week
• Reading: Read at least 10 minutes per day

That’s it. Blogging and mindfulness will remain secondary options that I’ll come back to if and when I want to. My kids are actively participating in some really time-consuming youth sports activities, and that means that for the next 30 days or so I need to keep my personal habit plans to a minimum.