Three Habits

Habits are so hot right now aren’t they.  Experts everywhere are talking about habits.  How to break them, how to make them, wellness habits, business habits, parenting habits, habits to make you rich, and habits to help you sleep.   Luckily for you, I’m rubbish at habits.  Not as rubbish as I used to be, but still rubbish.  Being bad at habits and therefore routine, you might assume that I’m all fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants, spontaneous, floating along wherever the breeze may blow.   I’m not that either, at all.  I suppose I’m somewhere in the middle, like most people, probably like you.  I’d like to be better though, and I think life could run more smoothly, just like the podcasts tell me, with a few tweaks here and there.  I’m not going to give you any advice, but here’s the tip of the iceberg of changes I’d like to make.   I’d love you to add your three in the comments below.

One to Break
Staying up late for no good reason.  There are some good reasons to stay up late, but not many and they’re not at my house.   Staying up late has definitely become a habit.  When I go to bed late, I wake up late, I wake up tired, and I can’t be bothered starting the day in the way I’d like to - in a way that sets me up well for the rest of the day.   Days are precious and like everyone else, I have a lot going on in life.  Now more than ever I need to give myself the best chance of having a decent day, and it seems to start the night before.   When I’m home, I’m going to bed by 10pm.

One to Make
Clean my brushes completely, immediately.  I’m good at working right up until the last second and sticking my brushes in a glass of water when the clock strikes “school pickup”.   What I’m terrible at is coming back to them in a timely fashion and finishing the clean up job.  I’m ashamed to say that my beautiful, treasured, expensive paint brushes can sometimes stay in that glass of water for a couple of days.  Bad artist, bad artist!!   I must make a new habit of cleaning up completely, immediately.  I am not silly enough to think I can achieve this in any other room of the house, but I’m going to do it in the studio.  If I’m late for school pickup, you’ll know why.

One to Keep
Drawing every day.  Every day.  I started doing this a few years ago, and at first I was a little shaky.  Sometimes I didn’t feel like drawing and sometimes I didn't know what to draw.  Sometimes I didn’t have my proper drawing tools, the right sketchbook and my good pencil or pen.  So sometimes I didn’t do it.  I didn’t feel like I was “good enough” at it.   But guess what?  There’s no minimum standard required.  Now drawing in the sand is enough, so is half a crayon on the back of an envelope.  Daily drawing makes you an opportunist, a maverick, an adventurer.  Now that I draw every day, I don’t get attached to the outcome and am less critical not just of my drawing but of everything.   

I’d love to know what has worked for you, be it health, wealth, work, parenting, or just the general management of your crazy life.  Add your breaker, maker and keeper in the comments below.

J xx