I am Keith Hernandez

Fell into this blog post by Tim Ferriss (author of 4-Hour Work WeeK) and thought THIS is the way to take on learning new habits. Fuck the resolutions (well, not really, I am going to use this system to see if I can realize all of them).

The plan is pretty simple. Find one habit that you want to form, something that you think will have a significant impact on your life. Set a manageable goal of doing that habit every single day for thirty days straight. Make it public, write about it and do it every day. That’s really it.

There is a little more on his site and the creator of the program’s blog, Leo Labauta Zen Habits, but really this is what you do.

I have decided to take this challenge and started yesterday with the first month. My goal: run 10 minutes each day. You might think “10 minutes is ridiculously woosy, why not 5 miles?” and you would miss the point. The idea is to really concentrate on the task and make it something that you can actually do so that once you hit that 30th day it is something innate in your daily routine. Yes, doing a 10 minute run should be a joke most days and I will probably run closer to 20-30 minutes, but think of those 4 degree days where that 10 minutes is going to be beat. Getting through 10 minutes will be harder than running a half marathon.
The other merit to this is that instead of setting a lofty goal of running a marathon by the end of the year (which I did, stupidly) this is a daily goal that if one day is missed, you can jump right back on. So many times with resolutions or goals if a few days or a week is missed the goal is shot. With this, it can be a manageable habit.

I am going to go for all 12 months, with a new habit forming activity for each and will use this site to provide feedback on how I am doing. To read more about the philosophy, check out Tim Ferriss’ post:

The Power of Less: Changing Behavior with Leo Babauta

And please do check out Leo’s website, a great resource for simplifying your life: Zen Habits