Inspiration
Self-care: WOTY Check in!
We’re halfway through 2023. How’s it going with your Word of the Year? Have you kept it close? Has it had the influence you hoped for back in January? Have you … even thought about your Word of the Year recently?
If the answers to the above are not great, not really, and no: I have a thought for how we could re-engage. And that is to turn our WOTY into a New Habit. Something we can spend the next six months cultivating so that come the end of the year, a shift has taken place.
Habit guru B.J. Fogg, author of Tiny Habits, offers a smart way to choose a habit. Here’s a little visual for you.
Maybe your WOTY was “Movement.” A potential habit could be “training for a marathon.” That would be motion, but not of a sort I could do. So for me, this habit goes in the THIS HABIT WILL GET ME WHERE I WANT TO GO + I CAN’T DO THIS zone. Thus, marathons are right out for me.
For you, training for a marathon might be possible, even joyful: THIS HABIT WILL GET ME WHERE I WANT TO GO + I CAN DO THIS. A LOT! That’s where you want to be.
Get all your ideas on paper, but in the end, you’ll be throwing out everything that you’re not going to do, or wouldn’t get you where you want to go.
Now you know what you’re doing, let’s turn to our next habit guru, James Clear, for the how. This comes from his book Atomic Habits. (Smallness is indeed the theme here!) James says that to give a habit its best chance of taking root, we need to:
- Make it obvious;
- Make it attractive;
- Make it easy;
- Make it satisfying.
So let’s say you’re like me and you settle on taking a ten-minute walk every morning. (Sure, ten minutes sounds like nothing, especially when we were just talking about marathons! But it’s doable, and we can be pretty confident it will have a positive ripple effect.) To make the new morning walk obvious, maybe you decide you’ll do it right after you finish your coffee and put the mug in the dishwasher. (Stacking the new habit on top of an already-established one.) To make it attractive, you could take the scenic route by your favorite houses. You’ve already made it easy by keeping it to ten minutes. And to make it satisfying, maybe you stop at the bakery, or put a sticker on your walking chart. (Strong data on adult sticker use, so.)
Obviously this all falls apart if you don’t have a dishwasher. Kidding! Every part of this method is configurable, and can be made to work for you.
If you’ve used these methods before, how did it go for you? If you’ve used them and IMPROVED them, as I bet you have, I’m very interested! Please tell us everything in the comments.
And if all this makes you want to choose a new WOTY, help yourself! Now is an excellent time for a restart.
Resources
- Downloadable Effectiveness/Possibility Chart PDF here!
- Self-care: A Simple Plan for 2023
- Instead of Resolutions, Just a Word
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Best habit practice I’ve found is to pair your new activity with one that you already want to do. So when I started a walking plan, I found an interesting audio book that I wanted to read and only listened to it while taking that walk. viola! I wanted to walk because I wanted to read the book. Two and a half years later I walk at least 45-60 minutes a day. And still listening.
Brilliant!
Just signed up for word of the day! Thanks for making me a better more knowledgeable person!
Thanks for the reminder! My WOTY is Thrive! I have a whole page devoted to just that one word in my journal, so I see it regularly. The nice thing about this word is that a lot of practices and habits can fall under its umbrella, but truthfully, it’s been a while since I stopped and thought about what my intentions were vis a vis “thriving.” So, thanks again for bringing it back to the forefront and giving me a chance to think about where I am along the thriving continuum and what habits I can cultivate to take it up a notch.
My word is organize: I cleaned up stray piles of papers in my office and moved clutter to an empty file drawer. Also formally resigned from a service obligation that I ghosted so that conclusion felt satisfying.
In my personal life I made the plunge and purchased storage totes for my considerable stash. I didn’t throw out any yarn, but was able to make up an organization scheme for stash that I can stick with. My next psychological task will be to deal with UFOs that I need to finish/deal with/etc. At the beginning of COVID I de-stashed many knitting books and about 6 years ago I de-stashed my knitting magazine collection, so I don’t feel a pressing need to pare this part of my craft.
Thought others would be interested: Jeanette Sloan, knitwear designer of MDK Field Guide 15, Open, and founder of BIPOC in Fibre, has been named in King Charles’ first birthday honours list! Congratulations to this amazing designer, surely the only person who could induce me to do all the grafting required for her amazing Mood Cardigan.
That’s wonderful news!
Whoa. I don’t even remember if I chose a WOTY, but I am actually already reading Atomic Habits. Well, I downloaded it recently and have read a couple of chapters anyway. BUT this gives me the impetus to continue reading. Great & timely reminders!
Thanks for the link to your original letter so I could find my WOTY amongst the 98 entries! I chose Create and am happy to note that since my retirement on March 29 I have been spending more time doing that. Great idea Max!
I was very skeptical about the idea of small steps leading to big change, but I’m happy to say it is true! Almost 2 years ago, and 70 lbs heavier, I realized my pandemic survival strategies had resulted in major weight gain. My reflex and past response was to change everything: eat nothing but kale and black coffee, do intensive workouts for at least 1 hr a day. Of course that never worked. So this time, I decided to set goals I knew I could achieve. My workout goal was to change into exercise clothes at the end of the working day. Amazingly, I found I was never too tired or stressed to put on yoga pants :-), so I was immediately successful. And once I changed clothes, I usually did work out! But some days I just grabbed my latest WIP and headed for the couch. 20 months later, with some small changes to how I was eating, I’ve lost nearly 70 lbs. One of the best things about making small changes is that they are sustainable: when I get off track, which of course we all will, it’s only a few steps to get back on.
Great story, Annette! I have found my activity journey enhanced by an “at least” mantra that resonated with your changing clothes idea: when I really didn’t want to do anything, I’d challenge myself to do at least half a workout, or at least 10 minutes or at least a walk. . . . and frequently I’d end up doing the whole thing, but if I didn’t, I’d done at least my least! Weird how I can fall for completely obvious mind games. . . But congrats on your journey!
Mine is consistency, and yup, I’m still chugging along with that. Being consistent in working out, in chores, in everything, really, because consistency is what wins the race!
After falling twice early this year, my WOTY became ATTEND. My most glorious fall that ended in a black eye was because I tripped over the air hose in a rush to fill my tire on the way to teach. I wove a little tapestry of the word and placed it on my dashboard as a reminder to be present to myself even when rushing to do for others.
Wonderful idea and wonderful you. After 3 tumbles last year, I think the idea of a portable, gentle and beautiful reminder is brilliant. Here’s to staying present and upright .
GRATEFUL. I think of it every morning, share it – and the concept – whenever I think it’s appropriate. It’s a great inception!
Maybe next year I’ll add Movement.
Gretchen Rubin of the Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast calls that pairing. Pair a new habit to an existing habit and you’re more likely to do it. I did not choose a WOTY but I did do Gretchen’s 23 in 23 list and am happy to say I’ve done 9 and one half of the things I wrote down. Progress! Even if I don’t finish all 23 things, having the list gives me some goals to work towards whenever I’m feeling aimless.