They say it takes 21 days…

They say it takes 21 days to form a new habit. Well, the new habits I plan on forming are only for the weekdays (Is that cheating?) and I know I’m bound to miss a few days. So, according to my calculations,if I start now, I’ve given myself about 40 weekdays to get my habits formed before my next birthday so I can check off #3 from my TB30 list.

I couldn’t decide on just 3, so I came up with 4 new habits that I want to start. (Plus, if one doesn’t go through, I’ll still have met my goal of 3 new habits.)

Habit #1: Wake up early.

This was actually a goal of mine last year. I actually did do a great job with this one in 2009 and was even keeping up with waking up at 5:30 (on weekdays) all through 2010, that is, until this summer. Summer days were lazy days for me. I had no motivation to wake up early and so I didn’t. Well, I’m actually back at a point in my life where it would be very productive for me to get back into that habit. Although I think I’m going to wean myself into it by waking up 5 minutes earlier each day until I get to 5:30.

Habit #2: No eating after 9 pm.

This isn’t actually a huge struggle for me anymore. But lately, I’ve been staying at school late (through dinner). By the time I get home, I’m ravished and often just grab whatever is convenient. So, I’m mainly making this a habit so that it encourages me to stay on task during the day so that I come home at a decent hour to fix something other than instant noodles or Spaghettios.

Habit #3: Exercise 4 of the 5 weekdays.

This was also part of my goal in 2009, and again, I did great. 2009 was the first year in my adult life that I consistently exercised for more than a week. This was the year I ran my first 5K race. Well, again, the summer came and I got lazy (sense a theme?) and was active (riding my bike to and from school daily), but not exercising (no strength training, no long bouts of cardio). Well, things are going to get really busy with school for me in the next 2 months and I know that if I don’t make exercise a priority, it will get put on the back burner. So, I’m making this one of my habits to form (again).

Habit #4: Limit (reality) TV.

This habit I struggled with putting on my blog. 1) because I don’t know if I’ll be successful with it and 2) because I secretly watch a lot of reality tv. It doesn’t matter who’s “real” life it is, I’m likely interested and watching. Now there are some shows that I have refused to watch (e.g., Jersey Shore…nothing against Jersey. I used to live there.), but there is a lot I will allow myself to watch. There’s nothing wrong with watching reality tv, but I’m just at a place in my life where less tv watching would be a good thing. I was inspired to form this habit by my friend, S, who I know a while back was successful with going 1 month without tv. I also think it will be a good way to encourage me to spend time doing other things like #4 on my list. So, the researcher/academic in me, needs to make this goal specific and measurable. Therefore, my goal is to watch NO reality tv during the week. This means I likely will end up watching no tv during the week (so as not to tempt myself). Also, I don’t watch a ton of tv on the weekends, but if I do, it’s usually not reality tv as I don’t have DVR at my school home.

So, one of the main reasons I’m posting this “out there” for everyone to see, is because I need accountability. Putting it in writing makes it “more official” in my book. So, I’ll be updating you with my progress…starting with today.

H1: Woke up at 5:20 because R and I had our weekly Monday morning b-fast date and then he dropped me off at school.

H2: Finished dinner at 8:45 pm. Had leftovers of zoodles, fresh corn, fish and rice.

H3: Did the Turbo Jam Booty Sculpt and Abs DVD and then had dinner (see H2).

H4: Am writing this post now before I take a shower and then hopefully am off to bed so that I can do H1 tomorrow morning.

How about you? Are you in the process of trying to form new habits or still being successful with your New Year’s resolutions?