You earned a star⭐️

One of my pilates students was telling me that she had her son buy her some star stickers. Of course I asked, "what are they for?" She explained, "remember when your teacher gave you a star when you did a good job on your homework?"

Oh, yeah! I loved getting stars too!

She said that everyday she does her exercises she puts a star on her calendar. We continued to talk about what a great reminder this is for accomplishing your goal for that day.

I finished reading "Atomic Habits" by James Clear, and in one chapter he writes about how to keep your habits on track.

The most basic format is to get a calendar and cross off each day you stick with your habit. He writes about an entry level sales person who puts paperclips in one jar and after each sales call placed a paper clip in the empty jar; at the end of the day he can see how many calls he made.

Sometimes making habits stick is hard, but having a tracking formula that works for you, yes-you, not what works for others-is what's best.

The best habit I gave myself was practicing yoga and pilates with many of you the same time each week. I'm not sure what would happen if I didn't keep it consistent. Reading this book was a reminder that if my days change, how will my habit change with it?

One of the habits I work on each year is taking time to meditate, I often fail by a few weeks in. James Clear speaks of how to recover when your habits break down. "The first mistake is never the one that ruins you. It is the spiral of repeated mistakes that follows. Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit." He reminds the reader that the breaking of a habit doesn't matter if you are able to reclaim it quickly.

I will try again, and keep trying. I'll set up my space, get my paper clips and bowls and do my best to make this habit stick.

So stickers, or clips, or journal, let's take on this year with positivity, hope and knowing that we can make good habits stick and we can always reset and begin again.