90 Days of Consistency
Every year around the holidays, my sisters and I get together to discuss our goals for the new year. We bounce ideas and suggestions off of each other and walk away with a plan for New Year based on SMART goals. This year, I didn’t have a lot of big goals to focus on, but I did have some lingering habits I wanted to develop from previous years.
In preparation for my sisters’ meeting, I started brainstorming what I might do differently to achieve those goals. I thought about how when I committed to learning French and achieving a B1 level, I also committed to maintaining my Duolingo streak (currently at 782 days as of this writing). There’s something about seeing my streak count continue to go up that is very motivating for me. If it worked for Duolingo, why couldn’t I gamify my other goals and habits?
This is how I decided to do 90 Days of Consistency this year to kick off 2022. I can track a random assortment of habits that are important to me for various reasons, and my “reward” is maintaining my streak. On a day to day basis, these habits might offer an imperceptible change. But what if I could push through the lack of so-called “visible results” and stay consistent with these habits for a meaningful time period? Where would I be then? How would I feel?
Why am I doing this?
Habits
First and foremost, I am trying to create habits that I have had difficulty sticking to for one reason or another.
Patience
Patience is not something that I’m great at particularly when there is delayed gratification. I think that’s one of the reasons I struggle with creating certain habits because I am looking for immediate results. When I don’t get those, I lose motivation to continue.
Consistency
I want to focus on the journey and practice what I preach with “progress not perfection.” Consistency in my experience has been the most important factor in successfully developing any of my habits.
Health
I have some specific health goals I’m targeting including:
Improved hydration
Improved mental clarity
Increased muscle definition
Stronger nails
Why 90 Days?
Several years ago, I participated in a fat loss challenge at my gym. The winner of the competition would be the woman who lost the greatest % of body fat in 90 days. I probably wouldn’t do it again, but what I did take away was that 90 days was an ideal timeframe for the following reasons:
Consistency
In order to have a shot at winning, I had to be very consistent with my diet, protein intake, strength training, and cardio. I had to commit to those habits regularly (really daily) for the best results. It was long enough where I had to learn to be consistent for a meaningful period of time.
Results
This was enough time to produce the visible physical results I desired when I started the challenge.
Sustainable
I didn’t end up winning the challenge, but I actually came pretty close. I also was able to maintain the results for over 2 years - up until the pandemic upended our lives. Had the timeframe been any shorter, I probably would have felt compelled to be more intense and not experienced lasting change.
The Rules
Start on January 3 (first Monday of the year versus the first day of the year).
Track my habits daily (note some habits are limited to 5 days a week instead of every day).
Progress not perfection - it’s okay to miss a day here and there but it’s not okay to make missing days be the habit.
Tracking and Accountability
I downloaded the Streaks app which I will cover in another post. It’s a habit tracking app that allows you to add up to 24 habits, and I will use this for tracking.
I will be sharing my results and observations in 30 day increments, so you will be receiving an update after 30 days, 60 days, and at the end of my 90 days.
What Habits Am I Tracking?
Disclaimer: These are the habits I will be tracking for 90 days. While some of them are tied to my overall goals for 2022, these habits =/= my 2022 goals.
No nail biting (Daily)
Why: Because I’m a grown woman and want to have presentable nails.
Advanced preparation: None
Apply nail oil (Daily)
Why: to support my goal of having stronger, more presentable nails.
Advanced preparation: Purchase nail oil. I’m using CND Solar Oil.
Read for 10 minutes (Daily)
Why: “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one” - George R.R. Martin, A Dance With Dragons. I came across that quote while reading the A Song of Ice and Fire series, and it immediately resonated. I’ve had a lifelong love of reading, but I feel like I’ve lost a little bit of that passion over the last couple of years. Reading is one of my favorite things to do, so I want to make this a priority.
Advanced preparation: Order a few physical books. I absolutely love my Kindle and am a heavy library user for free books, but I have not been inspired reading my kindle in the last couple of years. To reignite my passion for reading, I hypothesized I would do best with physical paperback books (I really dislike hardcover books for some reason).
Read the Bible for 10 minutes (Daily)
Why: Embarrassingly, reading the whole Bible has been on my list of goals every year for at least the last 20 years. Spoiler alert: I have never been successful. It is considered a holy text for a major religion, and I’ve always been interested in reading it for myself rather than solely relying on interpretations from others. Reading the entire Bible is again on my list of goals for 2022, and I hope by committing to 10 minutes a day, I can stick with it.
Advanced preparation: This was totally unnecessary, but I bought a new chic Bible from She Reads Truth. It’s so beautiful and impossible to miss that I want to read it daily. I also fond a one year Bible reading plan which I will follow daily.
Drink 64 oz of water (Daily)
Why: I feel better when I’m hydrated - my body feels like it’s functioning properly. Skin, digestion, and energy are the main areas impacted for me when I’m dehydrated, and this amount of water is where I feel consistently hydrated (and have clear/light colored pee).
Advanced preparation: Purchase a 64 oz water bottle. In the past, I’ve been most successful in hitting my daily water goal when I have a large capacity bottle I only need to fill once for the day.
Hit my move goal (Daily)
Why: since working from home for the last 2 years, I’ve noticed I have been moving significantly less. Similar to being hydrated, getting adequate movement helps with my digestion and energy as well as my strength, endurance, mobility. This year, I’m challenging myself to hit my Apple Move Goal (on my Apple Watch) daily to ensure I prioritize movement every single day
Advanced preparation: None
Walk or spin (Daily)
Why: this habit is another opportunity to increase my daily movement. The focus of this goal is to ensure I either get fresh air (walking) or vigorous movement (spin) after being sedentary all day. As a bonus, the mid day or after work activity provides stress relief.
Advanced preparation: None
Protein shake (5x/week)
Why: I have fitness goals that I’m trying to achieve that require me to hit my protein targets. I have always struggled with being consistent with my protein shake, so hopefully, I will develop consistency
Advanced preparation: Purchase protein powder
Sleep for 7 hours (Daily)
Why: I’m at my best when I get enough sleep. Enough sleep for me is at least 7 hours. 8 would be great but 7 allows me to wake up and thrive for the whole day without needing to rely on caffeine.
Advanced preparation: None
Clear bathroom counter (Daily)
Why: I’m trying to get better about tidying as I go. It makes it easier to keep my home clean and also reducing my visual clutter helps me reduce my mental clutter. There are other areas in my home that I want to be more consistent about tidying daily, but this felt like an easy place to start.
Advanced preparation: None
Conclusion
We all have habits we want to create or break, but sometimes it can be difficult to figure out how to do so. My plan probably sounds a little cheesy and gimmicky and maybe it is. I’m probably not even the first person to do it, but it’s new to me. Sometimes, you have to try something different in order to make a lasting change.
Will you try 90 Days of Consistency? What habits will you track?
Updates
Day 1-30 Update: Coming Soon!
Day 31-60 Update: Coming Soon!
Day 61-90 Update: Coming Soon!
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