Starting a New Habit is Like Spinning Plates
Okay, okay. So most people probably haven't learned how to spin plates, right? But I'm guessing if you have heard of the term plate spinning, you know what it looks like.
The talented performer begins with one plate on the end of a long stick and starts spinning it, using the flimsy stick to help keep the motion going. Pretty soon, the artist has 10, 15, or even 20 plates spinning at the ends of sticks, much to the awe of the audience. Occasionally, a plate will fall and break and they just put a new one on while still maintaining the others. (Fyi, the current record is 108 plates at once!)
And if you want to see this in action, head on over to YouTube and check out this video.
I don't imagine many people take up plate spinning as a hobby at this point in their lives, but it continues to be a valuable image for starting new habits, in my opinion.
When we begin to think of creating new habits or new goals, it is common for us to want to start by plowing through several life changes at once.
You might decide you’re going to start getting up 2 hours early, exercising, journaling, meditating, and eating more healthy all at once.
While I think everyone will agree that each of these changes can be excellent for finding balance, starting them all at once can become overwhelming and we may find ourselves crashing after only a short effort.
Similar to plate spinning though, when we are introducing something new into our lives, we usually need to start with one thing. Yes, ONE. I know that's hard for us. And we will need to put some significant time into that one thing. Instead of the popular belief that habits are formed over 21 days, research has found it’s actually more like 66 days. This means that our energy spent in building this new habit is highest in these first 2 months, then it gets easier.
Once that one habit is going, we can add something new all while checking in on that first habit to make sure it's still "spinning." After all, once this habit is formed, it becomes more of a background process for you to maintain rather than get started.
Just like plate spinning, these habits will not continue on their own without continued attention. It’s just that they require less attention once we get them going.
So when you want to create a new routine to your day, start with getting up at the same time-even on Sunday. Once you are getting up consistently, add something else in like a morning walk or journal activity. Sometimes, habits work together well enough that we can add 2 at the same time, but understand that starting new habits requires attention and commitment that we can't give if we are dividing ourselves amongst various goals.
If you have been thinking of starting some new habits try this:
Choose one new habit or goal that you've been thinking of doing and try it for 1 week. If it's not your favorite, try one of the others. You can always come back to the first habit you tried. The goal is to get the plates spinning. And keep in mind that just like with plate spinning, we do need to continue giving these habits attention and evaluation from time to time, or else they'll come crashing down.
