My reflection after 33 continuous days of SIDCHAs

Today is the 33rd day since Josh and I first spoke, and also the 33rd day since I started doing a few SIDCHAs. I only blogged about one (writing daily) even though I actually started doing a few:

• 10 burpees and pushups

• 100 hops

• walking around the block and taking at least one photograph

• writing/editing my manuscript for at least 30 mins

• writing at least 100 words

• a few others like my morning routine/quiet time, which I don't really count as a SIDCHA because they've been established before I met Josh

I've managed them all apart from one: walking around the block and taking at least one photograph.

I first decided to do this SIDCHA in the morning when the kids head off to school, partly to get some fresh air myself and also to try revive my love for photography (so I tend to head out with my mirrorless + 50 mm lens in a camera bag).

I've discovered that I have absolutely zero interest in doing this on rainy days when I have to drop the kids off at school though, and that although photography is fun, it's not as fun as I thought it would be. So while I'm still doing this on non-rainy weekdays, I will be switching to something else once we move into our home. I think a fun one to try will be playing the piano and singing.

Anyway, here are some reflections from 33 continuous SIDCHA days:

1 - They have to consume very little time initially.

All the SIDCHAs I said I would do take a minimal amount of time - ranging from a couple of minutes (the burpees and hops) to 30 mins (the writing). I set it up that way intentionally and I'm glad that I did, because it worked a treat. I found that the biggest hurdle for me everyday was STARTING the activity. Once I started, completing it was a breeze. But a major factor that encouraged me to start was the fact that it would only take minimal time.

Sure enough, the burpees and hops are by far the easiest SIDCHAs for me to begin and complete. The one with the highest barrier is writing/editing the manuscript, because 30 mins seems like such a long time even though it isn't. So I've tend to put off the writing till later in the day .... which isn't ideal because I'm not as fresh as I am in the morning. I'm going to have to put my thinking cap on for that one. I wonder if switching my writing requirement to only 10 mins will propel me to start, and I'll end up doing the 30 mins (or longer)after all 🤔

2 - Don't stop, switch.

I remember asking Josh how to create a habit so that it gets easier to keep at it. What he said really stood out: a SIDCHA is completely different to a habit. The idea of a habit being 'easy' goes against the 'Challenging' part of a SIDCHA. The thing that I'm trying to do is challenging, no matter how many consecutive days I do it. Because the moment is gets 'easy', I up the reps. If 10 burpees are easy - which in fact, they are now - I up them to 12 (what I'm doing now).

He told me not to create a habit. But to just do the activity daily. It's not about getting to 60 consecutive days and then it'll be automatic, it's about doing it daily, one day at a time, and not stopping. No matter how tired or how emotional or how busy the day was, to just not stop. But he did have some useful advice: that if the activity was no longer serving me, don't stop. But switch. Switch to another activity that I would prefer to do over the one I currently do. Which is really helpful because it brings me to #3:

3 - The activity I choose to switch to will always be more valuable than the one I choose to let go of.

Take my walk and photography for instance. I have enjoyed the past 30-ish days of morning walks and photo taking, but I haven't LOVED it. And when I thought about the piano and singing, I have an inkling that I may enjoy that far more. But merely thinking about it isn't sufficient, I won't quite know until I've switched and done the piano/singing for a while. That's the beauty of testing things. But if or when I do switch an activity again, I can be confident that whatever I choose to switch too will be more valuable and of a higher priority in my life compared to the one I switch from.

Combining SIDCHAs with the OMS's six practices and rhythms are going to be interesting. I feel like they're referring to the same thing but using different terms.

I'm looking forward to testing many different things in the next however many days!