Making Sitting Less a Habit: Challenge 2
themedalist
Posts: 3,218 Member
Theme: Exercise and Movement
Challenge: Making Sitting Less a Habit (Part 1)
Second Challenge: Choose Your Sit Less Action
With a good foundation now in place, our next 3 challenges will focus on the 3 essential elements for making sitting less a lifestyle change. Today's challenge is centered on the first element:
1. Find and implement changes in your daily routine that will result in you sitting less and moving more. Look for ways to do the things that you want or need to do, but modify them so that you are sitting less.
We are all different and we sit for different reasons. What works for me may not work for you. Sitting less is a process and it takes time. There's no need to change everything at once in an attempt to go from sitting all the time to hardly ever sitting. Instead, let's select just one sit less action for now and work on it until it becomes a habit. Over time, you can build on this one successful habit change by adding other sit-less actions.
Since we want to make sitting less a new habit, it's important to find ways to sit less that work for us and fit into our lives. It can't be something you hate doing or you won't stick with it. It's also important not to try and change too many things at once and make the whole process overwhelmingly hard.
Today's Challenge: Read this blog post: http://www.quittingthesitting.org/simple-plan-to-sit-less and then select the one action you will prioritize these two weeks. What's your “One Thing?” Practice this new action everyday, or if possible, several times a day. Repeating this new action over and over again is the key to making it shift from being something you have to consciously think about to something you just do automatically.
Please Note: To increase the likelihood that your chosen activity becomes a habit, it's important to attach this new activity to something you already do every day or something that happens to you every day. The “old” activity serves as a cue or reminder to do the new habit. For example, you might decide that “Every time the phone rings I will stand up and move around” or “After I write an email, I will stand up and proofread it before I hit the send button.” Or, “I will leave my walking shoes by the front door to remind me to head out for a walk.” In these cases, the phone ringing, the written email, and the shoes serve as reminders to do the new habit.
Of course, a post-it or a note to yourself also works!
Third Challenge This Monday: Our third challenge in this series will be posted late Sunday evening or early Monday morning. Look for that!
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Suggested Resources:
James Clear's The Scientific Argument for Mastering One Thing at a Time:
http://jamesclear.com/master-one-thing
The 3 R’s of Habit Change: How To Start New Habits That Actually Stick
http://jamesclear.com/three-steps-habit-change
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Challenge: Making Sitting Less a Habit (Part 1)
Second Challenge: Choose Your Sit Less Action
With a good foundation now in place, our next 3 challenges will focus on the 3 essential elements for making sitting less a lifestyle change. Today's challenge is centered on the first element:
1. Find and implement changes in your daily routine that will result in you sitting less and moving more. Look for ways to do the things that you want or need to do, but modify them so that you are sitting less.
We are all different and we sit for different reasons. What works for me may not work for you. Sitting less is a process and it takes time. There's no need to change everything at once in an attempt to go from sitting all the time to hardly ever sitting. Instead, let's select just one sit less action for now and work on it until it becomes a habit. Over time, you can build on this one successful habit change by adding other sit-less actions.
Since we want to make sitting less a new habit, it's important to find ways to sit less that work for us and fit into our lives. It can't be something you hate doing or you won't stick with it. It's also important not to try and change too many things at once and make the whole process overwhelmingly hard.
Today's Challenge: Read this blog post: http://www.quittingthesitting.org/simple-plan-to-sit-less and then select the one action you will prioritize these two weeks. What's your “One Thing?” Practice this new action everyday, or if possible, several times a day. Repeating this new action over and over again is the key to making it shift from being something you have to consciously think about to something you just do automatically.
Please Note: To increase the likelihood that your chosen activity becomes a habit, it's important to attach this new activity to something you already do every day or something that happens to you every day. The “old” activity serves as a cue or reminder to do the new habit. For example, you might decide that “Every time the phone rings I will stand up and move around” or “After I write an email, I will stand up and proofread it before I hit the send button.” Or, “I will leave my walking shoes by the front door to remind me to head out for a walk.” In these cases, the phone ringing, the written email, and the shoes serve as reminders to do the new habit.
Of course, a post-it or a note to yourself also works!
Third Challenge This Monday: Our third challenge in this series will be posted late Sunday evening or early Monday morning. Look for that!
...............................................................................................
Suggested Resources:
James Clear's The Scientific Argument for Mastering One Thing at a Time:
http://jamesclear.com/master-one-thing
The 3 R’s of Habit Change: How To Start New Habits That Actually Stick
http://jamesclear.com/three-steps-habit-change
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This short video is a great overview of how habits work, by Charles Duhigg, the author of The Power of Habit.
Very entertaining too:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=W1eYrhGeffc 4 -
What an informative video. Makes perfect sense and is easy to understand as well. I love the blog post as well. It contains some great ideas.
My one thing for these 2 weeks will be to re-introduce getting up from my desk every hour and moving/stretching for 1 or 2 minutes.
I will not ignore the hourly reminder on my phone.3 -
@jlperiard, I like your "one thing". Great choice!1
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Jumping in here. My sit-less project is 10 minutes yoga poses. Meditation is great, but also is done sitting, so after the mind work comes the sit-less stuff. I'm working on trying out 5 poses for two minutes each. Or something like that.2
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I am going to make sure I get up and walk around every hour. I have a vivofit and I am going to try to do at least 500 steps every hour2
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Most of my day is spent sitting at my desk in-front of my laptop. We can change the height of our desks, I will try to do two 1/2 hour lots of standing while working!
Outside work, I generally do not like sitting a lot. So this challenge is not that hard, but had me think of ways to Sit-less at work! I usually go to kids soccer/games and I never sit in a chair! I either stand by the side or walk around!3 -
@elize7, @jcraft8, and @springtimez, terrific job picking doable "One Things" that will have you sitting less and moving more. It's got to be something that is a good fit for you or it's not likely to have much staying power. Great choices!1
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I subscribe to James Clear's blog and this post arrived this morning, perfectly suited to our sit less challenge. I highly recommend reading it!
Why is it So Hard to Stick to Good Habits?
by James Clear
Have you ever set out with the goal of actually sticking to a new behavior … only to find yourself not doing it at all one week later?
I know I have.
Why is so hard to form good habits? Why is it so difficult to make consistent change? How can we have the best intentions to become better, and yet still see so little progress?
And most importantly, is there anything we can do about it?
Your Life Goals are Not Your Habits
Read full post on JamesClear.com2 -
I love James Clear's posts. My one thing is to get my 250 steps per hour. I often walk across the top of the hour to get steps for both hours, but when I do that I try to make my walk 10 - 15 minutes.
I really like Clear's point about being #1 or nothing. I hated this when my children were competing in swimming. There was an attitude second place was "the first loser." That kind of attitude totally defeats the purpose of youth sports leagues. Every child who participates is getting lots out of it. The attitude that only the very best on the team are of value undermines the whole thing.
My sister shared a great quote a few days ago: "Be brave enough to be bad at something new." I love that! I've tried lots of new things and made some new habits lately, and I'm bad at a lot of new things - guess that means I'm brave.
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For my one thing I am re-introducing back reading the Challenge resources, Bible and Kindle apps and any interesting internet stuff on my iPad at the kitchen counter again.
Yesterday when I was thinking about my 'one thing' I realized that I've not been doing my original 'one thing' lately because somewhere along the line I had begun leaving things out on that empty counter that I had cleared for this purpose back in May during the Sit Less Boot Camp. I got out of the good habit I had been forming and never even realized when I reverted back to reading at the table or on the desktop.... sitting of course
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When I first learned about doing this during the Boot Camp I thought that the concept of reading at the kitchen counter absolutely brilliant, and I really enjoyed doing it. I could stand while drinking my coffee or tea while reading in the morning. It is also really easy to read a few pages of an E-book or an internet page because it was all set up for it.
So, I cleaned the counter space and I am back to reading standing up at the counter
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:flowerforyou:3 -
I love James Clear's posts. My one thing is to get my 250 steps per hour. I often walk across the top of the hour to get steps for both hours, but when I do that I try to make my walk 10 - 15 minutes.
I really like Clear's point about being #1 or nothing. I hated this when my children were competing in swimming. There was an attitude second place was "the first loser." That kind of attitude totally defeats the purpose of youth sports leagues. Every child who participates is getting lots out of it. The attitude that only the very best on the team are of value undermines the whole thing.
My sister shared a great quote a few days ago: "Be brave enough to be bad at something new." I love that! I've tried lots of new things and made some new habits lately, and I'm bad at a lot of new things - guess that means I'm brave.
@77tes , I disliked youth sports growing up because of the fierce competition and I was thrilled when my daughter gave up high school track to concentrate on her academics. As you said, every child gets something out of participating, but the emphasis on winning by coaches and parents alike is hard to take.
And I love your sister's quote, "Be brave enough to be bad at something new". I think trying new things is how we progress and move ourselves forward. Plus, it can be fun and usually the greatest gains in improvement come towards the beginning. I made a lot of strides when I first started playing the guitar. Now starting my third year, the improvements come much more slowly. But it's still fun!
Here's to being brace!2 -
.texasgardnr wrote: »For my one thing I am re-introducing back reading the Challenge resources, Bible and Kindle apps and any interesting internet stuff on my iPad at the kitchen counter again.
Yesterday when I was thinking about my 'one thing' I realized that I've not been doing my original 'one thing' lately because somewhere along the line I had begun leaving things out on that empty counter that I had cleared for this purpose back in May during the Sit Less Boot Camp. I got out of the good habit I had been forming and never even realized when I reverted back to reading at the table or on the desktop.... sitting of course .
When I first learned about doing this during the Boot Camp I thought that the concept of reading at the kitchen counter absolutely brilliant, and I really enjoyed doing it. I could stand while drinking my coffee or tea while reading in the morning. It is also really easy to read a few pages of an E-book or an internet page because it was all set up for it.
So, I cleaned the counter space and I am back to reading standing up at the counter .
:flowerforyou:
@texasgardnr, you've hit on what makes habits so fascinating to me: They are both very strong and hold a lot of sway over our lives, yet at the same time, they are very delicate and subject to breaking. It's pretty easy to get out of a good habit. I've learned that once a habit is firmly established, missing a day here and there seems to be OK. But missing two days in a row too often results in unraveling the habit and needing to start over.
Reading at the kitchen counter is a terrific one thing!
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Great post! I know from experience that a habit takes at least 21 days to sink in. I am loving the fact that this is pretty easy to apply and in the end it will be so beneficial. My one thing will be completing my 10,000 steps on FIT BIT. I have been so lazy lately and that is not helping me at all. The goal is to move as much as I can throughout the day. I download my books on Overdrive and Listen to them while I walk. Read 6 books the entire summer, so I will continue that, listen while walking.3
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@themedalist, I appreciated your insights into habits. So true..... I still need to read/ watch the resources for the Second Challenge. I'm even more curious about them now after reading your post. I've been really (good) busy the last several days so they are still on my to do list
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@prgirl39mfp, I also enjoy getting my audio library books using Overdrive. I get a lot of things done while listening to audio books.
Enjoy your walking while listening to a good book
:flowerforyou:4 -
Thanks @texasgardnr. Same to you. These are some of the ones I have read recently : The Woman in Cabin 10, The Girl Before, The Silent Sister, The Couple Next Door, Made You Up, Behind Close Doors.
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Ok---I cannot figure this out. How do you copy and paste someone's name?. Everyone does it and the names appear in blue so they can comment or say something. ???????3
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@dlm4mom, here is how you do it.... first I hover over the persons name and do a simple copy paste like so: dlm4mom
Then I place the @ symbol right behind the name like so: @dlm4mom
It is something about the @ symbol that automatically causes the name to turn blue and become clickable and also to stand out from the rest of the black text.. (probably in the HTML code or something that I don't understand :laugh: )
I like to bold the @ and the name when I'm going to write something, but as you look at other posts some do and some don't.
Hope that this helps.
:flowerforyou:4 -
Another update on part 2: because of changes in my plans for this weekend I do not have to do certain things today. So... I'm catching up on reading/watching all of the resources and paying extra attention to each of the four parts of the challenge. Last week I was also busy planning for this weekend. Yay for a catch-up opportunity.
For part 2 I read the articles and watched the video. I really liked the 3 Rs of forming habits. So I applied the 3 Rs to make it easier to do my "one thing" successfully in the long term this time. During this process I noticed was that my iPad was actually too low for me to easily read on it without always having to bend over some so I located a larger empty shoebox to place the tablet stand on, so now it is at a much more comfortable level for my eyes.
Of course there were two additional two videos on the same subject that I watched following the video resource ahhhh, much willpower used not to watch more videos
:flowerforyou:3 -
I was thinking about this video yesterday and his cookie example. I work at a university and the building next to mine has a small café. When school is in session, it's stacked with all kinds of wonderful food, some healthy and some not. I didn't pack enough food for myself yesterday so when it got to be mid afternoon, I made the trek over to the café in search of a snack. The cookies, and brownies, and rice crispy bars looked amazing and my brain said "That's it! Look no further!" And yes, one cookie, one time… No big deal. But I know now how habits begin, both good habits and bad habits. And I know it would be way too easy to get in the habit of a daily walk over to get a cookie. It happened to Charles and a lot of other folks and it will happen to me if I let it.
So I got yogurt. And today I'm bringing in more food.
Denise: 1
Yummy Habit Wannabe: 03 -
Denise: 1
Yummy Habit Wannabe: 0
Hooray Denise!! Will power rules! Wish I could say the same for me. I am only fooling myself. I am not feeling it but I am doing my best. Quitting is not an option! Thanks for being an inspiration!
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texasgardnr wrote: »Another update on part 2: because of changes in my plans for this weekend I do not have to do certain things today. So... I'm catching up on reading/watching all of the resources and paying extra attention to each of the four parts of the challenge. Last week I was also busy planning for this weekend. Yay for a catch-up opportunity.
For part 2 I read the articles and watched the video. I really liked the 3 Rs of forming habits. So I applied the 3 Rs to make it easier to do my "one thing" successfully in the long term this time. During this process I noticed was that my iPad was actually too low for me to easily read on it without always having to bend over some so I located a larger empty shoebox to place the tablet stand on, so now it is at a much more comfortable level for my eyes.
Of course there were two additional two videos on the same subject that I watched following the video resource ahhhh, much willpower used not to watch more videos
:flowerforyou:
This has me smiling ear to ear, @texasgardnr. Once you understand the habit loop, you can apply it to any habit you'd like to change. It's universal. And when you change your habits, you change your life.
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prgirl39mfp wrote: »Denise: 1
Yummy Habit Wannabe: 0
Hooray Denise!! Will power rules! Wish I could say the same for me. I am only fooling myself. I am not feeling it but I am doing my best. Quitting is not an option! Thanks for being an inspiration!
You have some extraordinary stress on you at the moment, @prgirl39mfp worrying about your loved ones back in Puerto Rico and the devastation that has occurred. But as hard as it is not to resort to comfort food at a time like this, it really is the best long run approach. "If hunger isn't the problem, then food isn't the answer" is true.... but still hard to stick with.
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@themedalist, I probably heard or read that somewhere along the way, but it went into one ear and out the other as they say. I'm a reactionary eater. But today reading it made an aha moment impact, as well as immediately bringing several recent memories to my mind when I did just that. I try to fix things, or myself, with food. I've just never put it all together in such a way before. Thank youthemedalist wrote: ». "If hunger isn't the problem, then food isn't the answer"
:flowerforyou:2 -
@texasgardnr I call myself an over eater in recovery. My relationship with food is not the best. I am pre diabetic so I have to think about food constantly. I had to tackle my over eating so that I could lose weight and continue making better choices.
@themedalist thanks for your support and understanding. I have to say that although I am indulging more that I would like, it is just the 10% of my day. Tomorrow back on track! This experience, even though I am not in Puerto Rico, has changed me and hurt me so much.2 -
I finally had time to read the articles posted and watch the video. It makes so much sense! love them. My one thing I really want to start doing but never seem to do is start taking a daily walk after work. I think I will make that my one focus. Reminder: Dinner Routine: Walk Reward: Time alone to unwind and reflect, time in nature and healthier.
This is my one Habit-To-Be... Love these reference materials! Very motivating and make so much sense.3
This discussion has been closed.