The Strategy of Scheduling to Create a New Habit
In this episode 008, we are in week 3 of the meditation and mindfulness challenge and it’s time to check in and see how things are going! We discuss the strategy of scheduling to create a new habit and also how it may help with your meditation practice. We introduce another mindfulness exercise about paying attention to eating when you eat and we also ask the question:“Do you suffer from the Disease to Please?” Both of us are diggin something star related this week.
Tune in and Listen Below
What You’ll Hear (and don’t want to miss!)
1:06: We update how the monthly challenge is going and introduce the basics of meditation that have been helpful for us.
4:51: Habits Corner: We discuss the strategy of scheduling to help to create healthy habits. If it’s on the calendar, it happens!
8:45: Peggy describes her morning routine and how she fits in her meditation.
10:58: Jenny describes how she is doing reading our monthly book 10% Happier by Dan Harris. This is also another reminder that we will be discussing the book next week!
11:51 We discuss the outcome of last week’s mindfulness exercise which was using your non-dominant hand and then we take on another exercise for the coming week from How to Train a Wild Elephant by Jan Chozen Bays. When you are eating….just eat.
16:18: Who are You Anyway? This week’s question is: Do you suffer from the Disease to Please?
21:20: What Are You Diggin Lately?: Both of us have a star related fun thing this week. Peggy describes her Night Sky star map and Jenny gets really excited as she tells us about the Night Sky app.
26:47: You Win or You Learn: Peggy’s win this week is related to some recharging and self care. Jenny shares a learn that showed up while she was taking a stand up paddle board lesson.
31:48: We wrap it up for this week and remind you to keep it up with your meditation. Also, make sure to finish up this month’s book 10% Happier by Dan Harris because we will be discussing next week!
Resources + Links Mentioned in This Episode:
Right click here and save as to download this episode to your computer
Book: Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin
Book: 10 % Happier by Dan Harris
Book: How to Train a Wild Elephant by Jan Chozen Bays
Meditation App: Headspace This one has a free 10 day beginners pack
Meditation App: Calm This one is great for meditation and sleep and has a 7 day free trial.
Meditation App: Insight Timer. This one is a great free app
You Tube 10 minute guided meditation
The Disease to Please: A blog post that I wrote to help explain this phenomenon
A picture of Peggy’s Night Sky star map in her bedchamber 🙂
Key Quotes:
‘Scheduling makes us far more likely to convert an activity into a habit. For most of us, putting an activity on the schedule tends to lock us into doing it. It forces us to confront the natural limits of the day because scheduling requires choices. If you’ve scheduled something in a particular time, you are unavailable to do anything else there and it’s more likely to get done’. -Jenny quoting Gretchen about scheduling
‘I find it pretty easy to set boundaries and say No unless I really want to do something because it matches up with my goals and my values….and it fits into my schedule. This is definitely something that I’ve gotten better at as I’ve gotten older.’ -Peggy describing how she has come to a place where she is better at saying No
‘People with the disease to please (and let’s be honest… it’s mostly women) are driven, not just to succeed, but to please others and make them happy. So many of us take care of everyone and everything else before we even consider taking time for ourselves… we consider it a selfish indulgence to do something special for ourselves.’ –Peggy describing the Disease to please
‘You’re worthy as a person even if you don’t do anything in a day‘ -Peggy while describing The Disease to Please
“Paddle into the wave” “When things get hard, that is when you double down”– Jenny’s amazing takeaway from her SUP lesson. When things are tough, take them head on and head into it.
Share your thoughts… We’d love to hear from you!
What was your biggest takeaway or insight from this episode? Have you been joining us and meditating along this month? We want to know which app you are using and how it’s going and if you have tried the strategy of scheduling to help this new habit stick! Also let us know if you tried focusing on only eating when you eat and we definitely want to know if you suffer from the disease to please. Leave us a comment or just come and say ‘Hi’ on the socials. I’m on Instagram and Twitter and Jenny is on Twitter. You can always get our attention by using the hashtag #TheImprovementProject
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The Improvement Project podcast is hosted by Dr. Peggy Malone and Jenny Couse. Peggy is a health care provider who encourages her patients every day to create better habits associated with their health and wellness. She is wife to John and mom to fur baby Calvin the fat orange cat. Dr. Peggy is also a human being on a mission to create better habits for herself and by doing so, she hopes to inspire others to take up the challenge with her! Jenny is a marketing professional in the international trade sector. She and her husband Jeff are parents to hilarious 5 year old Ethan. Her year of monthly habit resolutions in 2015 piqued her interests in how habits are created and best kept.
Join them weekly to explore how to create healthy habits that stick on the journey to becoming better humans!
#TheImprovementProject
Until next time,
Let’s get to work on improving your most important project. That’s YOU! Stay focused and get after it!
Thank you so much for listening.
Big Love,
Peggy and Jenny
