We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle

Happy New Year, my friends! I’m extremely excited about having another great year with you guys. I hope the New Year is going well for you and your families.

I’d like to give you a great tip to start your year off right: Join the Zen Habits January Challenge on the Zen Habits forums.

What is it?
The Zen Habits challenges are monthly challenges that have worked great for many Zen Habits readers in the past year. Basic concept: you commit yourself to sticking to a habit for one month. You log in to the Zen Habits forums as often as possible, and report your progress in the daily check-in thread. This accountability to your fellow challenge members is what makes the challenge work.

At the end of a month, if you can stick to your challenge with no (or very few) exceptions, you should have a new habit. Repeat the next month.

This process worked very well for me this year, and for many others. I’d bet it’ll work for you too.

How to do it
It’s very simple. Do the following:

1. Reply to the Challenge thread and post your challenge for January. Only one habit per month, please.
2. Make it a very accomplishable goal. Don’t try to exercise every day for 1 hr. Try 5 or 10 minutes instead. Trust me, you’ll be much more successful.
3. Those who post to the daily check-in threads every single day are much more successful. If you miss a day of reporting, you’ll be fine, but the more consistent you are in reporting in, the better.
4. Keep a positive attitude! Expect setbacks now and then, but just note them and move on! No embarrassment in this challenge!

Good luck everyone! And here’s to a great 2008!

The Wise Bread forums and contest

On a related note, my friends over at Wise Bread, one of my all-time favorite personal finance blogs, have started the Wise Bread forums and are giving away $20 Amazon gift certificates and free copies of my Zen To Done ebook every day for the next couple weeks. All you have to do to enter the contest is register for the forums, and each day you write a post on the forums it’s an entry into that day’s contest. Very cool.

Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones. - Benjamin Franklin