Happy New Year! The Zen Habits January Challenge: Start Your Year Off Right

LivSimpl Says:

January 1st, 2008, 22:16 pm

Leo - It’s a great idea to create a way to help people with their resolutions throughout the year. I’m glad you posted that Aristotle quote too. I’ve heard it before but it was the perfect time to see it again. I’m going to write it in my journal.

If anybody wants to set up automatic reminders for yourself to check in on the Zen Habits Forum (or, reminders for your other resolutions) here’s a quick how-to: http://tinyurl.com/3a6gwq

I also came up with four simple ways to approach your resolutions/resolution making, for anyone who’s interested: http://tinyurl.com/2rsv32

Good luck everybody and happy new year!

Eugene (Editor, Varsity Blah) Says:

January 2nd, 2008, 0:53 am

There’s nothing like accountability to keep you on track! Sounds like a great way to make 2008 a happy new year!

pavs Says:

January 2nd, 2008, 1:13 am

I have a resolution list that is 2 pages long. I did the same thing last year but only a quarter of it was fulfilled, this year i am more determined.

etavitom Says:

January 2nd, 2008, 1:48 am

great idea! thanks for the inspiration and have a phenomenal 2008….

Marley Says:

January 2nd, 2008, 3:21 am

Thanks for the inspiration in 07 - 2008 will be the year when it all comes together - the Zen Habits perfect storm!

ReStarting Says:

January 2nd, 2008, 6:59 am

ready for my first zh challenge.
resolution #1: get a real login for zh!
I’m a little intimidated b/c I feel like most of the users here have pretty well tuned lifestyles, and are just trying to squeeze out one more nugget of productivity on the outer edges — while I need a total overhaul. I’m sure that’s not a fair comparision –more like an internal speed-bump.
More to follow!

Leo Says:

January 2nd, 2008, 9:24 am

@ReStarting … there are many people in the same boat, so no need to worry. And trust me, I know how you feel. I’ve had times in my life when I really needed an overhaul (late 2005, most recently). There’s light at the end of the tunnel … just focus on one thing at a time.

And another important point: focus on the good things in your life, your strengths, not all the things that you feel aren’t good. Then build more strengths. :)

chiropetra Says:

January 2nd, 2008, 15:15 pm

Restarting: What most of us are good at is not a well-tuned lifestyle, it’s faking it.

Of course the funny thing about faking it. If you do it long enough it ends up being indistinguishable from the real thing.

So get out there and fake it with the rest of us!

JAck Says:

January 2nd, 2008, 16:18 pm

what does this have to anything with Zen? Zen means a peaceful mind without idea of self. Zen is to see the world as a whole and perfectly as is. It is not about improving one self but to realize what you do and do what you do to its fullest along with the way of nature. Like a bright flame that burns its self out without a trace, leave nothing behind.

jen Says:

January 2nd, 2008, 16:21 pm

i agree with jack and chiropetra, this is a dumb and useless forum. why waste time to flake a life.

Leo Says:

January 2nd, 2008, 18:23 pm

@Jack and jen: Sorry you feel that way! But just to let you know, many people have actually found use and value in these challenges, so for them, it hasn’t been useless. Everyone gets out of it what they put into it. :)

Liza Says:

January 2nd, 2008, 18:53 pm

OK here goes, my 1 month challenge (and I’ve already started it) is to walk for 15 minutes a day.
2 down, 29 to go.

Angie Says:

January 2nd, 2008, 20:51 pm

The quote you used to start out your blog entry today is one that I’ve adopted. Since 1992, I put this quote on my business card, as a signature on some of my emails, as the beginning to a personal project for a masters class, on my wall at school, etc. etc. It’s a constant reminder to always do my best.

I like the challenge idea and may well follow up on that. I have the busy schedule of a teacher making it hard to keep resolutions. I keep them simple and few. Having someone to be accountable to would be a positive thing.

Pidge Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 0:47 am

Thank you, Leo, for putting this out there. I just joined the forum and just created my January challenge (and successfully completed it today — 15 min of meditation).

And thank you for the reminder to focus on one thing at a time. I am really excited at the prospect of another 11 challenges in this year — AND for now I am focused on January.

ReStarting Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 3:07 am

@chiropetra & Leo,
Thanks for the encouragement. In the short run, hopefully faking it will be enough to establish habits that will lead to the real thing. Without some acceptance of “faking it” as a short-term plateau, I think I’d be discouraged by not hitting immediate success.

Migo Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 3:25 am

Thanks Leo, This is a great way to begin the success of 2008!

Trixi Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 15:30 pm

@ Jack ~

This forum can have nothing, or everything, or even something in between, to do with Zen. It is what one chooses to do with it that makes that determination, not the forum itself. This forum is but one available tool which one can use on a Zen path if one so chooses.

For your consideration: a tool which assists one individual in their endeavor(s) may be useless to another, and even an outright hindrance to yet another. The core value of the tool does not change, only one’s perception of it’s usefulness,based on one’s needs. The use of any tool(s) for one’s journey, and at what points along the way, is for each individual to determine/discover for his or her self (or no-self ;-) ) along their Zen path.

If I am cutting wood, a sharpened saw would likely be quite useful, and a hammer a hindrance. To hammer a nail into the wall, the reverse would apply. (I have successfully hammered a nail into a wall using the handle of a screwdriver, but a hammer certainly would have been the tool of preference! But alas, sometimes we have to just make do with what’s in the toolbox at hand.) The hammer, saw and screwdriver are all certainly useful tools, when used appropriately; but they can also be quite useless or a hindrance when not used for the purposes for which they were designed. Having the right tool at the right time ~ and knowing how to use it well ~ is indeed a lovely thing.

Also please consider: While your point about self-improvement perhaps not being a Zen-oriented goal is understandable, it also seems a quite narrow persepctive. I suggest you look beyond the surface of the *self-improvement* terminology to what lies beneath. Perhaps you will take a moment and read some of the challenges posted in this forum; if so, you may notice that while not all are particularly *zen*, many are, or at least have the potential to be: again, it is how one approaches them and what one does with them, often not the goals themselves, that make that determination. Goals such exercising regularly, meditating daily, being mindful about what we put into our bodies, keeping our actions in alignment with priorities of universal principles such as practicing loving-kindness, compassion ~ all these are beneficial things that can certainly assist those who choose to be on a Zen path. Yes, they are also goals that can instead be used for purposes of the ego; but again, that is up to the individual.

I respectfully suggest that it might do you well to review & reflect on your own thought processes, see where your own ego-based assumptions/judgments came into play as you observed this forum, and consider where perhaps your no-self might benefit from some tweaking.

As for myself (my no-self? ;-) alas, I am not that enlightened) ~ while at this time my attempts to utilize this forum would most likely be more of a hindrance than a help (the screwdriver-as-hammer comes to mind), I am joyfully and gratefully keeping it in my ever-expanding Zen toolbox. I suspect there will soon come a time (perhaps many times) when this forum might be just the tool I need! :-)

Trixi Says:

January 3rd, 2008, 17:57 pm

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone can see it”
~ Confucius

The *fake it ’til you make it* concept may seem to some to be dishonest or fraudulent upon first consideration, but it really is not. It is certainly not about ‘faking a life’ as one person here misunderstood it to be. Admittedly, the catch phrase itself is perhaps an unfortunate choice of words (it’s that *fake it* bit that throws people); it’s not about being a fake, but about training training oneself to focus on & maintain a proactive, positive mindset. (Which, with practice, increasingly becomes one’s norm and thus one no longer needs to *fake it* ~ at least, not on a regualr basis.) As with any tool, it is not always the right tool for the task at hand; but it’s a good one to have available should you need it. It is regrettable that, because of it’s being somewhat ill-named, the concept is often misunderstood as representing something (i.e., being a fake) that it actually does not.

I highly recommend this essay on the topic:
Fake It ‘til You Make It
by Ronni Mott
October 10, 2007

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/comments.php?id=15111_0_7_0_C

Miss Gisele from myBeautyMatch.com Says:

January 4th, 2008, 1:25 am

Happy New Year to you Leo!

Gisele

Tina Su - Think Simple Now Says:

January 4th, 2008, 2:30 am

Leo,

What are your resolutions? : )
What’s the one habit you’d like to habituate?

Happy New Year!

Tina

Joe Says:

January 6th, 2008, 20:23 pm

Planning, documenting and sharing.