By Leo Babauta

As we start to form new habits for a new year, one of the primary questions to ask ourselves is: what habit should I start with?

What habit will help set me up for success for all other habits?

After nearly 15 years of changing my own habits, and a dozen years writing about habit changes and coaching others to change their habits … the answer is clear to me.

The fundamental habit that helps all other habits to stick better is meditation (and mindfulness in general).

And so, I’d like to challenge you to drop deeper into mindfulness, whether you’re fairly new to meditation or you’ve been a meditator for two decades or more.

I’m calling it the Drop Deeper into Mindfulness Challenge, and here’s how it works:

1. Pick the level just above where you’ve been at consistently – for example, if you don’t meditate regularly, pick the “regular meditation” level. If you meditate regularly for 2-5 minutes, do the 10-minute meditation challenge. If you regularly meditate every day for 20 minutes, pick the “2nd meditation a day” level.
2. If you do that consistently for a week, pick the next level the following week. Otherwise, stay at your current level and try to get more consistent. Feel free to drop back to the previous level at any time if you feel this new level is too much for you. There’s no shame or ego in dropping to a previous level or staying at your current level. It’s not about the level you’re on, but about practicing wholeheartedly.

This challenge is run through the Sea Change Program this month, with support from hundreds of members in our Slack community.

In the program, I lay out a series of mini-challenges (or levels), for any level of experience in meditation – whether you’re just starting out or you want to work on mindfulness practices throughout your day.

For beginners, I lay out mini-challenges of getting started meditating regularly.

For intermediate folks, I ask you to meditate more than once a day, and offer other challenges for bringing mindfulness to all parts of your life.

For advanced meditators, we’re going to drop into the deeper practices, no matter how much experience you have, you’ll find a good challenge.

There are 11 different mini-challenges (or levels). In addition, we’re offering in the program:

1. A live video webinar on Sat. Jan. 12, where I give a talk and answer member questions.
2. An active community on Slack where you can get accountability, share your successes, get support if you struggle, and more.
3. A library of video courses, including several on mindfulness, that you can go through as you do the challenge.

With this training, you’ll be setting yourself up for success for the entire year. Join Sea Change for a 7-day free trial today ($15/month after that), and be a part of this challenge.