Update: Successful flossing habit!

I am very pleased to report that I have been successful in my endeavor to create a daily habit of flossing! The chain of little smiley faces on my calendar is 34 smilies long, which means I’ve been flossing every day for over a month. How do I know it’s really a habit and I’m not just doing it for the smiley faces? Two reasons: I reach for the floss as soon as I open the bathroom cabinet, without even really looking at the calendar on the inside of the cabinet door; and, sometimes after I floss I almost forget to draw the smiley on the calendar. That means that I’ve truly created a habit that no longer needs reinforcement from the calendar. However, I’m not quite ready to give up the calendar yet, because I will be away from home for a few weeks, so my routine will be different. I’ll have a different cabinet door to open, or maybe no cabinet at all. When your routines change (because of a change in location or environment) it is easy to let your habits slide. If you’re working on a habit, anticipate those changes and obstacles that could get you off track and plan how you’re going to overcome them. I plan to take a mini calendar with me so I can continue to keep track of the days. Once I’m settled back into the flow of the school year, I think I’ll be ready to go it alone!

Read my original post about creating this habit here.

Doing the job you don’t want to do

The title of a recent Elisabeth Elliot email devotional sounded like it was straight from a productivity blog: “How to Do the Job You Don’t Really Want to Do.” As soon as I saw this title, I was eager to find out what someone like Elisabeth Elliot would say about motivation.

She offered a good perspective on how to get rid of your “poor me” attitude when you face an undesirable task. The logic went something like this: This job has been given to you to do, so it is a gift and a privilege. Therefore it is something that can be offered back to God. And if you do it for Him, do it gladly and faithfully. God can use this task to shape and mold you.

I found some verses from the Bible that fit well with this idea:

Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Colossians 3:23-24 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

1 Peter 4:11 “If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.”

And I could keep going. As I just did a quick flip-through of the Bible to find some of these verses, I was surprised by how many verses there are about doing your work for the Lord, not for yourself or to get a reward from others. And then we also have some verses about perseverance in doing what is right and good…

2 Thessalonians 3:13 “And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.”

Galatians 5:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

This last verse is in the same section where it says, “A man reaps what he sows.” If we are lazy and sow nothing (do no work) then we will receive nothing in return. If we sow in a negative attitude, we will reap more negativity. Negativity is a terrible cycle to get caught in, but that could be a whole different post.

This idea of doing things I don’t want to do without having a negative attitude is something I face almost every day. The Bible does not offer us a five-step plan for motivation or anything like that, but rather a reminder that what we do should not be all about ourselves and should not be done half-heartedly, but should be done joyfully unto God.

(Note: All verses are taken from the New International Version of the Bible.)

Who’s in my car???

Yesterday I was in my car in a crowded parking lot when two girls came up, stopped about ten feet away from my car, and just stared at me.  After a few uncomfortable seconds they started laughing hysterically and got in the car next to mine–a black Honda Civic, identical to mine.

A well executed day

I had a highly productive morning on Saturday, which is quite unusual.  Normally I let myself wake up whenever (which ends up being around 9 or 10) and get online right away to read the comics, news, email, blogs, whatever, and finally get the urge to do something around noon.  Then I feel bad for “wasting” the morning.  This time I exercised, read my Bible, did the dishes, and spent two hours removing wallpaper in the living room, all before noon!  Wooooooooo!

There were several contributing factors to this productive day.  The first was that I scheduled my morning the night before, so I didn’t have to wade through my morning grogginess to decide what I should do next, or if I should do anything at all.  I knew exactly what to do when I got up.  I actually set my alarm too, so I knew I would stay on schedule.  The next very huge factor was that I didn’t get online until later in the day. This upped my motivation drastically, because I did something active first thing in the morning, and then it was easy to just keep going.  The third factor was that I didn’t let anything dissuade me from sticking to my schedule, even the fact that my husband was still in bed.  When you have a significant other, motivation can go one of two ways.  Either that person can prod you to be more motivated, or you can let their relaxation moments become your slacking moments.  In this case I stuck it out, and I gained the satisfaction of having him join me in ripping down wallpaper when he got up.

The end result was that I felt great about my day. I got a lot done, and then I was able to do my internet surfing guilt-free.  I also was able to accept a last-minute invitation to our friend’s house that evening without thinking, “Oh no, I haven’t accomplished anything yet!”  And, the satisfaction of a day well executed can only lead to more motivation! 

Speak up!

The other day I attended a training and planning session for summer school teachers in my district.  As we looked over the agenda we noticed that in the morning we had some time to plan out our lessons, and in the afternoon we were scheduled to get our class lists, along with data sheets about our students’ literacy needs.  The small group I was sitting with discussed this and agreed that it didn’t make sense.  How were we supposed to plan differentiated instruction before we knew our students’ needs?  It would be much better to do things the other way around.

The facilitator stopped by our room about a half hour later and asked if we needed anything.  Everyone just sat there looking around at each other without saying a word.  As the facilitator turned to leave again, I saw that if I didn’t speak up right then, we would have to go through our planning the wrong way around.  I stopped the facilitator and asked if we could have our student data in the morning.  Everyone in the room went, “Yeah!  Great idea!  We think so, too!”  A few minutes later, we had our data.

Now, here’s the question: If everyone thought the same thing, why wasn’t anyone willing to say it?  It took me, probably the shiest person in a room of about 20 people, to say it.  I guess the moral of the story (especially for us shy folk) is not to wait for someone else to say what needs to be said.  This experience was a good reminder for me that sometimes I just have to go ahead and speak up!