Take One Habit, See Me in the Morning
Writing about habits has exploded.
Books like The Power of Habit, Atomic Habits, and Tiny Habits all have followings. Brain science teaches us to exploit the habit cycle of cue/behavior/reward to insure we develop “sticky” routines for eating, thinking, and living. Both my Kindle and my allegiance to British educator Charlotte Mason (“The formation of habits is education, and education is the formation of habits.”) attest to my being a “Habit Groupie.”
According to the dictionary, habits are established practices, usual attitudes, and regular behaviors. The advantage of habits is their automaticity, saving us time and thought when we start our cars, floss our teeth, or walk our dog. Of course, not all automatic habits rank as “good.” We also snack before bed, throw all the trash in one undifferentiated bin, and check Instagram during dinner. We want to make new good habits and break older, nonconstructive ones.
Leaders need positive habits. One I highly recommend is an upbeat wake-up ritual, the opposite of “waking up on the wrong side of the bed.”
I first decided to revise my waking-up after reading a book called The Miracle Morning and discovering the value of silence, optimism, exercise, and scripted reflection in the early morning hours. I have recently enriched the moments before I get out of my bed by following the example of Rico Tice (Faithful Leaders) and leading myself through a brief catechism.
I recommend you consider a similar habit of focused questions and answers. Each morning I ask:
Who is God? My Creator, Redeemer, Sovereign.
Who am I? His child, His Beloved, His servant.
What awaits me today? Opportunities to use my gifts and skills to learn about Him, share His love, forward His kingdom.
Why be optimistic? Because He is working out His purposes, and I am one day closer to Christ’s likeness.
In Tiny Habits, a book that I mentioned earlier, author BJ Fogg suggests people observe the “Maui Habit” of pronouncing, as their feet hit the floor, “Today will be a great day!” Compared to Christ, even Maui’s allure fades. So, instead, join the Psalmist in affirming: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone . . . This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (118:22-24).
