What are your go-to strategies for getting back on track after something happens that disrupts your routine? I’m not the best at keeping house, but I was doing well for a few months by doing little chores everyday. But then I had a conference that I went to and it has caused me to totally slack and revert to piles of stuff and trash everywhere.
☑️ Yeah that’s a hard one. I had a similar situation with my long streak of going to the gym broken by a longer summer vacation … one way was to remind yourself how nice it was when you had a cleaning streak, how good you felt after, and that you deserve a clean space. ☑️ Another motivational hack rooted in psychological research could be to think of yourself as a cleanly person. (For me I think of myself as a sporty person) this helps cause people want to stay behaviorally consistent with the way they view themselves to prevent cognitive dissonance! 💠 Bonus tip: And a third way is to work yourself up and start “angry cleaning” cause you’re frustrated that you broke your streak 😤😂 ✅ Key takeaway: different ways work for different people. Find what works for you. Once you have just done it once it already gets easier to continue doing it. (Continuing allows for a deepening of the neural pathways associated with the habit or activity and this is good because that allows you to “chunk” the activity. The deeper the pathway the less mental effort you need to mobilize to continue doing the habit or activity ) 😊
Thanks so much for your reply, that’s really helpful!
