Speed

It takes roughly 21 days to create or break a habit (helped if you put something new/positive in its place); do you find how "hard" you work on something during that 21 days matters, how you feel about it?

I always try to maintain interest/enthusiasm for projects and when it dies, I often give up. But now, with "new" habits I've created over the last 15 years (mostly my school work) I find that even when I'm not interested I still slave away at it, almost expecting the "spark" to come back.

How do you keep from losing focus on what you're trying to change? I have things I "want" to do but I don't start them or I work on other things I want to do but they make a mess of some other area, aren't contained very well. LOL, guess I have to make a habit of "containing" my other habits better.

Hi Perna -- I'm not sure what you mean. Since being diagnosed with a chronic illness that slows me down, I find it very hard to be self-disciplined. I used to consider myself a very disciplined person, who finished what she started and had life "under control" whatever the heck that means.

It definitely affects my self-esteem. I can know that I have an illness -- be it physiological or a mental health depression sapping my strength -- but emotionally, it often feels like weakness, failure, not being good enough.

Six words for you, ladies. I know because I'm dealing with the same things.

Self-sabotage and lack of self-esteem.

Maybe if we could get a handle on why we self-sabotage, we'd get some of our self-esteem back.

Wish I had an answer.

I was just wondering if anyone saw any length of time versus how often/how hard one worked on something correlations. Does it matter if you do something 1 time a day for a month or 3 times a day for a month? Is how hard you work at something part of how well you'll do with it?

It would depend on what you're doing whether it's fast enough or not. At my age, if I do one thing, even if it takes me all day, I'm happy because I can say, "Hey! I got it done! "

At my age! Listen to me! It's not really my age, it's my physical condition! I may have just busted myself on some negative self-talk. I'm not THAT old... I just feel like it, sometimes.

How's your self-talk, Perna? Are you "should-ing" yourself too much? Maybe? Check yourself out for negative self-talk.

I'm working on a little project before I see the doctor again to see what's what and if I should give myself more time. I'm working on eating right, exercising, getting plenty of sleep, etc. for two weeks only, just to see if I can make a dent if I try my "hardest" or if it looks like my chronic problems need more help, specifically medical help. But the 2-week trial (so I am less likely to get discouraged since it's "only" for 2 weeks) will tell me a lot I think but I have a list of dos/don'ts and schedule, etc. and I was just wondering if I do some things and not others and how "hard" I'm actually working, whether deadlines matter and the intensity of things, etc. I was curious about how other people do things.