In my entry to adulthood, I’ve collected many habits, realized many different ways of thinking and forcibly instilled many conscious ‘Triggers of Action’ to make my life just a bit more convenient.
‘Triggers of Action’ are just thoughts that, as they sound, trigger me to act. Essentially, such thoughts become built-in reminders, a super useful tool to learn awareness of.
For Triggers of Action to be useful, however, you must enforce them as personal law. Most of these upcoming habits only work if you are committed to this policy.
Trigger of Action #1
When something’s bugging me, I take time to take control.
When I feel guilty for a week about not walking as much as I should, I sit and rearrange my day to include more walking. Or I accept the fact that I have no time to walk and stop making myself feel bad for not doing so.
Acknowledge it, breathe it in, let it go.
Identifying habits that no longer serve me is crucial to moving lightly throughout my days of the week. I don’t feel bad for brushing off things that weigh me down more than propel me forward; there are too many thoughts in my mind already to keep track of ones that serve negative purposes.
A made bed = a made day
When I was younger, I overheard one of my mother’s friends say she can’t get into bed unless it’s made, “Even if I have to make it five minutes before. Sometimes I just make it right before I get in.”
For some reason, those words have stuck with me for years, and now my bed innately plays into how I feel throughout the day. If my bed’s not made, by the end of the day, my entire apartment is a mess.
Think it twice? Do it.
“I should run to the store before she gets back- but what if she gets back early… I’d better stay.” transforms into “ If I went earlier, I could have been back already,” which 10 minutes later repeats into “She’s still not back, but now it’s too late to go, she must be back soon.”
JUST GO.
Thinking of something twice should trigger you to act on the thought. The same notions apply to the next rule as well, just in a different font.
Two seconds now or Two hours later
You can either pick up your shirt and hang it up now in two seconds, or you can leave it on the floor and pick it up later. Let’s think about it this way: are you really going to let it take two hours of thought to pick up a shirt? It took you a week to pick up a shirt that took two seconds to put away?
The consequence of not picking the shirt up in the first place is having to continue to think, “Damn, I should really pick that shirt up.” Personally, I don’t have enough time to let things like that clutter my thoughts.
A mess in real life = a mess in the mind. Personally, I would rather live with the result of doing something like cleaning my floors than with the consequence of having dirty floors and the constant thought that I need to clean them.
By the way, leaving the shirt there in the first place is what allows other shirts to get thrown down; pretty soon, your entire apartment is a mess. Which leads me to my next point:
Breaking patterns consciously
Let’s shift the tone to your emotions for a clear view of this.
Hate the way you feel when you check their snapscore? Stop checking their snapscore. Take control of your life.
Alternatively, if you hate when your apartment gets to be a mess, don’t let it become messy. Wake up earlier if you hate being late to class. Buy a book and actually force yourself to read it if you hate being on your phone so much.
Difference only happens if you make it happen. At some point, you need to will yourself to physically make your thoughts become actions.
Fung Shui
Maximize your living space, make everything convenient; I am constantly re-organizing my entire apartment to be as efficient as I can be.
My utensils are in a drawer where I can swiftly put them away from the dishwasher, my most used items are always within reach and my occasionally used items sit above the microwave.
I get lazy putting my day clothes away so I set up hooks to temporarily hold them instead of letting them sit on the ground.
I hate how my shoes are always in front of my entryway; this weekend, I’ll convert my storage closet to a shoe closet and always leave the door of it open. I didn’t think keeping my shoes in the closet nearest my room would be THAT inconvenient, but clearly I’m too lazy to make the trip around my couch when it comes to putting my things away.
So, my shoes will be moved.
Keeping a gift list
Consider it a gift to yourself. Keeping a gift list is SUCH a stress reliever.
I have a list of everything I’ve ever gotten anyone, lists under my friends’ or acquaintances’ names of things they mention they want and general lists for both boys and girls.
I add to my gift list every day, and there’s yet to be a time when it hasn’t been useful. You never know when you’ll need inspiration. Even if it was just your bestie’s birthday, writing down what they mention will help when ‘tis the season!’ rolls around.
Inconviencence
Sometimes things are just inconvenient, and that’s how they’ll have to be.
Yes, it’s annoying that your gym is a 30-minute walk away from your apartment, yes, it’s even more annoying that if you want to drive, you have to deal with finding parking. Don’t let that stop you from going.
Speaking of Feng Shui, don’t get lazy when something doesn’t Shui! If you’re putting something away on the top shelf, don’t just throw it up there in a clutter. You have that step stool for a reason.
“This is America, we walk on the right”
Said to me by my snarky ex, who stalks me so much he’s probably found and is reading this very sentence.
Now, walking to class, I keep my lane. I’m not sure why I didn’t recognize this driving-to-walking pattern sooner, but now I get annoyed whenever I see anyone walking on the ‘wrong’ side. This self-explanatory physical action is more of a burden than a benefit, and now I can no longer mindlessly walk against the crowd.
This one is also useful when traveling in foreign countries: “This is Europe, we walk on the left…”
All in all, these habits are all things that work great for me, but they may not for you! The point is to experiment, think outside the box of what you’re used to and make your own life a little bit easier. Take from this list what you will.