Several weeks ago I [...]]]>

When I went to the gym on Saturday, January 2, it was great to see the place so full.  I am sure that many of these new people had made a New Year’s resolution to get serious about exercising.  Setting goals is important but the challenge is maintaining the resolution.

Several weeks ago I wrote about joining a 30 day challenge to blog daily.  I joined it impulsively without really thinking it through if I could do it.  Alas, I did not keep it up very long.  The timing was not right for me. I did feel badly when I terminated this challenge.  In contrast, I enjoyed doing a similar 30 day challenge last May and had not trouble completing it.

Yet I have managed to maintain a regular exercise schedule for a number of years now.  I think the difference is that I have made a commitment to myself that I have to do it.  My reason is that I want to be healthy and fit as I get older.  I have changed my goal to be healthy and fit into a life habit. Now when I miss some days I am eager to get back to my routine.  I do remember back that it took a while of trial and error til exercising became a regular part of my life.

This latest blogging challenge was not something I made a total commitment to.  I think that unless we truly own our goals it is hard to maintain the discipline to change the goal into a habit.  In terms of blogging my goal this year is to blog twice a week. Knowing my pattern, at first I will have to expect myself just to do it. I am eager to see how long it will take me to shift the expectation to blog twice a week into a regular writing habit.