A(nother) New Year is on the horizon!
On the plus side, that means we’re still going—whether by tenacity or out of spite. On the anxiety-provoking side…a whole year awaits us with unknown possibilities. I went into the idea of freedom and opportunity being a blessing and curse here.
But let’s imagine—even if just for a moment—that next year actually WILL be our year and we’re going to kick down the door in January with intention and aggressive positivity.
I’m a bit late to the planning party, but I’ve been trying to work on building healthier habits and created a little calendar printout to mark off the days I complete one of my new habits. (One being the keyword. I’m trying to build one habit. But hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day! And good mental health CERTAINLY isn’t.)
As we prepare for another trip around the sun, I thought I’d share some tips (as an unqualified, newly diagnosed AuDHDer) on ways to manage your calendar for habit growth. Or, more eloquently: How to make the calendar your bitch and make it work for you, not against you. As calendars and the passage of time so often does.
As they say, one size does not, in fact, fit all; so take each of these suggestions with a grain of salt.
Option 1: Scheduling tasks in your Google calendar
This is a new one for me, but for the daily habit I want to build, I’ve created a recurring task on my Google calendar that contains everything I need within it to get started.
All I have to do is open the task, click the link, and voila! The writing project I want to work on is ready and waiting for me to jump right back in. No “uhming” or “uhing” about what to do or where to start. Plus, when I’m done I get to mark it as complete on my calendar and my squirrel brain likes to see it crossed off.
The way I organise it is by creating a task in Google Tasks, adding what I need to the description of the task, setting the task to recur daily, and adding a time for the task.
I have the time set for 9AM but I don’t necessarily do it at that particular time. It just means that I have a little notification icon on my phone that reminds me that I need to do this task. I don’t clear it until I’ve actually done it. I wouldn’t say it guilts me to do it, but it does help me to remember to make it a priority at some point in the day.
Depending on your habit, it might look a little different—especially if it’s not computer based since links are meaningless in the real world. But I’ve found that trying to decrease the amount of resistance I feel to get started has helped a lot. Starting is most of my problem when it comes to developing habits. It’s so tempting to push it to that elusive “tomorrow” that may in fact be 3 months down the line or never.
Option 2: Pomodoro the fuck out of your day
The second trick is that I don’t spend that much time on the habit I want to work on. Just 25 minutes a day, minimum. If I want to continue, I can keep going. And if I don’t, then I can mark the task as done and have it ready and waiting for me the next day at 9AM.
There are loads of different tools out there to help with your Pomodoro practice. I use Focus To Do and stick to 25 minutes. I also enjoy adding rain sounds for some ambiance.
But if you need some recommendations for motivational music or ambiance, I highly recommend these videos:
- Skyrim Exploration Suite / chill & inspiring
- Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines Music & Ambiance / dark & moody
- The Sims 2 Complete Soundtrack / manic & upbeat
- Hogwarts 📚 Study Session [ASMR] Rainy Window ⚡ Harry Potter Inspired Ambience / quiet & cosy
For added accountability you can also make use of body doubling for accountability. This is my last-resort method for dealing with procrastination. With the joys of the internet, there are a lot of ways to make body doubling easily accessible.
There are YouTube videos you can play in the background (like this one from Cozy K), you can set up a Google Meet call with a friend and work together online, and there are loads of free coworking spaces that you can join, like Focusmate.
Option 3: Print out a habit tracker and keep it visible
If you don’t want to fill up your Google calendar with tasks, keep it old school by printing or purchasing a monthly calendar that you can keep with you in your work/hobby space to stay on top of your habits.
This one is kind of self-explanatory, but if you need a place to start, you can grab the downloads below (no strings attached).
- Printable-PDF monthly calendar (undated)
- Canva editable calendar (undated, but easy to add in dates if you’d like)
- Printable-PDF sticker pack
I hope that you’ll find this helpful to print out for your own habits this year! Print out a few for each habit you plan to cultivate and mark them off with a colourful pen or a shiny sticker.
Get that instant gratification monster fed.
