Are you the tortoise or the hare? A procrastinator or a planner? A chunker or a spreader-outer?
Gretchen Rubin, a writer who studies happiness and habit formation, has observed that often doing something every day is easier than doing something once in a while. Moreover, what you do every day matters more than what you do occasionally. For instance, running a mile every day matters more for your health than running five miles once a month.
I love trying to build new habits and make my workflow more efficient. I have a habit tracker that I attach to my planner, and I am someone who naturally gravitates towards forming routines. I find it less challenging to be consistent than to motivate myself to outlay big, concentrated burst of energy. This applies to so many instances for me:
Cleaning: I would much rather squeeze 15-30 minutes of housekeeping into each day than set aside an entire Saturday to clean the house.
Laundry: I am firmly in the 1-2 loads per day camp. The idea of an entire day devoted to laundry sounds awful to me.
Exercise: I usually exercise about 30 minutes each day, with one longer workout on Saturdays. I don’t love exercising for much longer than 45 minutes to an hour each day; I get bored and find it difficult to fit in.
Walks: Our family takes several short walks with our dogs throughout the day.
Writing: I rarely draft sermons or these Substack posts in one sitting. I’ll start them and revisit them over the course of several days as I have had time to mull over the topic.
Reading scripture: I spread out reading through the Bible according to the lectionary or Bible in a Year programs. Unless I am in a class asking me to do so, I am not inclined to read large chunks of scripture at one time.
Reading: I read every day in 15-30 minute spurts, either listening while I am getting ready or reading before bed.
I realize that most of the habits I want to establish fail if I do not find space for them to live in my existing rhythms. The hobby goal, for instance: It is difficult to figure out when I would have hobby time and where I would do said hobby. Perhaps it would be easier if I said “Every Saturday afternoon that I am at home, I will work on said hobby” instead of thinking that I will magically find time and will to incorporate it into my life.
I know some people will think through habit formation on a weekly rotation. Perhaps the aim is to exercise three times per week or call a friend once each week. I find that more difficult, however. If I do not know when something is supposed to happen, I am inclined to put if off until the next day, and then the next, and then the next, and then a week has passed, and the practice has not happened. I tend to do better with few loopholes or allowances for “passes.” It can be easier to talk ourselves out of something we do only intermittently.
I have noticed that it is de-motivating and guilt-inducing (to me) not to hit the target. If I am to do something daily, but only do it five days during the week, that is still quite good! If I had instead set the goal of implementing the habit three times per week, and I hit that at 100 percent, “failing” to reach perfection at the daily goal nonetheless leads to an overall better outcome. Much of this has to do with personality and internal wiring. I wish I were not so inclined towards completeness. My strength—and my downfall—is my Enneagram 3 tendency towards executing quickly. When I have an idea, I want it done yesterday.
And there is something to be said for the benefits of well-managed procrastination. I find it difficult to write sermons weeks in advance, and I’m not sure they would even be all that relevant if I worked too far ahead. A tight deadline motivates me to stay on track and can help with creative flow.
Depending on how we choose to manage our time, it may not even count as procrastinating if we reserve an entire afternoon for work the day before something is due. It’s possible the total time spent is the same, whether we choose to devote one six-hour chunk or six one-hour chunks to the task.
Like many aspects of life, there is not just one right way. There is not necessarily even a better way; they are just different. What matters is determining what suits us. As for me, I am a spreader-outer.