I started a ritual last April of monthly habit changes designed around Cal Newport’s strategy for Cultivating a Deep Life. It’s truly made a difference in my daily experience and I’ve been enjoying the process for the past several months of sharing what I want to amplify and what I want to reduce.

It’s time to reflect on June and refresh for July.

A look back at June

I was a bit less successful with June’s goals than I hoped. There were a few surprising exceptions but a long vacation around my birthday, the end of school for the kids, and the ongoing stress of our house renovation made consistency a challenge. As usual, the more specific I can be with a change (how, where and when I’m going to do it), the more likely I am to succeed.

Below is a summary of how I ended the month.

Craft goals

• 🟢 Amplify creative skill: Update logo in Affinity Designer and create 2 designs to use as banners
  I did this and also started an AD course on Udemy. Here is an example of something basic. It’s been so cool get more into digital tools and having this habit/goal really helps me push through procrastination.
• 🟢 Reduce distractions during meetings: Close browser, only have Zoom/notes available
  This worked surprisingly well. Although I don’t have many meetings, just having this intention really helped.

Community goals

• 🟡 Amplify my friendships: join an event at coworking space
  Kind of a failure. There weren’t many opportunities here to join anything, although I did meet up with some colleagues that I’ve never met so that was adventurous of me right?
• 🟢 Reduce complaining: No complaining or criticizing related to house renovation or otherwise, zero!
  This was a big surprise to me as I actually thought about this a lot throughout the month and it helped me to switch gears when I was about to spiral into complaining on many occasions. Going to repeat it again next month.

Constitution goals

• 🔴 Amplify strength: Do 100 sit-ups a day
  This just didn’t work for me like the 100 push-ups did last month. Not sure why but I found my health habits take a dip in June after a couple of solid months.
• 🟡 Reduce white/processed food: (white rice, white pasta, white bread)
  This was kind of a bomb as well. Not being able to control our environment while living with our in-laws made this extra difficult.

Contemplation goals

• 🟢 Amplify mental health: Read minimum one chapter of Radical Acceptance/related book a week
  An awesome experience so far and something that is making a big difference in my reading. You can check out my write ups to see for yourself.
• 🟡 Reduce negative thinking/spinning by taking 2 times outs per day for 2 – 10 mins to pause
  This was a repeat but it is so helpful to have the intention. To make this more successful I need to pair it with some sort of specific trigger (like sitting down to work).

My goals for July

This month is going to be tricky with the kids off school the entire month and the ongoing house saga. I’m not going to be too ambitious. Heck, even the smallest of improvements here will make a massive difference.

I’ll report back on how it goes at the end of the month!

“Making a choice that is 1 percent better or 1 percent worse seems insignificant in the moment, but over the span of moments that make up a lifetime these choices determine the difference between who you are and who you could be. Success is the product of daily habits—not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.”

James Clear, Atomic Habits