The Kat Files

It is Monday, dear reader! I hope your week has gotten off to a terrific start. August needs to slow down. Granted, I was a busy bee last week with volunteering Tuesday-Thursday at the Scholastic Book Fair at Holy Ghost Catholic School and Friday at the Friends of the Library store in Covington. A week among books was pure JOY. My weekend was also delightfully busy. My Dad came to spend the weekend with us, and I attended a virtual 24-Hour Reading Retreat. Now, I am struggling with hayfever and dealing with an itchy throat and hoarseness, which is odd, since I

have been on Claritin for almost a month. Thankfully, I do not feel badly, and it has not affected my goals for this month which I hope and pray stays that way. So, let me update you on how I did last week (August 11th-17th) with my August challenge.

No surprise to me (or you) that I have written zero book reviews on Goodreads. I need to let it go and clear the decks; however, I gave myself until the end of August, so I will proceed with my plan.

As for building on my habits I started in July, I met my water goal 6/7 times with an average of 63.7 ounces of water consumed over the course of the 7 days. I was so close on Thursday with 62 ounces. I am really making an effort with my water intake. Go me!

Out of the 7 days, I consumed NO added sugar except 1/2 tsp of sugar in my morning coffee, 1 tbsp of honey in my afternoon tea, 1 Airhead, and sweet treats (miniture Reese’s peanut butter cups) at celebratory occasions (attended Reading Retreat on Friday/Saturday). That left me with 3 days of no added sugar (minus 1/2 tsp in morning coffee; 1 tbsp of honey in afternoon tea). As I mentioned in my previous post, the sugar in my coffee and honey in my tea is negligible. I did not do great, especially with eating the Airhead on Thursday and eating more peanut butter cups yesterday. I cannot keep sweet treats in my house. No willpower!

I am STILL going strong with my walking and have either increased my distance (3 days) or integrated speed intervals (4 days) on my daily walk. Since I volunteered 4 days and had to be at HGCS and the FOTL store early, I had to wake up earlier to get my walk in before heading out to volunteer each of those days. I jogged those intervals on Thursday and Friday which felt amazing. Thankfully, my lower back is back to normal. I have been paying more attention to how much I am sitting, getting up more often, and moving in between tasks. I hardly sat while volunteering which was great.

Now, for my new habits, I am still doing GREAT with my Joy List! As for incorporating grounding (practice of connecting one’s body to the Earth’s surface) into my daily routine, I only did it twice (Tuesday & Thursday) out of the 7 days. Better than the first 10 days of August, but not great. Grounding might not be my jam. We shall see how this week goes.

ATOMIC HABITS by James Clear

I read Chapters 11 and 12 of Atomic Habits last night. One of the takeaways in Chapter 11 that resonated with me is comparing motion (planning, strategizing, learning) to action (delivering an outcome). This comparison struck a chord with me because in some areas of my life, I am in motion while in other areas, I am taking action. Motion makes you feel like you’re getting things done; when in fact, it could be delaying failure. Interesting! On page 143, James Clear states that in order “to master a habit, you need to get your reps in because repetition NOT perfection is the key.” I find this nugget of information important when building a new habit. We develop habits at different rates because it depends on the amount of reps we are doing to build those habits. I should not be comparing myself to anyone else while building my habits because it could hurt my progress if I do not feel I am measuring up to someone else building that same habit. One last note (page 144), active practice is action and passive learning is motion. I must pay attention to whether or not I am in motion or taking action.

In Chapter 12, the focus is on Environment Design. Basically, removing points of friction in your environment can be beneficial when building new habits. Habits are easy when there is a reduction in friction. Personally, I saw this benefit when I broke up with my phone for a month. Whereas, adding friction can help break a bad habit. If a bad habit needs to be broken, increase the friction connected with it to make the habit difficult. Also, “resetting the room” is a good strategy for preparing for the next action. (page 156) It is a great way to prime your environment and make it easier to stick to your habits.

Despite not writing my book reviews on Goodreads, eating too much added sugar, and grounding only twice, I feel successful and love the progress I am making with my walking, water consumption, and daily joyspotting. I have two more weeks left in this month to make more strides in all areas of this challenge. Dear reader, what did your week look like last week? Happiness!

“Habits are easier to build when they fit into the flow of your life.” ~ James Clear, Atomic Habits