{"id":4330,"date":"2012-06-06T05:45:04","date_gmt":"2012-06-06T10:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/?p=4330"},"modified":"2019-06-07T13:39:50","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T17:39:50","slug":"guest-post-from-zen-habits-the-three-day-monk-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/guest-post-from-zen-habits-the-three-day-monk-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest post from Zen Habits: The Three-Day Monk Syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of my favorite blogs,\u00a0 Zen Habits,\u00a0 recently had a post that felt like a richer, better version of several I’ve written on the same topic — setting goals you can achieve.<\/em>
\nAs I’m writing this, I just finished doing crunches in my hotel room. I’m traveling and didn’t much feel like exercise, but I made a commitment to exercise every day, so I did it. I also walked around the hotel looking for a piano, then asked if they might have one in a meeting room someplace, because I committed to daily practice. That daily commitment didn’t pan out as well, but I feel good about having made the effort instead of assuming I had to take the day off.<\/em>
\nI am not a marathon runner or a concert pianist, but neither am I what author Leo Babauta calls “the three-day monk.”<\/em>
\nHere’s his post:
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Ninety percent of life is just showing up.\u2019 ~Woody Allen<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the past, and sometimes still, I am often what the Japanese might call a \u201cthree-day monk<\/a>\u201c.
\nIt\u2019s a very common syndrome \u2014 you get obsessed with something for a short time, and pour yourself into it, only to stop a few days (or a week or two) later.
\nHow many times have you done this? Be honest. We\u2019ve all done it many times \u2014 with exercise, with a blog or journal, with learning something new (like a language), with a new hobby.
\nA three-day monk gets very little accomplished, because a short intense burst isn\u2019t enough to accomplish meaningful change. How can you get in shape if you exercise for a week and then stop? How can you learn a language, learn programming, learn to write a novel \u2026 if you just spend a few days working on it every six months?
\nThe key then is not being a three-day monk, but saying a 20-minute every-day prayer. Not literally a prayer (except that in a sense anything done with devotion is a prayer), and not literally 20 minutes \u2014 you can do it for whatever amount of time works for you.
\nBut do show up.
\nIf you can show up every day, and not just do it for a few days, you\u2019ll create meaningful change \u2014 in your life, in the lives of others, in the world.
\nLet\u2019s take a look at how to keep showing up.<\/p>\n

How to Beat the Three-Day Monk Syndrome<\/h3>\n

There is no formula for beating this syndrome, except to do whatever it takes to just show up. You might do very little, you might make mistakes, you might utterly fail. But you show up.
\nHere are some things that work for me:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Don\u2019t force yourself<\/strong>. This isn\u2019t about discipline or the torture of making something you hate happen by brute force. It\u2019s about doing something you want to do. So instead of forcing yourself, frame it in a way that makes it something you enjoy doing. A run can be painful drudgery, or a lovely time clearing your head and enjoying the outdoors. Learning Spanish can be a chore you dread, or a way to enjoy great music, learn about a distant culture, discover new films. Trust me: you won\u2019t get very far doing anything if you have to force yourself every day.<\/li>\n
  2. Gradually increase<\/strong>. Throwing yourself full force into something might work for a little while, but it also makes it hard to keep showing up every day. Start small, and each day, just show up. Gradually increase what you do, so that each step along the way it still feels easy and fun.<\/li>\n
  3. Use momentum<\/strong>. Once you\u2019ve gotten going, use the inertial force to keep going. This again is a matter of how you frame things. Each day, showing up can be like trudging up a hill with weight on your back, or it can be like falling forward down a hill. When I run down a hill, it\u2019s almost like I\u2019m falling, except that I keep my feet under me so that I\u2019m falling upright.<\/li>\n
  4. Remind yourself of what you want<\/strong>. You\u2019re doing the activity (exercise, language learning, meditation) presumably because you want to do it. When we stop doing something, it\u2019s because we\u2019ve forgotten that we wanted it. We start to fear it for some reason, and try not to think about it. Instead, think about it, but remind yourself of why you started doing it in the first place. That might mean reading some motivational articles, watching some videos that motivate you, looking at some pics that motivate you, referring to a vision in your head. Or just bookmark this article and come back to it every day.<\/li>\n
  5. Play some music<\/strong>. When I don\u2019t feel like working out, I\u2019ll play a song. Yesterday it was Eminem\u2019s \u201cLose It\u201d. I became so instantly pumped up that I went to the rowing machine and shredded it for 3 minutes and exhausted myself. So maybe that was a bit of overkill. But there\u2019s no doubt that it helped me to show up.<\/li>\n
  6. Stop with the doubts<\/strong>. Everyone has doubts sometimes, but they can either be overcome, or they can stop us from showing up. Do you doubt that you can stick to something for a long time? Forget about the doubt, and just do it. Be sure that you\u2019re going to do it at least one more time. When you prove yourself right, make a note of that, and then be sure that you\u2019re going to do it one more time. Don\u2019t even allow yourself to imagine that you won\u2019t.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    You might have been a three-day monk in the past \u2014 that\u2019s in the past. Today, you are reborn, and from this day on all you\u2019re going to do is show up. Can I get an Amen?
    \nYou don\u2019t need permission to reprint any article on Zen Habits \u2014 this entire blog and all my work is     uncopyrighted<\/a>.<\/em>
    \nRelated blog posts from Newvine Growing:<\/strong><\/p>\n