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 May 18th 2007
 Personal Development
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Over the last month I have been experimenting with having one big weekly project. My first week involved doing a media fast and this week I have been attempting to go to the gym for five days in a row. The purpose of this is to break old, bad habits (procrastinating over going to the gym, wasting too much time watching TV and listening to music, etc.) and replace them with more positive ones. Spending seven days focusing on this is a good timeframe to use – not too short that you don’t get any benefits from it and not too long that you start to lose motivation and interest. If you are interested in trying something similar and having your own weekly project, I’ve compiled a few key points to consider.
- Is it beneficial to you?
Will the theme of your weekly project benefit you? If not, why do it? My media fast week gave me back a few hours per day, while my gym week helped me to get more fit. The end result is that I have put the first cracks in my procrastinating and time wasting while feeling healthier for it.
- Clearly define your boundaries
Be clear what your boundaries are. For instance, the goals for my media fast week were to avoid watching TV and listening to music, but if I happened to be in a bar or pub with music playing, that was acceptable (and unavoidable). I was also allowed to watch football and my weekly episode of House (obviously!) but any other TV was a big no-no.
- Don’t be unreasonable
Even though I did a week of going to the gym, I didn’t set unreasonable targets like spending two hours there each day. Your weekly project needs to fit into your lifestyle and not involve radically shaking things up. If you want to spend the week getting up at 5AM but you normally get up at 8AM, that is asking a lot. Spend a few weekly projects getting up 30 mins earlier each time, until you have hit your target.
- Build on previous weeks
During the gym weekly project, I capitalized on my previous week by allowing myself to listen to music again but not buy or listen to any new tracks, so I could fully appreciate the music I already had. Noticeably, I didn’t feel inclined to have music on all the time anymore.
- Don’t feel bad for slipping up
Don’t beat yourself up if you break the rules. After all, you have seven days to work with. Just because you didn’t stick to your targets one day, don’t assume you have failed. Just pick yourself up again the next day. It’s better to have the intention and desire to build up a new habit than to just give up at the first hurdle.
- Share your goal with people
If people know what you are trying to do they are usually very supportive and encouraging. Plus, it gives you that extra push to hit your target so you don’t have to tell people that you failed to achieve your goal.
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