5 Ways for Teachers to Build New and Better Habits

The following is a guest blog post by Jed Dearybury!

5 Steps to Forming New Habits

Do you make new year’s resolutions? Do you keep them?

If you are like the rest of us, the answer is probably a big fat no.

The pressure of keeping up with a daily habit/goal in the new year makes me really nervous.

I am literally getting anxious as I just type the words. I know as soon as I miss one day, which will ALWAYS happen, that I will give up and quit.

Missing the one day means I missed the goal of a daily practice so why keep it up…

My friend Julie is good at helping me reframe things. So as I am writing here I am thinking about things I do daily that I sometimes miss, and attempting to reframe my thinking. Here is what I thought. I brush my teeth every day.

Have I missed a day before? Yes, if I was sick and in bed all day, sure.

Does that mean I don’t have a daily habit of brushing my teeth? No way, it means I missed a day. I am still very committed to daily brushing even if I missed one time.

Let me be the first to tell you, it’s OK!

Seriously, it is. The good news is that every single morning we can start again. Yep, we sure can. I know. I know. Cliche, right? But it’s true. And we don’t have to wait til a new year to start back.

Image created by Adam Speicher

On May 25th of 2023, I went for a walk. The next day, again. The next and the next, and here we are at 250 days of consecutive walking. Now, will I eventually miss a day? I am sure I will. I will be sick, tired, extremely busy… something will cause me to miss the walk, but hopefully I am too deep into this habit to take my normal “give up” route. I have developed a habit of walking that I enjoy and see great value in keeping just like I do my teeth brushing.

The neat thing to me about my walking is that it started randomly one day at the end of May. It wasn’t January 1.

It was just one day I decided to get up and start it, and that continued the next day and the next. You may have read lots of research about forming habits, but one researcher that I love has something different to say about it.

“There’s no such thing as 21 days to start a new habit,” Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, told me. “The amount of time it takes will vary from person to person.” Developing a pleasurable habit, like eating chocolate for breakfast, for instance, may take a day, while trying to exercise at 5 pm each evening may take much longer.

Sometimes the habits we attempt to bring into our lives aren’t very pleasurable. 5am workout routines? Lettuce and Grilled Chicken for lunch everyday? Ugh. These sound so hard. Who would want to do that?

As my walking habit has developed, It definitely brought me pleasure. I can feel my brain and body reacting to every step. They are so happy with me.

I have noticed 5 things that I am doing every day to help me keep going each day. I think these 5 things may be helpful to you as you seek to form your own daily habits. Whether you are reading this for personal growth or thinking about your teaching, I believe practices can help you as you seek to be the best you possible in the years ahead.

1. Plan Ahead.

Every evening, I make sure to lay out the things I need to make the next day’s walk happen. Doing this always saves me time the next day and alleviates the stress of having another thing to do in the morning.

Image created by Adam Speicher

If you want to make art everyday, leave your supplies out in a space that invites you to create. If you want to read more, place a book next to your favorite sitting spot.

2. Make Time.

This is the hardest one for all of us. There never seems to be enough of it in the day, but if we put down our phones, turn off the TV, and ignore email for a bit, there is more than enough. Some days I have had to get my walk in while going back and forth in the airport terminal.

Image created by Adam Speicher

If you want to be a better cook this year, make time for a 5 minute reading of a recipe. If you want to be better at sports, take 5 minutes to practice one move that you have seen another successful athlete do. We don’t need lots of time every single day. Sometimes it’s the nook cranny moments that lead to better daily habits.

3. Include others.

Anytime you can have a friend or two join you on the journey it makes it so much better. Many days have called a friend to join me so I could keep my walking going.

One day back in July, I was in Vegas for a conference. It was 10pm. I had traveled all day. I was beat. I texted my friend John who was at the conference. He was so excited to go for a walk with me so we could catch up. So there we were walking on the treadmills at the hotel gym at 1030pm so I could meet my goal.

Image created by Adam Speicher

If you want to become a better baker this year, ask a friend to bring some eggs to your place and help you make a cake. I am sure they will be glad to help then eat the yummy after.

4. Use an Attainable Goal.

When I started my daily walks, I didn’t commit to a distance or time frame that was too daunting. I found the just right spot that worked for me and made it a goal to meet that same mark as much as I could. Sometimes we reach a bit too far, too high, and it makes it near to impossible to meet and a daily habit cannot form.

My goal was daily walking for exercise. Some days that is a mile or two. Some days it’s four or five.

Image created by Adam Speicher

Remember how I said Julie helps me reframe things?

She helped me with another goal I had this year. I wanted to doodle every day. But of course, I was afraid to miss. She said, “How about committing to 30 doodles in January? That way if you miss a day you have grace to catch up.” That has really helped me, and I actually have more than 30 doodles already, so in essence, I surpassed the goal of one doodle a day. I have MORE than one a day!

5. Reward Yourself.

No, this doesn’t mean go shopping, unless you have the means to do so and want to. But for me, a simple “Congratulations Jed” from my inner voice is great. I also love seeing the rings on my watch and phone close as I finish the walk each day. It feels like a virtual sticker chart.

Image created by Adam Speicher

If you want to develop a habit of going to bed earlier, give yourself a gold star on a poster every night that you make it to bed by a certain time. After 5 stars, give yourself a BIGGER star. 3 Bigger stars means you will enjoy an ice cream. Strategies like this work for us adults just like the kids. Sadly, we don’t do them with ourselves enough.

I would love to hear about the good habits you are developing.

Whether they are classroom goals, personal goals, or silly little things like eating one red M&M everyday. I wanna know about my friends here in the Carly and Adam world. Share them with me on social media @mrdearybury. Best of luck to you on the journey.

“Remember to give yourself grace if you miss a day. Just start again when the sun comes back up.”

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