Page 16 - january 2022

FROM THE WINGS
F

orget Resolutions –

Focus on Habits

PJ Kleffner, DTM - Immediate Past District Director

I don’t think of myself as a superstitious person, they require people to change behavior, which
but I’m beginning to understand people means breaking old habits and forming new ones.
who think bad things happen in threes. Last Getting out of bed early to hit the gym before

Wednesday, I had to replace an electric baseboard work is a pretty tough sell when the alternative
heater because the old one overheated and is an extra hour of sleep.
nearly set the wall on fire. Saturday, I attended I heard a speaker on Public Radio say the
the funeral of a friend who died suddenly from way to successfully change habits is to make the

a heart attack. Yesterday, my microwave oven desired behavior easier than the old behavior.
quit, and the current supply chain issues are An example he cited was getting school children
complicating my search for a replacement that to eat more fresh fruit. One study showed a
will fit the existing hole in the wall. Now, I could significant increase in consumption by simply

be superstitious about all this, or just remember putting a bowl of apples near the checkout line.
that my house is forty years old, and my friend Why do you think they put candy bars near
was getting up there in years. However, it doesn’t the cashiers at the grocery store? Impulse buys!
help that he was a couple of years younger than I Another study involved kids who took sack

am. On the plus side, I have a more efficient new lunches. If the parents included a whole apple,
heater, heard some wonderful stories about my a fair number of them came back uneaten.
friend, and have a new microwave oven on order. However, if the apple was cored, sliced and put
Maybe this is just nature’s way of reminding into a Ziploc bag, it was eaten. Make it easy!

me that things come and go, including years on I stopped writing annual resolutions many
the calendar. years ago. Instead, I just try to live each day the
January is traditionally when people write best way I can. When I was still working, I always
up a list of resolutions—gym memberships, walked up the two flights of stairs to my office

diets, exercise, financial goals—to name a few. instead of taking the elevator. It was actually
From my experience, most of these resolutions faster, because the elevator was at the front of
are distant memories by the end of the month. the building and the stairs were right inside the
I believe one reason resolutions fail is because door where I entered from the parking lot. In

16 ONE COMMUNITY