Are you finding yourself caving to the winter blues? It’s only first semester and already I hear chatter of lacking motivation in class, the semester taking a toll, how everyone is so excited for a retreat from campus, how Thanksgiving break is not long enough, and so on. On such a small hill, this leads to a domino effect; one of your friends adopts a pattern of negativity and it spreads like wildfire amongst friend groups, sports teams, classroom atmospheres. Because everyone is connected at St. Olaf, the syndrome resembles a plague that infiltrates minds and descends over the Hill.
So how do we break this cycle? The number one solution to gain positive momentum back is to start small. It took a long time to reach this place of negativity, whether you are referring to campus atmosphere in general or your own thought process. It will also take some time to re-establish the habit of thinking positively, but not as long as you think. According to a study by the European Journal of Social Psychology, it takes on average 66 days to establish a new habit. The 21 days that you hear over and over is really a minimum. The number of days varies widely depending on the person and the behavior in question. The habit of positive thinking and goal-setting may seem incredibly daunting at first, but it becomes much more doable if you focus on small, easily attainable, consistent goals. Is your ultimate goal to run a Marathon? If you are new to running, commit to a mere 10 minutes every day. You can go over that time, but set a minimum for yourself. That way, you are sure to complete the behavior at the very least. This key to this strategy is momentum. Once you get going on a behavior and stay consistent with it, slowly tweaking and improving each week, you are sure to become inspired with the progress you see. Each time you filter out a negative thought and replace it with a positive one you are opening your brain and your life to a plethora of possibilities, especially towards attaining the goals you really want to achieve.
If you lack simple motivation, revert back to activities you truly enjoy. In order to make something a habit you must reinforce a behavior, in this case positive thinking. To reinforce positive thinking you must first have positive thoughts. To have positive thoughts do activities that make you happy, whether it be spending time with a friend, binge watching your favorite TV show, writing, reading, doing yoga, kayaking, or surfing. The more you do the things you love, the more positive thoughts you have, the easier those thoughts become to reinforce. Another great way to get the ball rolling is to read about your goal. Read books by people who have accomplished the same thing, make a Pinterest board with motivating quotes, watch Youtube videos or TED talks to inspire you. Keeping yourself focused on your goal is half the challenge, so if you read one article or quote related to your goal daily you are much more likely to put it into action in your own life.
Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-clear/forming-new-habits_b_5104807.html
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