I’m a planner.  Breaking complex projects down in to a sequences of next actions makes me happy.  It was the one part of David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” that really resonated with me, and kept me using a system that did not work for me much longer than I should have.   I’m so much of a planner that I read the “Project Management Body of Knowledge” (or PMBOK to friends) voluntarily.  589 pages of statements like, “A project is temporary in that it has a defined beginning and end in time, and therefore defined scope and resources.  And a project is unique in that it is not a routine operation, but a specific set of operations designed to accomplish a singular goal.”  There’s actually a whole page defining a project, which is amazing, because everyone knows what a project is, right?!  But I think there is actually some important insight that can be obtained from that definition.

Many of us, myself included, treat New Year’s resolutions as projects.  At first glance, they seem like they fit the PMBOK.  Take what my friend google says is one of the most common resolution,  “Lose weight”.  It seems like it maps exactly.  You drop x pounds, and you are done.  Crossed off the list.  Temporary.  Not a routine operation.  And so you approach your goal like you’d build a deck or move cross-country- as a project.

But it isn’t, is it?  Treat it as a project, and next year you have the same project.  To be successful, your approach has to be one of setting up the “routine operation” or as those outside of the world of the PMBOK might call it -“habits”.

Habits are hard.  Much harder than projects.   Projects are so linear.  You break them down to tiny next actions, then work your way through the list.  Common projects don’t even require you to do the work.  Just google and find a plan.  Want to run a 5k?  Download the Couch to 5K app, and just do what it says, when it says it.  In 8 weeks, project is done.

Habits are harder.  Habits require that you carve out space to do something, and then you have to keep doing it forever!  (Well, not really, but it seems like forever).

Resolutions are deceptive.  They sucker you into thinking they are projects, and then as you start breaking it down, you realize all the middle steps are habit building.  Habit building isn’t glorious.  It is a hard slog.   And missing one day doesn’t seem as critical as missing a screw while assembling a piece of furniture.  But it is, though the consequences aren’t immediately obvious.   And so all you can do is do it.  Go run.  Or write.  Or meditate.  Or whatever that vague “thing” is that is foundational for your success.

Because if you do it right, if you really build a habit, then magic occurs.   They propel you without you thinking or deciding or using “will-power”.  If they are strong enough, they just happen.  And that such an amazingly powerful tool that is makes the slog of building the habit worthwhile.