Days to form a habit

I’ve read it before in many places. The number of days isn’t the same, but the idea is – repeat a process enough times and you will form a habit.

This morning I got up and found myself at a bit of a loss. In order to read all the articles on my comprehensive exams reading list, I made reading my morning priority. Every morning, when I got up, I would make myself a cup of coffee and read two or three articles from my reading list (when I was on a roll, I might keep reading and read 5 or 6 articles). For the last six weeks, I’ve spent almost every morning reading a few articles. Yesterday, I read the last article on the list. This morning, I got up and didn’t know what to do with myself.  I found myself looking for an article or two to read in order to prepare a PowerPoint presentation that I’ll be giving at the end of April. It was while reading the article that it occurred to me, I had formed a habit of reading an article or two or three first thing in the morning while I enjoyed my morning coffee.

Since this habit is actually a good one for my academic career, I’m going to try to continue it. It means that I need to find myself a list of articles that I want to read – perhaps I’ll create a folder, and every morning I’ll enjoy my cup of coffee with an article or two or three.

I wish I’d found this habit a little earlier in my academic career!