It takes 28 days to form a habit

Taking inspiration from Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project, in which she focuses on twelve different happiness-boosting resolutions over the course of one year, I decide to do something similar. Tyler and I already have our own project before the wedding -- taking one topic each month to explore with role models, and then discussing ourselves (our first two have been finances and communication). So I decide to add on my own mini-project as well.

I've already partly resolved to stop making resolutions (which I only feel guilty about not keeping), but Gretchen's book has inspired me to try once more... or at least, this time, be armed with tools. I laughed out loud reading about her "Resolutions Chart", where she printed out all her resolutions in order to give herself a gold star daily, but it does resonate with the business school maxim of "what gets measured gets improved." I've done the big things: followed my passion and moved to India, engaged in a ten-day silent meditation... Now I wanted to focus more on the mundane: things I know I should be doing, but don't.

So with exactly three months until my 32nd birthday, here's my own mini-happiness project:

December (body): goal = Boost Energy

January (mind): goal = Reignite my Passion

February (soul): goal = Cultivate Gratitude

December: Boost Energy

1. Laugh out loud and stop taking things so seriously (one of the most interesting factoids in Gretchen's book: on average, a child laughs 300 times per day; an adult? 17!)

2. Sing in the mornings

3. Practice yoga each day -- even just a few poses and stretches

4. Do sit-ups and push-ups everyday (this has been a resolution since high school to no avail until now!)

5. Get more sleep

6. Drink three water jugs each day

7. Take my vitamins (mom was right about these)

8. Eat three *proper* meals

9. Tackle a nagging task

10. Reward myself with a monthly massage

January: Reignite my Passion

1. Cultivate and practice leadership "presence"

2. Study innovations in global health

3. Complete all my Hindi flashcards (thanks Giselle!)

4. Join ToastMaster and speak at a TEDx

5. Reconnect and be better about staying in touch

6. Organize physical and e-clutter

February: Cultivate Gratitude

1. Meditate every day (even five minutes)

2. Start a happiness and gratitude journal, writing about the happiest part of each day

3. Don't expect praise and appreciation; stop nagging

4. Create something that wasn't there before

5. Be truly present

6. Spread joy

7. "There is only love."

Reading The Happiness Project prompted me to re-examine my "mission statement" -- my own personal purpose. I'm finding it resonates just as much with me now, as when I created it four years ago in 2006:

To live passionately and courageously,

To see life as an adventure,

To laugh often and love much,

To dance with the universe,

To live a magical life --

This is my purpose.