SOMEDAY… A Word for Your Day By Jane Bishop We all have a Someday. Often, the word has infiltrated our vocabulary to the point the brain processes it as an actual future date. When I polled a group of friends to complete the sentence “Someday I will…” responses included, “…start exercising; get more organized; be able to do what I want to do; take a trip to Alaska; organize my family pictures.” This demonstrates they each have a Someday. Check your calendar. Where is Someday? Whether you prefer to plan every part of your day or choose to go with the flow, someday will not show up. Someday is an unspecified time in the future, so it is not on any calendar. Yet, it occupies valuable brain space in our thinking. Someday consumes energy without producing tangible results. It keeps us in neutral, unable to move in any direction, and may even hinder us from being responsible. Someday also fuels procrastination. What is the cost of continually waiting for Someday? It may cost better health, realized dreams, clarity, contentment, and living4ward. It is possible to remove the Someday embedded in our vocabulary and thinking and how we view it as an actual future date. This requires
Seen in Gwinnett Emil’s Photo of the Month
October 2023 Our Town Gwinnett
interrupting the neural pathway (i.e., habit) that has been established. One technique to begin the interruption is to practice “start and replace.” Start with a different “day” word: Monday, Tuesday, today, etc., and replace Someday with that word. For example, I will schedule time on Thursday to organize my family pictures. That simple replacement begins to interrupt the default of Someday and replace it with placing the thought, idea, or dream on the calendar, so it becomes a reality while beginning to create a new habit. Is it really that simple? Yes. However, for it to become embedded as the new neural pathway, it takes time. In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear defines habits as the “small decisions you make and actions you perform every day.” He went on to share about research from Duke University where they found that habits make up about 40% of our daily behavior, adding that many of these “happen in our unconscious brain because we repeated them enough to happen without conscious thought.” Practicing start and replace for thirty days will interrupt the current habit of Someday. However, it must be practiced for a minimum of ninety days for the new habit to become part of your unconscious thoughts. Harvard-trained scientist Dr. David Bach supports this. In his research on rewiring the brain, he found that a process had to be repeated at least two hundred times to interrupt the pattern and direct it to a new pathway. As you practice start and repeat consistently and develop a new habit, enjoy the significant lessons and simple pleasures you will experience. More information at www.janebishoplive.com
PAGE 15
