78 Days

I read somewhere recently that seventy-eight days is the average length of time people follow through on their New Year's diet-and-exercise resolutions. I was frankly surprised because it actually seems like a fairly long time to me - especially if it's the average (versus max) days. I guess I have a fairly short attention span compared to most. The main point of wherever I read this was one should make cumulative smaller set of incremental changes rather than changing everything at once. It's just not sustainable to do it all at once. It creates a hill too high. Discouragement from the level of effort required will make you quit. On the other hand, make each incremental small change a habit and each one wlll be effortless.

I think that's bunk. I'm a binge personality, all or nothing. I'll let the dishes pile up in the sink for a week and then clean them all at once. I get the "too hard" point, but the "discouragement from no visible progress for weeks" point trumps it totally, at least for me. Of course, to the objective eye, my opening comment on short attention span would say the binges haven't served me well.

At any rate, 78 days puts me right at the end of my upcoming cruise!  Gulp! So the trick is to stick it out to the cruise, and if I start up again post-cruise I'm beating the average.  So that's my thinking on how long I'm at this. I am not yet ready to commit to a lifetime. I am ready to take the step of making it to the cruise, and beyond.  (What happens during the cruise is something to be thought about later.)