...is the enemy of the habit.
The interesting part of starting something new is that it's new. The excitement we feel with a new endeavor, even if it's physically or mentally hard, is the fuel we need to keep us coming back. Once the new wears off however, boring and tedious take its place. It becomes work...a slog. The best time to rationalize our way out of a habit is during the slog because hanging right over there, in plain view, is the excitement of something new, something different, something more interesting. Something seemingly more worth doing.
There are two ways to deal with the tediousness of work. Make it ever more interesting, which is almost impossible to do. Or, bring the slog forward. Determine up front what we'll do when we reach the point of being bored. This is the hard part of work. Not necessarily the work itself. But, the enduring nature of it...the sameness. We need to decide if the slog is worth it, before we start. Then, we can decide whether to start in the first place.
What would happen if we stopped our work? What would happen if the sum of our habits, the work, was left incomplete? Would it be missed? The paradox is we can't be certain of the answers until we've started...and endured the tedious slog. And then, we need to remind ourselves why we already decided to keep going.
Happy New Habit season. Choose wisely.