Habitual Well-Being

Michael 2 Comments

If you only have time to read one line today, let it be this: consider making well-being a habit.

Now, for anyone with time for more, the rest of the story.

Well-Being Week in Law (WWIL) begins on May 6. From the website, it’s “aim . . . is to raise awareness about mental health and encourage action and innovation across the profession all year-round to improve well-being.”  The emphasis on “all year-round” is mine.  That’s because my hope continues to be that legal professionals make well-being a habit, not just something in which to dabble for a few days in May.

As a coach and runner, I’ve long believed not only in the importance of developing good habits but also in the notion that whatever we do – whether good or bad – we get good at it. For example, almost six years ago, I posted Make Wellness A Habit.[1]  Here’s an excerpt:

“As most of you know, I used to coach high school basketball.  Any coach will tell you this: whatever you do every day in practice, that’s probably what your team will be good at doing.  If you shoot a lot, your team will probably shoot well.  If you work a lot on plays against a zone defense, your team will probably execute its zone offense well.  If you do a little of a lot, but not a lot of any one thing, your team will probably be okay at a lot, but not very good at much of anything.

The same goes for incorporating wellness and mindfulness into your workplace.  If you want wellness and mindfulness to be part of your workplace culture, you must practice them.  Not just talk about wellness for 50 minutes at the firm retreat.  Not just mention mindfulness at every other staff meeting.  But do them.

Every. Single. Day.“

In other words, improvement happens when working to improve becomes a habit.[2]

Of course, making something a habit can be difficult.  Which brings me back to WWIL.  And, again, I’ll turn to the WWIL website:

  • “This year’s overall theme is Well-Being Reboot: A Fresh Start for Positive Change. It embodies two key ideas: (1) a clean slate to start/restart our well-being action plans and (2) behavior change toward greater well-being.”

With respect to “fresh starts,” the organizers write:

  • “Fresh starts make us feel like we can turn the page on our past failures. They also give us a chance to diagnose the reasons why our new habits aren’t sticking. This research inspired our WWIL theme. Many of us make well-being resolutions in January. By May, if our busy lives have gotten in the way of our big intentions, we may benefit from a reboot. We’d like to think of WWIL as a Well-Being New Year. We can put our failures behind us and celebrate a fresh start for building the healthy lives we really want.”

That is, WWIL’s “reboot” theme gives all of us who have dabbled in wellbeing but not yet made it a habit a chance to start anew.

Each day during WWIL focuses on a discrete aspect of well-being.

The website is chock full of tips to address each day’s focus.  Tips that, if made into habits, will improve your well-being.

So, back to the opening line: consider making well-being a habit.  

Look at the tips.  I’m sure you can find one that interests you.  Would one (or more) for each day be good?  Yes. But even just one – from even just one of the days — will be a great start.  From there, make it habit.

Indeed, if charged with looking out for your own well-being, may you plead guilty to being a habitual offender.

As always, let’s be careful out there

[1] I just noticed that I posted it on July 18.  That’s my birthday. (Cancers rock! Cancer doesn’t. Trust me – I know both to be true.) Anyhow, for the life of me, I cannot imagine what made me think that celebrating my birthday by working on a well-being blog was good for my well-being!

[2] For more, check out Healthline’s Habits Matter More Than You Might Think – These Tips Can Help The Good Ones Stick or MindTools and The Power of Good Habits.

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