Comments on: Tranquility by Tuesday Challenge, Rule #4: Three times a week is a habit

By: Three times a week part 2 - stepping on the cracks

Three times a week part 2 - stepping on the cracks — Fri, 24 Mar 2023 20:40:28 +0000

[…] time, I talked about Laura Vanderkam’s wonderfully freeing idea that rather than beating yourself up because you can’t do [xyz wonderful […]

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 13:29:49 +0000

In reply to Barb. @Barb - thank you for writing about the book! I really appreciate it.

By: Barb

Barb — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 07:23:56 +0000

I’m late to this but am writing a blog post about my experiences with the book and am currently up to this chapter. I want to fit more writing in (which may also include listening to writing courses) and also start work on a photo art program. I’m not sure if that is expecting too much of myself all at once so may start with writing . . .

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Sun, 19 Feb 2023 01:44:28 +0000

In reply to Jen. @Jen - that's probably why 3 sounds like such a reasonable number!

By: Jen

Jen — Sat, 18 Feb 2023 16:08:24 +0000

I’m trying this with two “activities;” having a glass of wine with dinner (I’d rather have one more often!); and listening to the news from NPR during my daily commute (I’d rather listen to a good audio book- yes, including all of yours). I also want to note that things that happen in 3’s are considered an essential element in fairytales

By: gwinne

gwinne — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 14:46:26 +0000

In reply to Laura Vanderkam.

I get that and understand I may well be an outlier in this regard. I’ve read enough about the science of habits and know myself well enough to know that if I tried an activity at three different times of day/week it just wouldn’t happen on a long term basis. It might work for you and others but prob not for me.

To overcome this challenge but still embrace the general idea, I’ve decided to limit my own “three times is a habit” experiment to my bedtime routine (trying out a couple different activities I can do some nights but not necessarily all nights) as a kind of mix-and-match.

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 14:15:56 +0000

In reply to Gwinne.

@Gwinne – I think that while theoretically “daily” might be easier for habit formation, that just doesn’t work for many people’s lives. Also, we have many habits that aren’t truly daily. Going to work or school and the things associated with that tend to be really strong habits, but that usually happens five times a week, not seven.

By: Gwinne

Gwinne — Sun, 12 Feb 2023 13:30:44 +0000

As I’m thinking about embracing this challenge it seems harder than making plans to do something daily. It asks potentially for one or more new habits that aren’t really anchored….which goes against everything I know about habit formation. I don’t have an obvious thing I do once/twice per week and could do more reliably. This isn’t a critique….I’m glad it works for many. Just not intuitive to me. There are certainly things I’d like to do more than never….incorporating them ONCE in a week would be a good start! I’ll keep thinking. What I realized in reading the book is that I naturally abide by most of your rules in some way. This is an exception.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Sun, 12 Feb 2023 03:13:19 +0000

In reply to Laura Vanderkam.

I love this goal. I think I am pretty good at getting a substantial amount of veggies in so it is not a focus for me this week. I may add this back in as a goal, later on, to keep my veggies in check.

My goals for this week are:
1) Sort and declutter.
2) Physical Therapy exercises
3) Singing (Not necessarily for this week but for upcoming weeks.)
4) Walking – A habit that I regularly do regularly. However, the last few weeks have been spotty.

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Sat, 11 Feb 2023 23:30:07 +0000

In reply to A.

@A – a substantial amount of veggies sounds like a good goal. I need to put this goal into my life more often…