S T R E T C H Yourself

Before getting out of bed, you stretch. Before exercising, you stretch. Stretching warms up your muscles, gets your blood flowing, and prepares your body for whatever you’re asking it to do. Plus, stretching feels really good.

In the same way, it’s a good idea to regularly stretch your habits. Our everyday routines – what we eat, what we wear, where we go, whom we socialize with – are familiar, comfortable, and safe. However, these routines don’t really prepare us for facing change, whether well-planned or hitting us when we least expect it. What we need is a way to push our limits and make ourselves more flexible.

Habit stretching sends a signal to our brains (and bodies) that something new is coming up, telling us to rev up the engines and get the juices flowing. It improves our resiliency, and helps us meet new challenges with greater confidence and less stress.

So, how do you consciously stretch your habits? If you’re the adventurous type, you probably do this already. I have a good friend whose annual New Year’s resolution is to try something new that really scares him. I think this is a great idea, but you don’t have to be that bold to properly stretch yourself.

Start small.

• Eat something different for breakfast.
• Drive a new route to work.
• Read a section of the newspaper that you normally ignore.
• Talk to a person at the office who has nothing to do with your job.
• Go to an interesting local meeting or event that you’ve always found excuses not to attend.

Then work yourself up to bigger things.

• Take a lesson in something you’ve always wanted to try.
• Ask your boss to help strategize ways to balance your workload.
• Tell your spouse/child/best friend something you really love about them.

Feeling good? Piece of cake? Try:

• Outlining 10 important things you’d like to accomplish this year, or within 5 years.
• Devising a plan to get those things done.
• Asking yourself if you’d still be doing your same job if you had $10 million or only one year to live.

By the way, the whole purpose of stretching yourself in this way isn’t necessarily to feel wonderful afterwards. You might, of course, but the real reason is to get to know yourself better. Where are your limits? What are your hidden strengths? What’s most important to you? What’s not? Discovering these answers arms you with knowledge and abilities that guide you through the really big changes you want to make, and help you weather the ones you don’t.

So stretch yourself. Try something different before the day is through, and you might be surprised at just how good it feels.