zeven dingen: yearly update

March 15, 2020

You might have come across or heard from me about this daily practice I started last year called ‘7 Things’. I wrote this post to acknowledge that it has been 13 months since I have been practicing it every single day and wouldn’t go back to not doing it.

Every month, a few of us ‘accountability partners’ write down 7 habits that contribute to our personal development, work, study, or fitness on a shared Google sheet. At the end of each day, we fill in the cell corresponding to the date and habit with green or red depending on whether we accomplished it.

The habits could be very simple, for instance, reading 2 pages of a book or conversing 10 minutes in Dutch. The idea of these activities is to be small and get you started.

If I convince myself that I just have to read 2 pages today, I might do it without feeling much resistance. Once I start, I might find the topic interesting and may end up reading 10. But the strength of the method lies in getting us to practice a habit on a regular basis. I find it helpful to balance out so many goals and ambitions of personal development. Thanks to Veena, Thomas, Naomi, Priyanka, Aashray (2020 April: Heer, Jaychandran, Khantil) for being partners of accountability from time to time.