Every morning we have this ritual. The alarm clock goes off with a little electronic tune, and Sammy dog immediately hops out of his bed, prancing around waiting to be picked up and put on OUR bed for a while. I wake up the girls, who come in for a cuddle. At 6:59 I read a prayer from a little devotional that Catie insists upon. The INSTANT I say “Amen,” the dog LEAPS off the bed, looking eagerly up at Eden, who then takes him outside.

If you snooze the alarm and it goes off again later…Sam scampers.
If you say “Amen” at any time during the day…Sam runs to the door.
Sam is completely Pavlov-ed.

I ‘ve been thinking lately,  I need to be Pavlov-ed. 

Serendipty is at hand, because The Bliss Chick has been writing about how she accidentally Pavlov-ed herself into a wonderful writing habit.  Then she extrapolated from there to write about how she wants to Pavlov herself into ballet/yoga everyday.  In the second post she talks about Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life and how in that book Twyla says that the ritual of her 2 hour daily workout isn’t getting her gear on, or stepping onto the treadmill. It starts the moment she hails the cab.

I’m starting my gym ritual too late. I don’t put on my workout clothes until 2 hours into my days. And by that time my monkey-mind has thought of approximately 57,000 OTHER things for me to do. I’ve got to start it first thing. FIRST THING.

I’m gonna  Pavlov myself into exercise.

Further more, I’m gonna Twyla Tharp it.

For 30 days, every morning when I wake up I will immediately put on my workout clothes. This means my ritual has already begun.  In fact, I’m going to say that to myself when I pull on the clothes I need to go to the gym. THEN I’m going to follow the advice in  The Power of Less’s  and connect my new ritual to an already established ritual which looks like this: 

Twyla Tharp It: the ritual has begun.
Morning Cuddle: (connect to an established ritual) connection time with the girls
The Military Precision Hour: breakfast for the kids, pack lunches, fill water bottles, send kids off.
Nap Time: an extra hour of sleep for this insomniac living in the deep Winter north.
Kitchen Ritual: fill my water bottle, make a carafe of green tea tea, take my vitamins. (This was last month’s habit.) 
Breakfast with Vincent: (connect to an established ritual)  I read about VanGogh while I eat breakfast.
Exercise! the ritual gets completed.

Also, I’ve already established what  exercise I do on what day, provided I make it to that point. Which, now I will, because the ritual will have already begun. And I am waaaaay too witch-y to interrupt a ritual already in progress. In case life gets in the way, with an appointment or something, my Emergency Back-Up Workout Plan is a quick 25 minutes of pilates or 45 minutes of yoga on DVD.

Do you want to join me? 30 Days to Pavlov: The Exercise Version. Here’s what to do:

1. Find your Linchpin. What will connect your new habit to an already established habit.
2. Twyla Tharp It: What will be the thing that signals your ritual has already started.
3. Back Up Plan: What will your back up plan be if you can’t get to your gym/class/yoga studio?

I think if you’ve got that down, you’re ready to go. Sign-up (you know I love a good sign-up) and let us know what the answers are to these questions in the comments. I’ll see you in 30 days (0r sooner for a mid-month check in if I can get organized enough). Oh, and by the way, feel free to start your 30 days anytime. You probably need a day to think this through. It’s okay. I’ll still cheer you on.

Love to you bubs!

Rachelle