Meditate 2 Hours Daily: My strategy here is very specific. I’m starting with what I know I’m already consistent with, and then from there moving up 5 minutes / day each month until I am consistently sitting 2 hours / day. So, starting in February I will be sitting 1 hour and 45 minutes each day. I’ll be keeping track of how much I sit each day, and will take the total time per month that I’ve actually sat and divide that by the total time I was supposed to have sat. This will give me a percentage out of 100. I will take that percentage and use the scale below to determine what to do the next month.
93% or higher: I will increase my sitting time next month by 5 minutes
85% – 93%: I will maintain my current sitting schedule
70% – 85%: I will lower my practice 5 minutes per day
Below 70%: I will re-think my strategy, and re-evaluate my life circumstances to see if this goal is still appropriate
So, for example… Say that my goal is to sit an hour a day, and there are 30 days in the month. That’s a total possible 30 hours of meditation in that month. Let’s say that at the end of that month, I’d missed 3 sittings, and sat a total of 27 hours (I’m not counting any time over what I’ve committed to sitting. So with this example, if I were to sit 1 hour & 30 minutes, I would NOT count that 30 minutes as extra time. It simply wouldn’t be counted. Also, I would count partial time spent. If I sat for 45 minutes instead of an hour, I would count those 45 minutes. This is to keep me from feeling that I can’t sit at all, if I don’t have time for the whole thing. The amount of time I sit is far less important than actually just using whatever time I have to develop awareness, and the spirit of this experiment is what is ultimately important: to wake up. Please keep that in mind as you read this!). So, for this example I sat 27 hours out of 30, for a total of %90. According to my standards above, this isn’t consistent enough to up my practice. I haven’t yet mastered this habit, and so I’m going to keep sitting this amount of time next month.
I know for some this may seem pretty rigid, but I’ve learned that when it comes to discipline and creating new habits, it oftentimes takes an initial period of rigidity—not in the sense that I feel the need to get mad at myself if I don’t “achieve” my stated goal. For whatever reason, this approach, both in meditation practice, back when I was a decent long-distance runner, and in many other areas, has always worked extraordinarily well. Here are my standards for knowing whether or not I’m on track. Notice I’ve given myself the entire year to develop this habit…:
- 1st Quarter (Jan-March): Having a consistent 1 hour & 45 min / day practice
- 2nd Quarter (April-June): Having a consistent 1 hour & 50 min / day practice
- 3rd Quarter (July-September): Having a consistent 1 hour & 55 min / day practice
- 4th Quarter (October-December): Having a consistent 2 hour / day practice
