Think of the Postivies

I'm sitting in McDonald's again this morning (6:30 am) after a few weeks of relapsing back to Starbucks. I know, I know... change is hard. I wrote about that a while back and it's so true. Even after writing that I was breaking up with Starbucks... there I was... back in it's familiar space. This morning though... I thought... "no"... just do it!

I walked in the door at McDonald's and figured out how to place an order on their big display screens. Another new thing. Now, it came in a disposable cup... so I'm going to have to figure out if they do reusable mugs. I'd probably have to order at the counter but... the first order has been completed. I can't articulate what a big hurdle that was for me... maybe not huge... but big enough that every morning I just thought "I'll just go to Starbucks". So it was probably more like a speed-bump hurdle but... it doesn't take much to derail the best laid plans! Oh... and get this... McDonald's has "table service"!? You can place your order, give them your table number and then sit down while they bring it to you! Go figure!

This morning, there is a different crowd hanging out at McDonald's. These are the guys heading off to work, a lot of them middle-aged. There is one table of old guys chatting away. It's not that different from Starbucks actually... where there's a similar gaggle of middle-aged construction guys that hang out. But I guess... the difference is, I'm on a first-name basis with some of them. And here... it's all new and different and strange.

Now McDonald's has a fairly limited tea selection but... the price is ridiculous. At Starbucks, it now costs $3.90 for a small tea. Here... I can get a senior's tea (smaller) for $1.42. And even a small tea would still be less than half the cost of a Starbucks tea. Soooo... sitting here... I am thinking of the positives...

Walkable/Bikeable

The McDonald's is an easy 30 minute walk from home. I can do that. And it's maybe an 8 minute bike ride. Also very doable. And I'll get the bonus of exercise. What's not to love about that? I could also bike to Starbucks but it's probably more like a 15 minute bike ride and that just somehow seems a bit of a bigger hurdle. 

Cheaper

This is a no-brainer. If I get a Starbucks tea every day (more or less)... that's... let's just round up... $4/day = $120/month.

Whereas at McDonald's... it's $1.50/day or $45/day. What could I do with an extra $75/month? A heck of a lot more than over-priced tea!

Reliable Wifi

Sometimes, at Starbucks, connecting to the wifi is a real hassle. You have to login every single time, even if you check off the little box that says connect automatically. And sometimes the wifi just doesn't work well.

Whereas, here at McDonald's, I was here once and connected to the wifi. This morning, I didn't have to do anything, the laptop connected automatically to the wifi and I was off and running. Gotta love that!

Quiet Music

Sometimes, at Starbucks, the baristas have the music cranked and are rocking their favourite playlists. Which is fine when no one is in the store but... when there are customers... it gets to be a bit much. Part of the problem is that the speakers are in the front corners of the store, far from the baristas, so in order to hear the music over the noise of the espresso machines and coffee grinders, they crank it. 

Here at McDonald's, they have ceiling speakers and even though I am basically sitting under one of them, the music is very chill - Lionel Richie, Phil Collins... Not exactly cool coffee shop jazz but... it's not hideous.

Errand-Friendly

The two Starbucks that I visit the most tend to have errand options nearby. The farthest one has Superstore, Home Depot, Costco, Walmart, etc. Hard to beat that for errand- friendly but... can McDonald's compete with the others?

• Starbucks 1 - grocery store, big thrift store, drug store/post office
• Starbucks 2 - dollar store, bulk food store
• Starbucks 3 - grocery store, library, drug store/post office
• McDonalds - grocery store, drug store/post office, vet, hair cut, several thrift stores

So, it does compare quite favourably. 

Scales Tipping in Favour of McDonald's?

It's kind of hard to argue with all of those pros... isn't it? Especially against a tiny list of cons. They are a multi-national conglomerate behemoth? So is Starbucks. It feels unfamiliar and strange. Yep... that's how life works. Life is change. Life is growth. I used to love Starbucks hot chocolates and that was the draw back in 2010. No other hot chocolate (Timmies for example) could compare. But tea? Tea is pretty generic. I'm not a tea connoisseur by any means.

At this point, it's the shear force of habit that keeps me going to Starbucks... and familiarity. But I can do this, right? I am stronger than those well-worn paths in my synapses! Small steps. 

Falling Off the Routine Bandwagon

I was off in Vancouver for a few days and my well-honed routine went out the window... no meditation or stretching in the morning was the first to go. I did journaling on one day and then it fell apart on the second day. My plan to walk 10,000 steps each day also didn't happen. My evening journal page also evaporated. Sigh.

That's the thing when you travel. You are out of your familiar milieu... you are away from your well-worn routine and... it's hard, really hard to keep things going. I try... but it's all different. It's like I need a different routine for a different environment, which probably makes sense but is something for which I didn't plan or prepare!!

It would take a it of effort given that I am staying at my sister's house and working on their timetable. They aren't up early and it's not a house in which I could cook my breakfast without disturbing someone's slumbers. At least not at 5:30 in the morning... Even as I'm tying this at 7:05 am... I realize I didn't take my Synthroid this morning! Ugh...

I'm not sure what a routine would look like when I'm traveling. And it seems like a lot of work to come up with a plan that I only need every once in a while, and only for a few days at at time. I know that when I get home today, I will slip back into my familiar routine and all will be well.

Perhaps if I was going on a longer trip... then it might make sense to devote some time and thought to what a morning routine might look like.

The one thing that has worked on this trip is... I get up early and I walk to the nearby Starbucks and sit there for several hours. Yesterday, I did do my morning journaling there, and I wrote one of these blogs. So that all worked. But this morning... I am heading back on the ferry, so the bus disrupted the flow of my early morning pattern. Even though I'm at a Starbucks near the ferry terminal, the journaling has taken a back seat. Although... kudos to me, I am writing a blog!

What I really needed on both days, however, was some food to take with me. Because I get hungry in the morning, and if I'm sitting at Starbucks for 3 hours... the siren call of the chocolate brownie becomes too much to resist. And while sometimes my sister has packable food options... not this time. So it would require me to go to the grocery store and get a few things to tide me over. Which all seems like too much effort for a 2 day visit. And so I cut corners and shave a few things off my routine.

Perhaps that is what is required... just cutting myself some slack when my habit doesn't follow its usual groove... or doesn't transfer well to another environment. It's just for a couple of days... and I can get back in the flow tomorrow. More or less... I hope!

In the meantime... what might a new habit ritual look like while staying at my sister's place? Just so I'm well-prepared for next time!

• get out of bed and take my synthroid
• get dressed and go upstairs for bathroom stuff
• do my 5 min meditation/stretching in the family room
• grab & go snack for Starbucks (the fridge usually has fruit & nuts - prep the night before)
• walk to Starbucks
• journal 2 pages
• write a blog
• and other stuff!

I know myself... and if I have it written down and mapped out in my head, then I've reduced the friction of some of these. I have thought through where I can do my morning stretches and meditation. Because if I haven't figured it out beforehand... it's not going to happen as I stand and wonder... where should I do it? Bedroom? Family room?

It's these small steps in planning and preparation that I hope will make a difference for next time!

Small Choices --> Big Results

Every morning when I leave the house to go to Starbucks for my morning session... I drop my pack at the front door and face a choice.

Am I going to wear my Blundstone boots for a chic, woman-about-town look... or am I going to tie on my Merrell light hiking boots?

The Blundstones are super easy to pull on and normally, for a trip to Starbucks, those are the shoes I would wear. But... if I wear them, then it's a guarantee that I will not be able to do a quick little walk around the local bird sanctuary after leaving Starbucks. The option or possibility of a walk is a closed door.

The Merrell's take longer to put on, with all those laces but... if I'm wearing them, then I am prepped to do a little hike or walk if I choose to do it. The option or possibility is still an open door.

And so, every morning lately, I've been pulling on my Merrell's... leaving the door of a hike or a walk open for me. It seems like a pretty small decision but... it's these sorts of things that have let me get more walks in.

Reducing Friction

There's a part of me that says... well... I could just wear the Blundstone's and bring the hiking boots in the car. That way, I can have the best of both worlds. True... except the idea of changing boots in the parking lot of the local trail is just that little bit of extra friction that... when my motivation is already not the greatest, could blow the door of a hike shut.

And in this business... every little bit of friction counts! Even this morning... I really had to talk myself into taking 4 or 5 minutes to get some frozen berries, thaw them in the microwave, dole out some yogurt on top of them, add some walnuts... so that I could bring an impromptu breakfast with me. The friction would be way less if I just prepped the yogurt breakfast the night before and put it in the fridge. That way... in the morning... when I'm groggy and just wanting to get out the door... the friction of taking a healthy breakfast is minimal. Because... if I end up at Starbucks without something to eat... my level of resistance to the whispers of the chocolate brownie is like... zero.

It's all part of the parking downhill idea... or removing the friction that slows down our desire to do the right thing, make the right choices... or make choices that we know are right/best/healthiest for us.

I've tried to think of different ways to reduce the friction of various habits. For my daily journal practice, for example, I bring extra pens in my backpack so that when I'm sitting at Starbucks and my fountain pen runs out of ink... I just reach into the pack and pull out a back-up pen and continue writing. No friction. 

When I want to edit documents on my laptop, using the laptop mouse pad is just an annoyance. One that I put up with for years... but that also hampered me from doing projects because... it's too hard to do with just a mouse pad. Until... late last year, I decided to bring an extra corded mouse that came with my new desktop computer. OMG... having a mouse plugged into the laptop makes life sooooo much easier!!! And then... my partner offered me the wireless mouse... even better!! I also dug out an old mouse pad so that my little mouse doesn't have to skitter across the naked table top at Starbucks.

I have back-up reusable coffee tumblers in the car, just in case I forget mine at home. But on the odd occasion lately, where I've forgotten my regular tumbler... I've also not taken one from the car. Why? Well, it's too much trouble. You see, I have one in the door cup holder of the passenger door. It's too far for me to reach and grab it from the driver's seat. Too much friction. But now, I've placed one in the rear door cup holder on the driver side, so when I grab my backpack from the back seat... the cup is right there, ready to grab. Fingers crossed that works.

All of these small friction-reducing actions do help me to make better choices and ultimately lead to big results. And lasting habits... because once the habit is ingrained... sometimes you can handle a bit of friction. The habit is so self-perpetuating, that it just blows through little friction speed bumps. Doesn't mean I can totally neglect friction-reduction but... it's nice to know that there is a bit of leeway!