Threshold of One

I do realize that I didn't blog yesterday (just kind of fell asleep after I closed up shop for the night), and rather than try to scramble to "make up for the lost entry", I'm just going to move forward.

Something that I have had countless encounters with is the idea of the "threshold of one". Let me explain. I think it's a fair bet to assume that everyone has wanted to change something about themselves. It could be adding something positive, taking away something negative, or changing something to be more like one of those first two things. Some examples are the typical New Year's Resolutions: lose weight, exercise more, stop smoking, learn a foreign language, etc.

Now, change is difficult because by definition, we are modifying our behavior to something that we aren't used to. We may be stretching outside of our comfort zone, even. This is where the threshold of one comes into play. What that means is that going from doing something zero times to one time is more difficult than going from one to two times and much more difficult than going from two to three times. I think a lot of that comes from the uncertainty of doing something new for the first time. After you've completed a task once, you can think "okay, I did this already, it shouldn't be *that* difficult to go for it again". After a few more iterations, you're thinking "alright, let's do this".

Up until my hiatus in July/August, blogging was like that. I blogged one day, thought "I should make this a daily thing" and as each day came and went, it was easier to blog on a daily basis. The threshold of one doesn't apply to things you want to make a daily/weekly routine though. The first example that came to mind was going to a swing dance club in college and asking strangers to dance with me. That first time, I would freeze up because I felt like I was risking rejection and humiliation. At the end of the night, I wasn't completely un...paranoid, but I had danced with a few lovely ladies and gotten good experiences from each one.

However, the threshold of one can also be the best hurdle you have to avoid something negative. I mean, if you do something once, you're more likely to do it a second time, even if you realize that it was a bad idea to do it the first time. I'm looking at you, snooze button. *GLARE* I think it's good to be mindful of that threshold because it's good to catch those habits early before it's difficult to break them again (for example, me jumping back in and blogging today after one day of absence rather than letting it stretch on for a week).

This is something I've been thinking of lately because I've found myself panicked before saying or doing something for the first time. After that first time occurs and I see that the world didn't explode, it's much easier to repeat myself or my actions.

Hmm... now a holiday to recognize... and I've already used Self-Improvement and Self-Awareness Day. Shoot. Let's see... I could use today being Be Late for Something Day to poke fun of myself for writing these blogs after midnight. Sure, let's go with that.

Have a great Friday. DFTBA.