First of all- Happy New Year!  I hope 2012 is filled with positive surprises for everyone.

I started the year with my first trip to Stockholm.  Why, you ask- did I go in January? Because that’s when I had been invited to deliver a  talk on creating a culture of innovation at Innventia.  More about that in a later post.

This post is about my new project.  I’m taking Kelly McGonigal’s course at Stanford Continuing Studies on “The Science of Willpower”.  [The course is the basis of her new book- The Willpower Instinct].  If the name sounds sort of familiar- you may be thinking of her twin sister, Jane, author of Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better & How They Can Change the World. Talk about two highly accomplished women.

Let’s face it most, if not all, students in the class are hoping to strengthen our own willpower.  Listening to lectures and reading are not going to lead to any changes; experimentation and practice are. Last night, we were given the following assignment:  Decide what behavior you want to start, stop, or change.  However much time you spend on it on day 1, you must spend every day for the next 7 days.  If you do X for 20 minutes, you must do X every day for 20 minutes for the next 7 days.  If you don’t do X on the first day, you can NOT do it at all for the next 7 days.

I realize I have been avoiding writing this blog… just because.  Other things take up my time and I never get around to it.  So, today, I am spending 30 minutes writing which means I have to do this every day for the next 7 days.   So, come follow me on this journey and see how well I do…..