Habits begin as offhanded remarks, ideas and images. And then, layer upon layer, through practice, they grow from cobwebs into cables that shackle or strengthen our lives. Denis Waitley

Motivated by pleasure, habits are repeated behaviour that eventually require practically zero attention or effort. Because of this nature, “Habit is either the best of servants, or the worst of masters,” says Emmons. This is what Waitley in the opening quote meant: bad habits become our chains while good habits strengthen our lives.

Most people will agree that kindness and happiness are good habits to develop. Daily Challenge is a great tool to help do exactly this!

One of our community members, Dan Hocking, recognized the potential of Daily Challenge as a kindness tool and wanted to know how he could work Daily Challenge into his already very busy life. Here are a few tips:

1. Log on every day. When creating a habit, it’s more important to just do it. Habits are created by repetition, so don’t worry about quality right now. You don’t have to accept or complete challenges, comment, make friends, etc. If you want to make Daily Challenge a habit, just log on every day. Which leads us to the next tip…
   
2. Start small. Do you have five minutes to spare? This is your chance to make Daily Challenge a habit. Log on and cruise the site a bit. You don’t have to do anything at this point. First create the habit, make it easy for yourself with no expectations. When it becomes second nature, when you’re ready, then you can change the world!
3. Schedule it. Everyone has 24 hours in a day and it comes down to choosing how we’d like to spend that time. We prioritize in order to do what we feel is most important to us. If we want more health, we schedule workouts. If we want more time with our significant other, we make a date. Why not schedule a little time to spread more kindness in the world?
4. Create the time. This is a great tip from Leo Babauta of www.zenhabits.net: get up a little earlier in the morning to create the time where you didn’t have it before. A little less sleep or a little less TV time at night might be an acceptable compromise for helping change the world with one small kindness a day!
5. Fit it into your morning routine. Complementing the above tip, if you’re serious about making Daily Challenge a habit, then do it first thing in the morning! Make it as important to you as brushing your teeth and getting dressed. How you spend your morning typically sets up the rest of your day. Wouldn’t it be nice to start it off with some kindness?
6. Be creative. We feel your pain, we’re all short on time. But scarcity breeds creativity, doesn’t it? Can you brush your teeth while you boot up your computer? Can you check www.DailyChallenge.org on your mobile while you commute to work or if you’re stuck in traffic? What about 15 minutes at lunch or at dinner? What creative solution can you come up with that will suit your life?
7. Be social. Friends and good times are highly addictive and huge motivating forces. If you make Do Gooder friends or try to inpsire other friends to get involved, it makes doing good that much more fun. Plus, the more people that are involved in making the world a better place, the bigger the impact!
8. Participate. Remember, habits form because we find the experience pleasurable in some way, which motivates us to do it again. Daily Challenge is more fun when you participate. Pick a challenge that moves you and then come back and share that experience with everyone. You can also create or participate in discussions.
9. Create a sense of accomplishment. You can do this by choosing small challenges that you can complete within a few minutes, like Susana Chow’s, “Turn off your computer and monitor when you leave work today.” A very simple, yet wonderfully impactful challenge that will leave you wanting to do more good!
10. Make it fun! You can make Daily Challenge more fun by being social or participating on the site, or by choosing fun and social challenges. You can be creative here, too. What will make Daily Challenge more fun for you? Contact us with your ideas or post them in the comments below.

Stephanie Miller is a dedicated Do Gooder, spreading kindness in the world through Daily Challenge as well as assisting others in finding balanced, naturally healthy lifestyles as Head Health Nut on www.LiveLighter.org.