For my martial arts and meditation practice, I: 1. Established a daily routine which I do without fail 2. I used and still use a timer app that includes a str

For my martial arts and meditation practice, I: 1. Established a daily routine which I do without fail 2. I used and still use a timer app that includes a streak calendar 3. I established the "normal" practice length, a stretch goal, and a "token effort" Once the routine and habit is established, it was easier to keep it going. The "token effort" is the trivial amount of time one practices just to keep the effort going. The stretch goal is there to acknowledge you did more than expected, but also to regulate not going overboard one day to the point where you do not want to continue for the next. There are some psychological nuances into this. All the research, what I am going to do, etc. feeds into the practice. The practice itself changes over time. I have been doing this seven years now, starting with sitting meditation all the way through rebooting my martial arts training involving rebuilding every aspect of how I move my body. My initial practice all those years ago was a 5 minute practice, 10 minute stretch goal, and a 1 minute token practice. Funny thing about the token practice is that 1 min seemed even ridiculous to me, but on those days where it got hard to get started, 1 min was still just easy enough (so I thought) to try. Sometimes, 1 min passes and I find myself going on for the next minute. There was at one point, I was doing around 1 - 3 hours of practice every day, until life changed again and I did not have as much time for that anymore.