Folding 1000 Paper Cranes
This coming Saturday my sister is getting married. It is my divine pleasure to stand up with her and officially witness her big day. The wedding is very DYI. My sister KNITTED her wedding dress. She also did a great job on the decor. One day I saw a picture she had posted on a certain, popular social media site. It was a bowl of paper cranes. “What are you doing?” I asked. My sister quickly informed me that she was folding 1000 paper cranes. I always wanted to do that, but never really had a reason to, until now. I offered to take over the project so she could focus on said knitting project.
One thousand paper cranes.
I had a year to complete the project. Both for the sake of the legend and the wedding timeline.
The first thing I did was strategize. I sat down and calculated how many cranes I would need to fold each day to make my deadline.
Three per day, ish. No problem. I could totally do that.
But I let 3 months go by without folding any.
Now I had nine months. Time was dwindling away. Now I had to fold 4 per day (again, ish).
I folded the first crane. Check. I was on the road. I found I could comfortably fold 10 cranes in a sitting. I passed the first 100. COOL! Was totally on track.
Then my crane train came to a halt. I cut my finger preparing some sort of delicious, dark, green, leafie veggie. It hurt to fold. So I stopped.
Months dripped by. Thankfully I started travelling for national meetings. Flights across Canada are a great time to fold many cranes while watching movies. Fold. Giggle. Fold. Gasp. Fold. Cry. Fold…
I was finally able to ship off the first batch (image above). My sister arranged them into bowls by paper type.
What happened next was really interesting. Nine point six cranes easily became 20 cranes. Twenty flawlessly became 30. As the days went by, my tolerance for folding increased. The deadline actually seemed to get further away. By July 12th I only had 100 to go. I was completely finished two days later – having folded 50 each day. By July 18th, my sister received the 2nd batch completing the delivery of the 1000 cranes.
Taking consistent action is the key.
Do. A little bit. Everyday.
As I folded those cranes consistently, my momentum picked up. More became easier to do. Just as with exercise. As you get stronger you’re able to do more. To go for longer.
Or with food. If you eat less sugar, you want less sugar. Eventually you don’t want it at all. Hard to believe, I know. But true.
Do. A little bit. Everyday.
Little bits every day add up to big bits in the long run.
I folded A THOUSAND PAPER CRANES!!!!! Isn’t that sooooo crazy?
If you fall off the wagon, like I did, re-establish the vision of your goal in your mind, and ask yourself that question,
(You can totally tweet that!)
So, I ask YOU this, and I’d love for you to respond in the comments below.
What do you want to change about your life or about your health. And what can you do TODAY to get closer to that goal?
I thank you for this how to create a new habit reminder.
Small instrumental increments with fun and or play blended in,
Consistency.
Re.visit Vision.
Dont look at it as an addiction visual, w penitence…falling off the wagon. Make it easy to feel success.
Breath deeply. Meditate 60 seconds. Inner smiling for fueling self love.