Having hobbies is excellent. Some may even argue that they are necessary, and I would agree. But to maximize the benefits, hobbies need to be more than an occasional occurrence. Your hobby needs to become a habit.
Let’s talk about that for a moment.
When you sit down to crochet on occasion, if you’re like me, you probably gain immense joy and happiness from the creative process as you watch your project grow.
But then, the next day, you get busy, and you don’t have time to crochet. Before you know it, a week has passed, then a month, and six months later, you pick up your yarn and hook again and fill yourself up with joy as you wonder why you don’t do this more often.
Yep, I’ve been there.
The solution is a simple one. You need to build a habit of crochet.
You are likely familiar with the concept of building habits. It’s making a new behavior into an automatic action that we don’t have to think about each time consciously. This process takes time and happens in stages. You may get off track and have to work to integrate the new behavior continuously, but eventually, with effort and repetition, a new habit will form.
We can apply this to crocheting by using a few practical strategies for success.
Create Easy Access
Grab a basket or a bag and put your current project, yarn, hook, and necessary tools into it. Then, place it where you can easily access it when you are most likely to crochet.
If you want to start crocheting in the evenings, place it next to where you usually sit in the evenings. This spot may be next to your bed or your favorite area in the living room, wherever you like to hang out when you want to crochet.
Creating easy access to the things you need to crochet in the place where you are already going to be, makes starting this new habit a breeze and preemptively addresses a common obstacle to habit building. So, if you make it easy to crochet, you are more likely to do it regularly.
Rather than keeping it tucked in the closet, and then when you forget to dig it out before climbing into bed for the evening, you are faced with a choice. Get out of your safe, cozy bed to dig in the closet or skip crocheting for the night.
I don’t know about you, but by the time I am winding down for the day, there is very little that will coax me out of bed.
By removing the obstacle and making your crochet project easy to access once you settle into your favorite spot, you are effectively setting yourself up for success.
Now that you have committed to making your project easy to access let’s talk about some more ways to make habit-building a breeze!
Get It On Your Calendar
When you have something important to do, like a doctor’s appointment, or lunch with a friend, you put it on your calendar, so you don’t forget.
Building a habit that’s important to you should be just as high on your list of priorities and deserves a place on your calendar.
By scheduling your crochet time, you are sending a message to your mind that this is important to you. Plus, it helps you remember. You can set a notification to go off before your crochet time as a reminder to get your supplies ready and get to your crochet spot.
Going through specific actions at the same time day after day teaches your brain to start engaging in creative thoughts and releasing certain chemicals at the same time every day. When crocheting, creative pathways open up and flood your brain with dopamine. This chemical process is the science behind what makes you feel so good when crocheting.
By crocheting at the same time every day, your brain will begin to look forward to releasing this feel-good natural medicine each day, which helps build your crochet habit. It’s incredible!
Couple Crochet With Something Else You Enjoy
Confession time. I love to watch tv at night when I’m relaxing for the day.
I used to consider this a guilty pleasure. You know, that’s when you feel a little guilty for doing something you enjoy because it’s just a little bit naughty. All of the great and super successful people in the world would never sit in bed and watch Game of Thrones at night, right?
Well, I love to engage in a little mindless television.
When I was first working to make crocheting a habit, I put my crochet bag next to my bed. Then, in the evening, when I would sit and watch tv, I started picking up my current project and working on it while I watched my show—zero guilt.
By coupling two things I enjoy, it turned mindless tv watching into creative time that ends with cute projects I can give away as gifts or use in my home. It’s a winning combination.
So by coupling crochet with something else you enjoy, like listening to audiobooks or podcasts, you are doubling the enjoyment, adding an element of productivity, and giving meaning to activities you love while cementing crochet into your life as a habit you cannot live without.
Stack Crochet With an Established Habit
Another tool you can use to work crocheting seamlessly into your life is habit stacking.
Habit stacking is adding in a new behavior immediately before or after an established habit.
If you have a habit of walking for 20 minutes every morning, then you come into the house and take off your walking shoes, you could keep your crochet bag next to your shoe mat, so when you take off your walking shoes, you can pick up your crochet bag and go crochet for thirty minutes. Magic!
Utilizing your established good habits is a fantastic way to build and grow new habits. For example, you can leave a post-it note on the fridge that says, “after you fill your water bottle for the afternoon, it’s time to crochet.” Then, every day when you do your afternoon fill on your water bottle, you will be reminded of the new habit you are working to build.
Habit stacking is one of my favorite strategies for routine building because you are working one step at a time. First, you develop a habit of filling your water bottle after lunch, and then you add one more step. Walk to your chair where your crochet bag is waiting for you and crochet for 30 minutes.
It’s all part of the habit-building process—one step at a time.
It Takes 90 Days to Build a Habit
That old myth that told you it takes thirty days to develop a new habit was only partially true.
In thirty days, a new behavior will start to feel routine, and you won’t have to keep reminding yourself so often.
But to become an automated habit, you need ninety days. Ninety days of repeating the same behavior, stacked and coupled with the same behaviors, at the same time, for ninety long days.
Ninety days for a new habit doesn’t mean you have to be perfect, and you can never miss a crochet day.
I have been working on a new habit of waking up at 5 am. It was brutal at the beginning. Then it became a little less torturous until I got comfortable around the thirty-day mark. That’s when things started interrupting my budding habit. I started sleeping in just a little and then got entirely off track over a two-week vacation.
Honestly, I was a little distraught over the thought of getting back into my healthy routine of waking up early, working out, and doing my mindset work all before 6 am. My mind kept flashing back to how awful it was to wake up that early when I started building this habit.
But, I promised myself a one-year trial of early rising. So, I dragged myself out of bed and completed my workout.
Yes, I was tired, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. My brain had completed this routine enough times to remember it easily, and as I started moving, all the good chemicals began flowing. I felt great! I’m not saying every day from here on out will be easy. Still, I can feel that my brain is starting to associate early morning workouts with feeling good and being energetic, and despite the setbacks, I am progressing towards my goal.
So, don’t get down on yourself if you get off track once in a while. It’s all part of the process.
The key is getting back on track and not giving up just because you slipped up on your new routine. You have it within you to build healthy habits that bring joy to your life!
Put These Strategies to the Test
I am no guru, I’m just a regular gal who has been wildly successful at building healthy habits by using the strategies designed by gurus, and you can be too.
So, test these strategies and see if they are as effective for you as they have been for me. Then, drop down in the comments and let me know how you’re doing and what is working.
You can always DM me on Instagram as well. I would love to hear from you.
Happy Stitching!
xo — Lavena
P.S. If you want more about building habits and working crocheting into your routines, check out this article on Integrating Self-Care Into Your Life
