It is that time again when we all set our New Year’s resolutions. When I think of New Year’s resolutions, I think of the most common things: eating healthier and exercising more. I heard a line the other day that struck a chord with me: “I run every day, if I miss a day I add 30 minutes to the next day. It’s been a gamechanger. Tomorrow I am supposed to run for 3 ½ weeks”
I am not immune to this either. I set resolutions only to see them fade at some point before Tax Day in April. Habits are hard to change and even harder to keep once changed. We are all creatures of habit.
Here are a few interesting stats about habits. On average, it takes about 66 days for a behavior to feel automatic. However, the range is wide: as few as 18 days for simple habits like drinking a glass of water after waking up, all the way up to 254 days for more complex ones like regular exercise. Two hundred fifty-four days for regular exercise? Let that one sink in.
If I start on January 1 with the goal of getting regular exercise, it won’t become a habit until September 11. That is a lot of exercise before a habit is formed. I am tired just thinking about it.
Here is one habit that doesn’t need to change, nor will it. At the agency, housing isn’t just what we do; it’s how we think. We sleep, eat, and breathe housing. It’s not a job we turn off at the end of the day; it’s a mindset that carries into every conversation, every meeting, and every decision we make.
There isn’t a week that goes by where I don’t hear someone at the agency say, “I thought of this last night while trying to fall asleep.” I do the same thing, working through a housing challenge in the middle of the night, grabbing my phone, and emailing myself so I don’t forget. Housing has a way of following you home (no pun intended), and that persistent thinking is one of our greatest strengths.
So here is a New Year’s resolution, not just for our agency, but for everyone across North Dakota who works in housing.
In 2026, let’s form a new habit within the one we already have: intentionally thinking outside the box about how we create more housing. That doesn’t mean abandoning what works. It means regularly asking different questions. What if we looked at an old problem through a new lens? What if we challenged an assumption we’ve always accepted? What if the solution isn’t bigger but simpler or more flexible?
If it takes 66 days for a behavior to become automatic, imagine where we could be by spring if we collectively committed to practicing this mindset. Out-of-the-box ideas don’t come from a single big moment of inspiration, they come from repeated, intentional thinking over time.
We already think about housing every day. Let’s make it a habit to think about it differently, because the next breakthrough in housing may not come from doing more of the same but from seeing what’s possible in a new way.