Do or Do Not. There is no ‘Try’
In recent weeks I’ve been doing my level best to apply the wondrous lessons from the Yoda of self-improvement - Leo from Zen Habits - if you’ve not already surfed on by, be sure to check him out if you have any interest in bettering yourself.
I’m currently trying to apply his theory about creating a morning routine, and alongside it an evening routine too.
It’s a part of a wider game plan to work on only one habit a month, allowing myself to make that habit second nature before moving on to the next one. Hey - if it works, I’ll have changed 12 things about myself by 2009 which will be a marked improvement over any previous years!
Part of the extra challenge for me is that I’ve always been a self-proclaimed ‘night-owl’, claiming insomnia (although I’m sure any real sufferers of that affliction would tell me I was nowhere near it). However I am now determined to become an early riser, and having a morning routine to stick to gives me many reasons to do so. The productivity benefits of this will be huge - one good example is that it’s giving me time to write this blog - something that’s been on my ’someday/maybe’ list for quite a while now. Even if I never wrote another post, I’ve got further with setting this up than most of my other projects in life!
So far I’ve had mixed success. You can see my progress as shown on Joes Goals in the graph below. By the way, Joe’s Goals is a great little service for tracking goals simply and effectively if you like that kind of technological thing.
As you can see, so far I’ve had mixed success (including today) - as per the title of my post it either happens or it doesn’t. I’ve been very careful to not slip into the habit of claiming a slightly earlier wake up time as ‘almost’ success. I know that’s a slippery slope to go down. I either do it, or I don’t. This kind of thinking is critical if I’m going to make this stick.
Another reflection of forming this habit is that (duh) getting up earlier is easier if I go to bed and go to sleep earlier! I know, I know - Marley Mastermind (specialised subject - stating the flaming obvious!) However I truly always thought that my problem was getting up early. It’s really not. Here’s some things I think have helped
- Telling myself to stop doing things in the day. They’ll wait until tomorrow and I’ll be rested
- Don’t drink caffeine after Noon.
- Switch the laptop off at least an hour before bed
- Drink something soothing like Ovaltine at bedtime (how old am I?!?)
- Write a journal before bed - gets the thoughts whizzing round my head out.
- Plan to be in bed very early. Then you can do some of the things above and get to sleep early.
- Prepare as much as possible (lunch, iron a shirt, pack bags etc) for the morning. then you wont worry about it.
I’m sure there’s many, many more and I may add to these as the month goes through.
Until then, wish me luck and let me know if you’ve got any tips, or even if you’ve set yourself a challenge for January.
Filling life up, day by day….
Marley
Tags: habits, morning routine, self-improvement
January 8th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Glad to see you’re making these great changes, Marley! Hope things go well for you … let me know if you need any help or have questions. And great start to your blog!
FYI, Yoda is a hero of mine, so it’s quite the honor to be compared to him.
January 9th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Interesting post, and very true. Getting up early is also the one habit I’m working on and your entry sounds EXACTLY like me. Check out Steve Pavlina’s excellent series of blog entries on “How to Become an Early Riser” as well (http://tinyurl.com/88qug).
By the way, since I’m neither a “man who is ambitious yet unfulfilled, or the woman who wants to know him” (I’m not looking for any man, and even if I were, who wants specifically to meet an unfulfilled man?) does that mean your blog will be of no interest to me?
January 9th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
@ Leo
Thanks again for your encouragement - it’s a great honour to have my blogging hero make the very first comment on my very first blog!
@GrannyGamer
Thanks for stopping by, and for the link - I can see what he means, but I’m struggling with getting past the automatic ‘conversations in my head about the benefits of sleeping in’. I’ve been having them for so long that they’re quite ingrained. Still, if I keep at it, I’ll suceed soon enough.
I hope that you can find something of interest in my blog as it develops, and I really hadn’t looked at the tagline in quite that way! I’m learning that one of the best things about blogging is the different external perspectives you receive. Maybe you might want to know people like me, even if you’re not ‘looking’ for us?! Or maybe I should just change the tagline…. Hmmm. I shall consider it.
Thanks again for taking the time to comment though - that means the world to me, and I’m feeling more fufilled already!
January 11th, 2008 at 5:06 am
Marly — Personally, I *would* change the tagline since it might give the wrong impression that the site is really mainly for men and from what I can tell from your first posts, it’s going to be much more than that! You are a good writer and I think you’ll make a success of it (*if* you stick to your New Year’s Resolution and keep at it!)
My resolution to get up earlier seems to be working. I follow your advice and try to … ooops, I mean, I DO get to bed at a decent hour (1-1:30 am) and get up promptly at 8:30 (okay, so that’s not real early, but it used to be 10! — Working for yourself out of your home gives you a lot of leeway). The most important thing for me is to jump up right away without even thinking about it. If I don’t, I’m like you — rationalizing why it’s okay to sleep in. Of course, if that’s our worst fault, we’re doing okay, right?
Anyway, I’ve bookmarked you and will drop by daily. I don’t have a personal site (I work at the computer all day; on my off hours I do completely non-tech stuff like spinning and weaving) so I can’t link to you, but I’ll support you and your blog as much as I can. It give me “good vibes” if you’ll excuse my ’70s slang.
January 11th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
I started drinking Ovaltine (or Horlicks) at night and whilst it did help me sleep well I also started to get really fat!
January 11th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
@ GrannyGamer - awww - OK then! You ask nicely and persistently (and you’re probably right!). Not sure the new tagline is any better, but it’s been a long day…..
Really well done on the getting up to a routine - I guess it doesn’t matter what the time is as long as its regular and it works for you. Yep - we’re doing okay. Better than okay in fact. And we’re doing it with style!
So what would your tagline be if you had to have one for your handicrafts?
@Jeff - Hi there - welcome along and thanks for the comment. I’ve tried Ovaltine too and it really helps.
I cheated and went for Ovaltine light though so that should keep half the calories off and I’ve been exercising more in the morning through being up earlier so I reckon I’m pretty much Malt-Neutral now!
January 13th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Marley — I awoke this morning (very late … but it’s Sunday, right?) feeling terribly guilty about razzing you about the tagline. You just start on your exciting new adventure and I come along and nitpick. I *DO* apologize! Your new one is very creative.
I can’t imagine myself have a blog but if I did, the tag line would probably be something like: Why are you reading about my craft experiences … get away from the computer and enjoy your own!
‘Scuse me while I go have some hot chocolate. All this talk about Ovaltine has given me a chocolate urge.
January 14th, 2008 at 7:43 am
Morning GrannyGamer
You take a lie-in, you’ve earned it! If you’re waking up thinking about this blog I’m flattered but do you think you ought to get out more
On reflection you were probably right about the tagline, and I’m happy with the new one so far so thank you for improving me!
Skinny latte for me please….