- Sleeping early
- Working out first thing in the morning before work
- Scheduling… My entire day! GAH!
Starting w/ 1 & 2…
Sleeping early and working out first thing in the morning was something I dabbled with in 2014/2015—I actually had a pretty long streak with it (& a stint in 2012).
The funny thing is when I think about it, each time it was motivated by feeling REALLY frustrated with an aspect of my life and wanting a dramatic change really badly—whether it was personal or professional (& really it was a little bit of both).
Sleeping early and working out first thing in the morning will do that—get you a drastic change.
It’s weird it feels like you’ve made a BIG change (at least it did for me) after only 2 or so days of doing it—crazy right? And if you keep it up (I’ve “fallen off the wagon” a few times, but got back on) you DO make a dramatic change, off of 2 simple changes: sleeping early & working out early—first thing in the morning (after I take Minty out to potty lol).
It’s a whole mindset shift—if your health & wellness & fitness are important to you, by working out first thing in the morning, you start your day completing something that’s important to you, which feels great!
You also get a burst of energy & endorphins for your day.
& as Elle Woods says in Legally Blonde, “Endorphins make you happy.”
Okay, so that’s habit 1 & 2. How about 3?
3 is an interesting one…
This took me longer to realize/absorb/appreciate.
I’ve never really been one to want to schedule everything, especially not my whole day. If this was 1-2 years ago I’d probably say “yuck”. Actually, I’m pretty sure of it because I like to feel free.
You know what’s freeing?
Planning your schedule before someone else does it for you.
It feels so good to go to bed knowing you’re going to do something that’s important to you the next day… & the day after… & so on.
You go to sleep excited to wake up and start the day.
That’s how it feels for me. Give it a try & see how you feel. If you schedule your day YOU get to decide where your time goes.
Also, it helps you understand how much available time you have or don’t have on a day. Like Saturday you may be going to a 2-hour+ event from 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. and you’re planning to go to IKEA and one other store but when you schedule it you realize that means you won’t be home until 4 p.m. (true story lol)—or you might realize “Wow! I have all this time on Sunday to work on my personal business/side business I’m trying to grow and do my nails/whiten my teeth/etc (also a true story lol).
And you start to create patterns for yourself… HABITS. I don’t know if it’s because it makes scheduling easier, to have reoccurring events/activities (lol kidding, kind of) but since scheduling has helped me build positive habits it makes it EVEN easier for me to live the life I love—to live intentionally! & that’s amazing. If you want I’ll share what a typical week looks for me. LMK if you’re interested?
Okay, off to get ready for bed! It’s on my schedule ; )
<3,
Bita
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