Are you a morning person? I can say I am generally a morning person. I cannot stay up too late, normally not past 11 pm. When you think about morning person, what time do you have in mind that this morning person wakes up? Last time, I would think it is about 6am. Many would think this is early enough. However, that is not the case for me. There was a period of time that I started to wake at 5 am. You may have read about the benefits of waking up 5am so you have more time in the morning to be productive. My waking up at 5am actually had nothing much to do with being productive. It was purely to fit into my husband’s schedule because he requires to travel to work early to avoid the traffic jam. He basically drops me off at my campus on his way to work.
The first few weeks during this period was hard. Forcing myself to wake up early requires a lot of efforts and disciplines. It totally changed my habit and routine. In order to get at least 7 hours of sleep, I have to sleep by 9.30pm. That means my night routine is very much different before sleep. I also practice waking up routine for not delaying the physical waking up. You know, once you open your eyes first thing in the morning, you will tend to roll around a bit and shut your eyes. I force myself not to do that. Once I am awake, I force myself to sit up and stretch a bit then go straight to washroom. It was not easy feat but what I have learned so far is things get much better over time, after many repetitions. That is why habit is a continuous process that you have to practice every day, then habit will become a routine that is part of life.
So my waking up at 5am has come to a point that it is now automatic, even I was travelling for work or during the weekends. Although it is not every day of the week that we have to wake up at 5am for work (because he is only required to work at the office 3 days a week while work from home for another 2 days), my body still wakes up automatically around that time. Of course, there will be days that I stay a bit later on bed but will still wake up by 5.30 am or 6 am. For the past year, I rarely wake up past 6am. Sometimes I feel like I want to stay longer at bed but my body is telling me otherwise and automatically wakes me up around the same time every day. It is amazing what a habit can do.
Nowadays, it is even earlier as my husband adjusted his traveling schedule to work. It is 4.30am now. It is not as hard as I first started for 5am but the harder part is adjusting my sleeping time before 9am and most times I could not do that and I only got 6 hours of sleep on some days. Surprisingly, I did not get too tired during the day often. I guess my habit of workout in the evening does really help. Of course, coffee is a must too to help me stay alert during the day. I also do a bit of light exercise in the morning. Stretching is very important for aging body.
My current morning routine is not much different for waking up time but I have changed what I do in the morning up until 7.30am. I have started a routine of scheduling the focus time between 6.30 – 7.30am with writing and reading. There are times that the schedule changes a bit depending his days either work at office or home. On days he works at office, I will reach campus by 6am. So my focus time will be at my office. On days he works from home, I will still go campus before 9am, so my focus time will be at home. I try my best to stay consistent with my focus time between 6 – 8am. As I get ready to start, I will put on music (now I have new cool blue earbuds so I am using that to enjoy good sound without noise from surrounding, though it is normally quiet in the morning except sound from him busy in the washroom). Music is important to me. It is like a ritual to help me start focus time.
So once I am ready, I start a Pomodoro counter and start typing on OneNote on topics I prepared the night before. I find it easier to have a topic planned for each day so I have something to write about. I still remember my first day trying to start writing. I had no idea what I wanted to write so I was really just rambling on random things that came to mind. Writing is also similar to exercise. It may be hard at the beginning but the more times spent on it, things get easier and you will start to enjoy it. The most important thing now is to incorporate it as part of our routine and make it easy to do, then the new habit will stick longer. Do not do it as you feel like it. It never works. Whether you like it or not, just plan it as part of your routine then you will automatically do it. Success rate is higher that way.
When I first started consistently working out, my stamina was so bad. My walking speed was only 2-3 mph and it was so hard to complete 30 minutes. As I continue with it almost every day, I can see my speed improves, now it’s a brisk for 4-5 mph and I can walk up to 1 hour. After that, I started to add weight training and I also tried different workout machine. My goal is the same, to workout at least 5 days a week for at least 30 minutes a day. Incorporating a working routine to daily life is very important. I am no longer thinking about achieving great goal instantly, although it is important to have an ultimate goal such as better healthy or losing weight.
The key now is consistency which means habit and routine play an essential role. I accept the fact that starting small is not a bad thing. What keep us going is willpower and consistency. Right now, I do not even think motivation has much effect. Maybe motivation is still necessary but what make me continue my routine is purely something automatic now and it is part of my daily routine. It may start with motivation to lose weight and keep my blood pressure in check but right now what make me keep going is definitely not motivation. It has become part of my life, that is all.
Jenn's Studious Life 