Because I don't get enough of it for no good reason. The truth is that I'm a night owl living in an early bird world, but lately it's probably more accurate to say I'm a night owl in denial about the world I live in. I kind of stumbled across this idea while talking with iamlittlei a few weeks back, and there was the fit-teacher post about keystone habits, but I've been letting it season.
Something like: "I probably shouldn't complain about [mornings], because I have the power to change it if I want to."
Mornings suck. I don't like them, not during the week. Which is frustrating, because I enjoy them on the weekend -- I get up when the house is quiet, feed the pups, before settling in with coffee and toast and a blanket and a book. It is the epitome of calm and bliss. Granted, this all happens two or three hours after my Monday through Friday six a.m. wake up.
But here is the thing: I make my mornings worse than they need to be. If I put in the hours of my head on a pillow, eyes closed, and brain on rest mode, if I made these hours a priority, everything else would be like dominoes.
I could carve out a shortened version of my weekend mornings during the week.
My days could start better; I could be more present with my first period.
The morning rush could turn into a morning of calm.
I haven't found my workout groove, because I'm always tired. If I wasn't, I could.
I can't be positive any or all of these changes are possible, because I've not experienced them since I started teaching normal hours. I had an amazing routine when I worked for the night school; I need to find a new one, one that works for me now and can possibly continue to work for me.
All that said, I've started doing a thing: I leave my phone downstairs when I go to sleep. So simple, but necessary. I resisted getting a smartphone for the longest time because I didn't want to be too "in touch" -- turns out I was right to worry. Sorry tumblr, I love you, but I don't always need to check you. So the last few days I've plugged it in downstairs and used my real alarm clock to get up in the morning.
This morning, on a delay schedule, I got to work fifteen minutes early. I woke up thirty minutes earlier than I needed to and only hit snooze once. I was well rested; I never felt rushed.
In his book The Power of Habit, author Charles Duhigg explains how certain habits we make can greatly impact our entire lifestyle. These habits, he explains, are “keystone habits”, and they have these three things in common:
1. They create small wins - they are measurable, small things that you can check off to give you a sense of victory. This way you start to have confidence that you can accomplish things and momentum builds.
2. They create new platforms - keystone habits aren’t ultimate goals, but they allow us to build upon them. For example, if my goal is to go to the gym first thing in the morning, I’ll probably need to drink more water, thus stay more hydrated throughout the day and eat less as a result.
3. They create a culture in which excellence [or other virtues] are possible - if you are able to succeed at these habits, they get you into the mindset that you will succeed at the other things you’re attempting, despite the obstacles.
If you want to read more about keystone habits [and even more importantly, the cue-routine-reward “habit loop” that you find yourself in], click here [.pdf link, but it’s legit].
So starting today and going through February, the Fit-Teacher challenge is this: identify three keystone habits in your life that you want to begin [make at least one of them related to wellness!] and post weekly about how well you’re doing at purposefully creating that habit. At the end of February, we’ll do a big celebration post with all the new keystone habits we’ve created.
Tag your posts with #3Habits [no space, because the spaced tag is so full of random stuff] and as always, #fit teacher. If you’re not a teacher, still join us! Let’s see what culture of success we can create in a month in our own lives!
