Words I have seen other people pick include things like:

• Dedication
• Progress
• Clarity
• Focus
• Thrive
• Fearless

My word does not fit in this list at all. But I am sure it is the exactly perfect word for me right now.

A lot of things came together for me that just made this snap into place.

I love how sometimes I read or learn things that don’t seem to make much difference at the time and yet later sometimes those things make a big impact.

• I’ve seen some different things people have said about the new year and goals in various places.
• I saw a couple of people asking about what others’ words for the year were.
• I got an email that mentioned that one thing people screw up when planning for the New Year is not making plans for how they will respond in a month or two or six when they lose motivation and don’t feel like working on their goals anymore.
• Another email mentioned how showing up is the most important part of habit formation.
• Then I read this story about a marathon runner from 5am Joel. If you want the rest of what I’m writing to make sense, you seriously have read the story. Sort of a sappy type of story but for whatever reason something about the concept of it resonated with me.

After reading that story something clicked in my brain and I decided that crawl would be my word.

One reason I like this concept is because of some of the challenges I’ve been facing

One of my big challenges is parenting a four year-old. I love my son and parenting is a high priority for me. It also takes a massive amount of time and energy and I do sometimes wish I had more left over to make progress on personal and career goals.

And sometimes I just don’t have the energy for things even when I have the time for them. Maybe some of this is the general level of stress from the last few years with a particular world wide health issue that shall not be named today. Maybe it’s reading too many stressful news stories and worrying about things I can’t control.

Other times I feel like I just don’t have the togetherness. Like if I had the right plan and the right motivation I could make x, y and z happen but seriously all I want to do is curl up with a good book.

SO while maybe I’d like to make MASSIVE PROGRESS or BIG CHANGES, the reality is that it’s just not going to happen right now. In the mean time, I can make small steps, little changes and slow progress. And maybe if I focus on that the changes, steps and progress will add up more quickly than I might think. Which leads me to a belief…

CRAWLING is a powerful step.

Crawling can have negative connotations. But I’m a parent. I watched my son as a baby. I watched him learn to crawl. He crawled all over the house, the yard, and anywhere else he was turned loose.

At first he was slow and awkward, but it didn’t take that long before he could seriously HAUL ASS while crawling.

It’s deceptive too. Because It’s not just crawling. It’s learning how to navigate, strengthening muscles and building a sense of confidence and agency. Crawling is literally the foundation to learning how to walk and to run.

So maybe in a figurative sense I can learn and grow by aiming to make slow progress on things. I can build habits of showing up and accomplishing small chunks that feel doable. I can trick my brain into getting started on things and then maybe discover that once I’m started continuing is easier.

The idea is to build easy habits that are so easy I don’t quit doing them because I don’t have the energy. I want to build in small things that I can really stick to. I want to make it OK to do 2 minutes of something and make a little progress and actually tell myself that’s a positive step instead of thinking about all that is left.

So now that my theory about this is out of the way, let’s hit on some of the specific ways I plan to apply this.

Specific daily habits I’m thinking about based on the CRAWL mentality

I thought I’d share a few examples of how I will incorporate this. One of those is working on little habits that are designed to help me make a little progress towards my most important goals.

• Writing for this site for 5 minutes a day. Blogging is one of those things that has fallen by the wayside since B was born. While I can say I want to do it, I don’t actually do it. Like having not been doing it has created inverse momentum. “An object at rest…” and all that. But surely I can manage 5 minutes a day.
• Eating a vegetable with a meal. In my habit app, I made this as three separate habits so that I can get an easy win with each meal of the day. I know that eating healthy is super important but that can be elusive. This gives me easy, concrete goals. (And a bit of an extra push to counteract the struggle of knowing that B won’t eat most veggies so why bother? Um… because they’re good for ME.)
• Doing two minutes of strength exercises in the morning. I can do anything for 2 minutes.
• Cleaning off my desk each morning. My whole house might not get cleaner, but at least I can have a space that is cleaner.
• Remembering to enjoy story time. This is a parenting goal for me. Sometimes by the time the worst of the bedtime routine (i.e. the tooth-brushing battle) is over I just feel grumpy and harassed and can’t wait to be done. But that’s not the sort of parent I want to be. I want to enjoy reading stories to my kiddo and take time to appreciate that time. Reading books is really one of my favoritest things that I want to share with my son.

There are a few other habits I haven’t mentioned here and perhaps I’ll add more throughout the year as these ones become a little more ingrained. But CRAWL is my word for my year, so I want it to be more than a few habits. I want to bring it to mind on a frequent basis to figure out how I can make just a little progress towards the things I want.

I hope to use this as a mantra to remind myself to just make small amounts of progress, to keep going when I don’t feel like it and to appreciate my little accomplishments.

The post Crawl appeared first on Live Hoppy.

31 days. 4 states. 200+ miles.

In July I did the 30 day ride challenge hosted by Trailforks and Anthill Films. The challenge was simple: ride each day, including at least one full trail as mapped on Trailforks.

Tijeras, New Mexico trails

My month started off with lots of rides close to home. Luckily, I live close to some of the best mountain biking trails in New Mexico.

I tried to ride some different trails and extend my reach a bit, but there were also a lot of days when I just rode my favorite loop.

While I still can’t ride one difficult section of my fave trail, by the end of the month, I did get to where I could ride the entirety of the rest of the trail which felt like a huge accomplishment.

One thing I’ve noted before about New Mexico is that our roads and our waterways tend to be one and the same. This means it’s a really good thing it doesn’t rain that often.

Out in the desert, we just drive in the arroyos which are normally dry and our towns and cities generally lack good flood planning so when it rains, the streets just flood. Now, I have come to realize that this might also apply to bike trails.

Pagosa Springs, Colorado

I also made a trip to visit an old friend and some family. So I took my bike along and made some people babysit B for me each day so I could go ride. Priorities, right?

Farmington, New Mexico

Farmington is my other hometown. My mom lives there and I went to college there. But I didn’t mountain bike when I lived there, so the excellent mountain bike trails were something of a surprise. A pleasant one.

I was out to ride early on the two days I went on these trails and the sunrises were amazing. Also, sweeping views and bushes that smell like home. And crazy fun bike trails. Not the gnarly, rocky, hardcore trails I’m used to. Smooth, flowy, trails with little bitty hills that are just big enough to be a ton of fun but not a ton of work to pedal up.

One of the joys of this challenge was biking in places I wouldn’t have otherwise tried. Most of the time when I travel, I leave my bike at home, but I may rethink that.

Aztec, New Mexico

I also went for one ride outside of Aztec, New Mexico: The Alien Run. It was a blast. I’m totally riding it again next time I’m in the area.

After my trip, I returned home for a few days and then it was off on another adventure. This time for work, but with a bicycle stop thrown in on the journey.

Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Texas

My last ride of the 30 day challenge was at Palo Duro Canyon, which has more pictures than it’s fair share for only one ride.

I have a thing for State Parks with cabins because I wish I lived in an RV and traveled everywhere, but I don’t actually have an RV right now so I need alternative accommodations.

I’m all for tents under some circumstances, but July in Texas is not a circumstance where I’m all for living without an AC and a shower. Also, business trips and tents don’t really go that well together.

Anyway, on this trip, I was staying at the Lighthouse cabin on the rim of the canyon which made me feel a sort of obligation to make it out to my cabin’s namesake and the park icon: The Lighthouse Formation.

I was at the trailhead for this ride before the sun was up. But it was still by far the hottest ride of the month. By nine in the morning, I was totally miserable. Still, my ride through the canyon was worth it for the cool views and the neat rocks.

Tulsa, Oklahoma

So after doing the 30 day challenge, I figured I was only 1 day away from riding every day in July. So I went out for the 31st day in Tulsa.

I loved discovering the Turkey Mountain wilderness area because it is a great pocket of nature in the city. But I felt sad I hadn’t discovered it sooner since I’ve been traveling to Tulsa for work for the past 12 or so years.

The only downside was that it was just so humid. I am not at all used to the humidity and I suffered from it, feeling all wet and sweaty and gross and also missing the cooling effect that happens when sweat can actually evaporate.

Miscellaneous

First off, a few real selfies:

Fitting in a ride every day was tough. Sometimes I rode at sunrise, other times at sunset. A lot of my rides ended up being mid-day because afternoon thunderstorms ruled out the afternoons and left the trails too wet in the morning. Riding during the hottest part of the day was not my idea of ideal. But it happened and I’m so proud I rode every day.

This challenge was amazing. My strength and endurance improved. I lost weight. I saw some amazing places. I pushed through the days that it was tough. And I’m super pleased with myself.

The post 31 Days of Mountain Biking in Pictures appeared first on Live Hoppy.

Yep, this time around I finished the Whole30!!

I’ll jump right into the improvements and good things I’ve noticed:

• I feel more optimistic about my health. I don’t 100% feel like I’m ‘there’, but I feel like I’m definitely on the right path. I’m closer to ‘there’ than I was 2 months ago. I also recognize that living a healthy lifestyle is not a goal you reach and then you’re done. It’s ongoing.
• I have fewer cravings for sugar and carbs.
• My acne is like 98% better. (If only I could have had this when I was like 17.) I have had problems with acne since I was a teenager and after bouts with all the different soaps and a dermatologist, I had just sort of settled into accepting it. I have to wonder what else is better inside my body that I can’t see.
• My clothes fit better. I went down a size in pants. I’m definitely a little leaner.
• I’ve learned more about cooking and found a couple of new recipes that I will definitely keep in rotation.
• My energy levels are more even throughout the day.
• I no longer feel STARVING hungry when I go a few hours without eating. I get hungry, but it’s not such an overwhelming feeling and it doesn’t affect me emotionally making me irritable or cranky.
• I mostly eat three solid meals every day. Some days I also have a small snack. No more grazing all day.
• It just feels satisfying when I make myself a healthy meal. It makes me feel like I’m taking good care of myself.
• It’s even more satisfying to make B healthy meals. I made no attempt to make him go Whole30. He goes from being fine to melting down because he’s hungry so I end up prioritizing convenience sometimes when feeding him. He doesn’t get much in the way of the worst food options out there like McDonald’s and ice cream, but he definitely gets things like graham crackers that are ready RIGHT NOW. His diet contains a disproportionate number of bananas. Even though I wasn’t feeding him completely Whole30, I certainly fed him healthier meals while doing this because it was what I was cooking and eating anyway and that really does make me feel good.
• Made a habit of keeping the kitchen clean. This was my second Whole30 and on my first one, I made a rule to do the dishes after EVERY meal. It’s my one rule that’s not actually part of the official program, but I almost feel like it should be. It is so much easier to want to cook something healthy when the kitchen is clean. So I kept this rule for my second Whole30 and have enjoyed a sparkling kitchen.

There were also some things that I wanted to improve or to improve more than they did.

B started day care in January and he brings home all sorts of germs so we’ve all been sick a lot. January brought the stomach flu and February we’ve all had some sort of cold or flu. Actually, I strongly suspect we were hit with like six different cold viruses at once. I have been sick basically all month.

This was not what I imagined for my Whole30. I was hoping for extra energy, optimism for each day, and being physically active. Instead it turned into boxes of kleenex, Costco-sized boxes of cold medicine, staying home with a sick kid and waking up in the middle of the night with a painful, raspy cough.

While most people report better energy, better sleep, and being more active on a Whole30, that just didn’t happen for me at all. I don’t blame the Whole30, I blame being sick. But I’m still a little disappointed.

I am considering extending my Whole30 to give myself some time on it while not being sick to see if the rest of the improvements I hoped for will show up.

Also, my sugar cravings are better, but not as much better as I might like. I do claim full responsibility for that though because I know I ate too many Chocolate Sea Salt RXbars along the way. These are technically compliant, but totally not recommended because they reinforce the cycle of craving-reward that comes with sugar addiction.

Weight loss

One of the Whole30 rules is to not step on the scale for the 30 days. This is perhaps one of the hardest because of the desire to know if it’s “working”. The idea is that there is so much more to gain from eating healthy than a number on the scale and that by not weighing-in, a person will focus on the other benefits instead of being distracted by a number.

I think this is good reasoning. I also think that there is a lot of ‘noise’ in data that comes from weight. It’s normal for a person’s weight to fluctuate throughout a day or a week. That normal fluctuation is greater than the amount of weight one is going actually really lose in that time period. Frequent data points don’t actually give a clearer picture of what is happening.

The Whole30 is not supposed to be about losing weight. But for me, and I’m sure for tons of other people, that really was one of my goals.

I’m writing this on Day 30, so technically, I still have to wait until tomorrow until my program is really over to weigh myself. I’m dying of curiosity for the number.

I will also take it in stride. I know that some of my other life-style factors weren’t lined up. I was sick which is a big physical stress and also meant I was pretty sedentary and I wasn’t sleeping well. Stress, lack of exercise and not sleeping well are not a good combination for weight loss.

I basically expect that I lost a little weight. It probably won’t be a miraculous number and I might be a little disappointed or maybe I’ll just be glad that it went down instead of up. I’ll have more to go before I’m at my ideal weight. I’m OK with that. I know I’m on the right path and that if I stick to my healthy eating, I’m confident that I’ll get there.

Thirty days can make a big difference, but it is still only 30 days. Being healthy is a lifelong process. Nothing I can do in 30 days will solve my health for a lifetime. It CAN and DID get me heading in the right direction.

Going Forward

One of the big parts of the Whole30 (and one that often gets overlooked) is the reintroduction process. They recommend a careful reintroduction plan so that people can really learn how the foods they eliminated affect them. The idea is not to eliminate these foods forever, but to take a break from them and then to try them again to see the impact.

I’m pretty sure that I don’t have any really strong reactions to any food groups. I’m not lactose intolerant. I don’t have a big problem with gluten. Eating anything once doesn’t seem to be a big deal for me. I do know that consistently eating those things IS a big deal.

I may also have more subtle things that are a little harder to tie to specific foods. My acne for example. From what I’ve read, most likely it’s a reaction to dairy or gluten. But it doesn’t happen the second I drink a glass of milk or eat a slice of bread. Either it’s a delayed reaction or it is a cumulative result of a certain amount of those foods.

I really need to take some time and experiment with those things. Really, the Whole30 is meant to be one big self-experiment. It’s not about following somebody else’s advice on what to eat, but about learning how different foods affect YOU.

I want to remember how good I feel doing this. I want to come back to it if (when) my diet goes too far off again. I want the time between my second and third Whole30s to be much shorter than the time between my first and second ones.

If my energy starts slumping, or I start gaining weight, or my acne returns, I want to make the connection that it’s because of what I am eating. (I know this is hard because I might not want to stop eating sugary cereal six meals a day.)

I just want to keep getting closer to a diet and lifestyle that helps me feel my best. I feel like I am so much closer to this than I was two months ago.

(I say two months instead of one month, because I had a few weeks of Whole30 in January too. See My January Whole30 Fail. While I didn’t make it the full 30 days, I do think that it helped to get me back on track.)

Yep, I’m actually publishing this post without waiting for that final number to include in it. Which would drive me nuts as a reader because when I look for the Whole30 posts with before and after photos and with numbers. I also don’t have photos because taking pictures of myself in my underwear when I feel like I need to change my eating in order to lose weight is so just not going to happen. Sorry to disappoint.

The post My February Whole30 Win appeared first on Live Hoppy.

It has to do with making it easy and appealing to prepare the things you eat.

And it’s simple:  WASH THE DISHES!!

This means wash the dishes after EVERY meal.  Wash the dishes whenever there are ANY dirty dishes.  Then wipe the counters down too.

A clean kitchen makes it so much easier to prepare a nice meal or a healthy snack.  You don’t have to work around the dirty dishes.  Any dish, pan or utensil that you need is already clean and ready to use.

Making it easy to stick to your eating goals makes you much more likely to be successful.

Plus, when you’re not surrounded by a mess, it is easier to make good decisions and this includes decisions about what to eat.

It does take a certain amount of willpower to make washing the dishes after each meal a habit if you’re new to it.  I admit that it is something that sometimes I’m good about and other times, not so much.  When I stick to it I feel so much better.  Knowing that a clean kitchen awaits is an amazing feeling.  And knowing that there are dirty dishes soaking in now cold water in the sink is depressing.

It’s important to do everything you can to make reaching a goal easier.  It’s strange, but even things that just make something seem easier are helpful.

For example, if your goal is to go to the gym, having your bag all ready to go and your workout clothes laid out can make a huge difference.  Getting the gym bag and clothes ready isn’t really a hard task.  Even so, having it done makes going to the gym feel easier.

Having a clean kitchen makes cooking or preparing food so much easier.  That means you’re more likely to eat good food too.

The post The one diet tip nobody mentions appeared first on Live Hoppy.

It’s important to have powerful reasons for pursuing a goal.  So, I’ll start with my reasons:  

• My sugar addiction was taking over.  I was constantly craving sugar.  I felt obsessed.
• Eating way too many Costco cheesecakes, donuts, sweet cereal, and tons of other sweet stuff.
• Not losing the baby weight.
• Knowing that how I eat affects the people around me too- baby B directly as he’s breastfeeding, but also as he sees my behavior.  And S directly too as I do almost all of the grocery shopping.
• Becoming increasingly aware of research showing the bad effects of eating sugar- heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and lots of other yucky stuff.  (I won’t get into details or siting research here: you can Google about it if you want.)
• The first several months of motherhood have been absolutely amazing in many ways, but the effects on my diet is not one of those ways.  After baby B was born, my sleep schedule was crazy, my hormones were out of whack, and I felt extremely hungry due to the caloric requirements of breastfeeding.  I was turning to sweet snacks at all hours.  (Sleep plays a huge part in food cravings.)
• Knowing that eating sugar causes spikes in blood sugar, insulin production to counter those strikes followed by a drop in blood sugar and more sugar cravings.  Basically one awful cycle.
• Striving for a healthy diet can be difficult.  There is little agreement even in what is healthy.  Processed sugar is not recommended as healthy by any of the different camps.  It has no nutrients and no nutritional benefits.  So it seems like the perfect place to start (or the perfect thing to end) in pursuing healthier eating.

I have very specific rules for my goal.  The reason for this is that it’s much easier to have goals with very well-defined guidelines.  This means that there is no gray area about what is OK or not.  There are no decisions to be made because you already know whether or not something is OK.

What’s Out (Lots of obvious stuff)

• Refined sugar in all it’s forms: honey, syrup, high fructose corn syrup, brown sugar.
• Products that contain the above, with a few exceptions listed below.
• Sweets: cheesecake, ice cream, donuts, cake, pie, cinnamon rolls, etc.
• Jellies and jams
• Cereal with any amount of sugar in it

What’s In (Sugar is pervasive in our culture and many items that don’t seem like they should have sugar do.  I am not looking to make this super hard on myself, so some things that aren’t really intended to be sweets but commonly have some sugar in them are OK.  So bagels are fine, but cinnamon raisin bagels that are intended to be sweet aren’t.)

• Bread, tortillas, bagels
• Tomato sauce
• Bacon and lunch meat
• Fruit

What’s Grey

Grey areas are BAD when it comes to making good goals.  But fruit juice is the one thing that is still in a grey area for me.  It’s not out-right banned, but I don’t want to buy and drink lots of juice just because it’s delicious and sweet and everything else is out.

The main rule is simple: no buying this stuff on the what’s out list or ordering it at restaurants.  This isn’t meant to be about having to use lots of will power or to make my life more complicated.

But there are a few fine details:

It’s OK for me to buy sugar for others.  if I’m buying and somebody else orders a soda at lunch, it’s OK for me to buy their soda.  This isn’t about forcing my decisions on others or being socially weird.

It’s OK to eat the sugar that is already in the house.  And there is a surprising amount of it – syrup, honey, powdered sugar, chocolate syrup, a couple of half-eaten dark chocolate bars, some sugar cubes, and a little bit of good old-fashioned refined white sugar.   The sugar that is in the house will slowly disappear and it won’t be replaced.  (The brown sugar is already all gone, the syrup bottle doesn’t have much left, the chocolate syrup is on the decline.  Mmmm… chocolate milk.)

It’s OK to eat sugar that is provided at other people’s houses.  If I go to eat at somebody’s else’s house and desert is served, I’m under no obligation to decline.

There are also six special occasions that are exempt: three birthdays and three other special occasions.  This is not about depriving baby B of cake when he turns one.

The design

I have very carefully chosen all of the rules for this.  I have had different goals throughout my life and I’ve tried to pay lots of attention to which strategies work for me and which don’t.  It’s important to keep in mind that different strategies work for different people.  Maybe some of my strategies would work for you and maybe not.  What I want to convey to you, my reader, is that it’s important to tailor your goals to the strategies that work for you and experiment with different strategies if you don’t know what works for you.

I know that my will power is limited.  I have a lot going on in my life and I don’t want to be spending my will power on my diet choices multiple times a day.  By deciding to not buy sugar, the times when will power is required are limited to when I’m at the store or at a restaurant.

What I buy is the single biggest influence on my diet.  If I’m looking in the fridge for a snack, I can’t eat something that isn’t there.

I need something that is a slow, meaningful, long-term change. I did a Whole30 a few years back and it left me feeling amazing. (In a nutshell- no sugar, no dairy, no grains, no preservatives.  Lots of veggies, meat, eggs, fish, healthy fat and a little fruit.  No cheating.  30 days.)  It did change the way I thought about food and the way I ate for  along time.  But sugar slowly crept back into my diet and eventually took over again.  I know other people that have done Whole30s and once the 30 days is up, the sugar starts creeping back in for them too.

I don’t need something like a 30 day reset.  I need something much longer.  Maybe even more than a year, but we’ll see how things are at the end of the year.  Hopefully my habits have changed enough by then that I just sort of continue on with much-reduced sugar consumption in my life.  Maybe I’ll continue on with these same rules after the year is up.

One month in

This first month has been less of an extreme change than I expected, largely due to the large amount of sugar products lurking around the house.  It has been a gradual change.  There is still a lot of sugar in my diet, but as we use up the sweet things around the house, it is decreasing.

I have already noticed some subtle differences.  When I do eat sugar, I am more mindful about eating it, savoring it and really enjoying it.  There was a small bottle of root beer in the fridge that S and I split the other day.  I poured it into a couple of glasses with ice for us.  I really enjoyed drinking it.  It felt like a healthy way to have sugar: a small amount that I consciously savored.  It was very different than compulsively eating three giant pieces of cheesecake in a day.

I had too much sugar and not enough real food at a birthday party a couple of weeks ago, and it left me feeling sick.  I took this as a healthy sign that my body is adjusting to less sugar.

One of the special occasions that is exempt was yesterday.  I bought a cheesecake for it the day before.  S and I did not completely devour the cheesecake in two days.  We did each have a slice of it the day I bought it rather than waiting for the day it was for.  I have not had more than one slice in a day.  It is a distractingly tempting thing to have in the fridge and I’d like to have a piece for breakfast.  I’ll have some sort of real food instead though because I am being more mindful of my sugar consumption.  Once it’s gone, I will be unreasonably sad but also relieved.

For now, I am off to have not-cheesecake for breakfast.   Some time in the next year, I’ll try to provide an update on how this is going.  In the mean time, I hope that I’ve encouraged you to think carefully about what sorts of strategies work for you when you make goals.

The post No Buying Sugar for a Year – Plus Thoughts on Designing Goals appeared first on Live Hoppy.

This year, I did something a bit different.  Once I finished my list, I picked the one thing from each area that would make the biggest difference and decided to focus on those things.  The other things in each area are still sort of out there.  Maybe I’ll get to them, maybe I won’t.

I’m going to be SURE to get to the most important thing in each area.

(I think it’s really important to spend a bit of time really defining where we want to go in life.  I also think that trying different strategies for reaching goals and refining these strategies based on what works for us is important.  I may make another post soon explaining exactly how I picked some of these goals.  Some of them (like my food goal for the year) I’ve designed very carefully from what I’ve learned about what works for me.)

Updated to add: Check out No Buying Sugar for a Year- Plus Thoughts on Designing Goals.

Most important things for 2018

1. I want to focus on getting outside with Baby B… hiking and going on walks.  I want to get sunshine, get out in nature and take B places.
2. My big food goal for 2018 is to not buy any sugar or sugar-substitutes (honey, syrup, etc.) or products with these things.  Birthdays excepted.
3. Spend focused time and PLAY with Baby B.
4. By the end of the year, I want to have an app on the Play Store.
5. Write lots for Live Hoppy and maybe for other projects or just for me personally.
6. Schedule productive work time.  Get stuff done.
7. Get something done with my Socorro house.
8. Track all expenses and regularly go through my accounts, paying bills, keeping credit cards paid, etc.
9. Spend time with friends and family.
10. Listen to my inner self and tap into the things that I already know and have learned.
11. Find silence and prioritize yoga, meditation, prayer, nature & journaling.

I also have two goals that are on my list that I’m choosing not to share publicly.

Turning goals into actions

I want to keep my focus on these things on a daily basis.  I know that I won’t hit every one every day, but I don’t want any of them to fall off of the radar for too long.

I took my list of goals from above and turned them into habits.  For example, my goal to make an app is reflected in the habit of spending time programming (or learning to program) each day or most days, or some days or something like that.  The only big goal that didn’t make it onto my habit list was doing something with my Socorro house.  It’s still a goal for me this year, but not something that needs to be on the daily list.

Tracking progress

I have started using a habit app to track these things.  It’s called Loop (currently only available for Android).  There’s lots of great habit/streak apps out there, but I particularly like this one for a few reasons.

Loop has a habit strength score that is the focus rather than focusing on the length of unbroken streaks.  A couple of missed days doesn’t make a big difference in the strength score for a habit, but a lot of missed days does.  The other reasons that I like Loop is that it is open source, free, the design is simple yet slick and there are no annoying adds or in-app purchases.

I know that I won’t get everything done each day, but by tracking it, I can easily identify if I’ve let something slip for too many days.  It also keeps these things in focus so if I have 20 minutes at the end of the day, I can see what last thing I can knock off the list.

The post 2018 Goals appeared first on Live Hoppy.

Some bloggers do 30 day challenges or 1-year challenges and write about the profound changes in their life due to whatever they did for that period of time.  What about the rest of us who decide to make a change and just don’t stick to it?  I wanted to take some time and analyze my progress and my energy habits, but also maybe provide some insight in general on creating habits and overcoming the difficulties to doing so.

Letting go of perfection

One thing that gets me is when I’m not perfect about doing something.  I feel discouraged with some of my energy habits because I haven’t done them EVERY day.  I have been tracking which ones I do (more on that in a minute) and my success rate for my new habits ranges from 35% for the worst one and 95% for the best.  I feel like these should all be 100s.

The pursuit of perfection has it’s advantages, but it’s not always helpful.  In fact, when focusing on it, it can be just the opposite.  That element of discouragement for not being perfect can make a person just give up.  A more useful way of looking at these things is to realize all of the times I have done these beneficial activities that I wouldn’t have done were I not trying to make them habits.

Expecting too much too soon

Developing new habits can be hard.  Even things that are simple to do can be tough to turn into real habits.  From my experience, things that I stick with tend to stick in the long run.  While I am transitioning into the new habit, I may not be perfect at it or may not do it every day.  Still, each time I do the activity, it strengthens those pathways in my brain and helps to develop it into a habit.  Really, it doesn’t matter if I miss a day or a few days of something.

In my current situation, a month long challenge is a good way to start developing habits that I want, but in the long run, a month isn’t going to change my life.  If these are things that are important to me and I stick to it, I’ll get better at doing them.

Time

Sometimes, it’s not that I don’t want to do my energy habits.  There are just times when the day flies by and some things don’t get done.  (Ironically, sometimes I’ve felt like I didn’t have the energy to do some of my habits for energy too!  For example, the other night, I had no energy for cooking a healthy dinner and ate pizza instead.)  This is really a matter of priorities.  I’m not sure what my approach to overcoming the lack of time thing needs to be in relation to my energy habits.  Maybe prioritizing which ones are the most important to me, perhaps even removing some from the list that I am trying to accomplish.  I may need to go back to letting go of perfection too.

Taking on too much

It’s easy to want to make a lot of changes at once.  There are two ways to take on too much: making too many goals and making goals that are too big.  I have mixed feelings about this because sometimes, making related changes all at one time can be pretty powerful.  Making a big change can be powerful too.  It can also be overwhelming.  Sometimes, it’s better to make small, lasting changes than to take on too much and give up because it’s hard.

One of the new habits I am working on is to get more sunlight.  I set the criteria at getting at least 5 minutes of sunlight 4 times per day.  I am cutting this back to 3 times a day because it makes it easier to accomplish while still keeping the spirit of the goal.  I’m also taking one of the habits off my list entirely.

Motivation

It’s easy to lose touch with our motivation for doing something.  You can read ways to motivate yourself for some ideas on re-motivating.  It’s also worth taking some time to re-examine your reasons for wanting to create a new habit if you’re running up against feeling unmotivated.  Ask yourself if this is REALLY something that you want to be doing.

Lack of results

Sometimes, we may feel like we’re not seeing results from the changes that we’re making.  It may be that we haven’t given it enough time.  It may also be that the changes and results have occurred so gradually that it’s hard to notice the difference.  Some results are easier to see like if one steps on the scale.  Others are harder to judge.  Do I have more energy than I did 3 weeks ago?  Honestly, I’m not entirely sure.  I’m not even sure if I can remember 3 weeks ago all that well.  I’m not sure how to tackle this difficulty really.  Maybe trying to do some sort of evaluation before and after.  Of course, it’s a little late to try that with my energy habits.  If anybody has ideas on this one, feel free to post them in the comments!

Tracking

One thing I do know is that by tracking the habits I am trying to develop, I am much more successful at getting them to stick.  I have a simple app on my phone that I use for this, but a spreadsheet, piece of paper or other method works fine too.  There are times when I do things simply so I can check them off as done on my app.  This helps to provide motivation.  I’ve been using this app for various habits off and on for over a year now, I think.  It’s helped me to realize that sticking with something long term is more important than if I miss a day or a few days.

Making things specific

My least successful habit so far is one I titled ‘Other energy task’.  The idea was to get myself to try new things and see how it went.  It was a good idea, but the problem is that it’s so vague, I just skip over it most days.  The truth is that this isn’t something that will ever be easy to develop into a habit and not something that would likely last past my July energy challenge.  So, I’m just deleting it.  I’d rather focus more on the habits that I’m likely to be successful with.  Specific habits with defined criteria are much easier to develop.

Setting a time for habits

Interestingly, I’ve only missed two days on my ‘cold shower’ goal.  (I haven’t been hardcore enough to just take cold showers, I start them out warm, but do turn the water to as cold as it goes for a minute or two before I get out.)  This isn’t the most fun or the easiest of the things that I want to turn into habits.  But it has a set time.  I know that I have to do it at the end of my shower or I’m not going to get naked and get back in the shower just to force myself to stand under cold water later in the day.  So I do it then because it’s my one chance and I want to be able to mark it off as done for the day.  Setting a specific time for a habit or linking it with another already established habit increases the chances of success.

Keep with it

Sometimes, it’s just a matter of sticking to it.  For me, this is the time when my ‘new’ habits aren’t so new anymore.  They don’t feel exciting now and my initial motivation has leached away.  Still, they’re not yet ingrained enough to be second nature so they still take work.  I know that if I stick with them, I’ll become more used to them and it will get easier.

Appreciating progress

Last but certainly not least, it’s important to appreciate progress.  Tracking helps with this, because it makes it easier to see what one has accomplished.  I may not have been perfect with my new habits, but I have done really well with them so far, especially considering how many I decided to tackle at once.  And I think I really do have just a bit more energy. 

The post Overcoming hurdles to developing new habits appeared first on Live Hoppy.

I admit that some of these things seem a little silly to me.  Silly or not, my plan is to try as many as possible and to approach it with an open mind.  If it works for somebody else, who knows if it might work for me.  It was also interesting to see what an important topic this is to other people as well.  The list of ideas I compiled is below.  I am sure there are tons of other great ideas out there, but I think I have plenty to start with. 

Ideas for increasing energy

• Movement
  • Walk/stretch/refresh (breaks)
  • Headstands
  • Walking
  • Pedometer
  • Stretching/yoga
  • Standing desks
  • Group workout (business setting)
• Food
  • Lemon water, w/ ice
  • Cranberry juice w/ lime juice
  • Healthy Fats
  • Snacks – protein w/ healthy carbs
  • Iron
  • Molasses
  • Teaspoon of bee pollen with coconut oil
  • Drink Apple Cider vinegar- a tablespoon w/ vegetable drink or water
  • Don’t skimp on calories
  • Omega-3 fatty acids
  • Magnesium
  • Avoid Alcohol
  • Spearmint or peppermint gum
• Caffeine
  • tea or coffee
  • Caffeine in small doses
  • Bulletproof coffee OR butter/coconut oil in coffee
  • Quit caffeine
  • Tea rather than coffee
• Sleep
  • Calming pre-bed routine
  • Naps
  • Unplug before bed
  • Make it really dark at night
  • Avoid caffeine too close to bed
• Socialize
  • Talk to someone
  • Work with someone
  • Help somebody with something
• Find your body’s rhythm. Plan to be productive during your best times.
• Play
• Massage
  • Massage your ears
• Meditate
• Take time to get in a positive mindset first thing
• Culture of energy @ business
• Gratitude journal
• Breathing techniques
• Start lucid dreaming with a dream journal
• Develop a good morning routine

The post Googling for energy appeared first on Live Hoppy.

Inspiration

I think my inspiration for this has come from a few different places.  One was reading Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project, which I have mentioned a few times recently.  (A quick, easy read, but though-provoking and enjoyable.)  She spends the first month of her one year project focusing on increasing her energy with the reasoning that doing that will make everything else easier.  That seems like good logic to me.  Also, I listened to an episode of Hal Elrod’s Achieve Your Goals podcast a while back about eating for energy.

My last source of inspiration is more internal.  Last year, I did a Whole 30 (a strict paleo style eating plan) and really felt better when eating super healthy.  It’s been kind of the guideline I aim for in my diet ever since, although I really don’t follow it closely at all.  Recently, I’ve been eating more and more junk and I feel like it’s impacted my energy.  Sometimes, I feel like I’m tired too much of the time.  So, I thought I would take a month and do as many of the habits that I could think of for increasing energy.

Brainstorming habits for energy

Step 1 was pretty simple, just listing out everything I could think of that is supposed to help.  Then I figured out measurable goals for each thing so I can keep track of whether or not I accomplish each one each day.

• Sleep- (Going to bed early and waking up early.  For me, I’ve been pretty good at waking up at 5 most mornings for the last several months, but my bedtimes aren’t consistent and I think I suffer some days because of that.  My goal is to be in bed by 9 and up at 5.)
• Eating healthy- (This is a pretty vague goal, but my definition is to have mostly paleo meals… lots of veggies and some meat, eggs or seafood.)
• Cold showers- (OK, these are hard and I might not even try for them if it weren’t summer time.  For my purposes, it counts if I take a warm shower and turn the water to cold for a few minutes at the end.)
• Get more sunshine- (I have two parts for accomplishing this: opening the blinds in my house and getting at least 5 minutes of sun outside 4 times a day.)
• Take vitamins -(No explanation needed.)
• Exercise- (I’ve already been pretty good about this one, so I’m not really worried about tracking it.  But it’s there as a reminder to me that if I’m dragging to go walk around or move a bit.)
• Drink more water- (At least 8 glasses a day.)
• Tidy up – (Clutter just feels so draining.  My goal for this one is at least 10 minutes of tidying a day.)
• Music – (Either listening to energizing music or playing drums.)
• Yoga- (At least 10 minutes a day.  I’ve noticed that often if I feel exhausted and do an hour of yoga, I feel way less tired afterward.)

Keeping track

Making goals doesn’t do much unless we monitor our progress.  I have an app on my phone for tracking habits that just lets me mark whether or not I accomplish them each day, so I put all of my habits into my app.  This lets me keep track of them and also, viewing the list throughout the day provides a reminder about the things I want to be doing.  Plus, just the act of being able to mark them as accomplished is a bit of extra motivation that can get me to actually do things.

The goal itself feels energizing to me.  I love setting goals and working on new things.  So we’ll see how it goes and I’ll post some updates along the way.

Related

This also led me to search Google for the best habits for more energy and a list of those can be found in the post Googling for energy.  Since some of the ideas involved eating or drinking certain things for energy, I also went shopping for energy.  Also see cultivating passion for energy and learning for energy.

The post Habits for energy appeared first on Live Hoppy.

What is The Miracle Morning?

The Miracle Morning refers both to the book by Hal Elrod and a morning routine that he suggests to start off the day in the best way possible.  Now, if you’re anything like me, you might hear the word ‘morning’ and think this isn’t for you.  It will be worth your time to keep reading.  I never thought of myself as a morning person, but The Miracle Morning changed that for me.   If you’re already a morning person, you will find some ideas here to make your morning even better.

The Miracle Morning suggests waking-up 30-60 minutes earlier than normal and spending that time working on personal development.  There are six specific activities recommended although other things could be added in.  I’ve been practicing The Miracle Morning for the last two months and it has really sparked many positive changes in my life.  More on that below, but first, some cute pictures of Hoppy who has also been doing The Miracle Morning.

Hoppy does The Miracle Morning

(Click on a thumbnail to see the larger version of the picture.)

Getting started

Resources

The Miracle Morning book is the best place to get started with this.  It provides tips on waking up earlier, has details about each recommended activity and reasons behind doing these things.  There are also motivational parts about why doing all of this matters as well as parts on modifying the program to fit individual needs or situations.  You can download two chapters of the book for free on Hal Elrod’s Website.

The Miracle Morning on Amazon (Note:I participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.  I only link to the few products that I would recommend anyway.  I am very selective since I hate ads, thus the lack of any other form of ads on here.)

One thing that I found on his website that I really love is Hal’s Achieve Your Goals podcast.  I have listened to many of the episodes and they are amazing.  I think I love Hal’s podcast even more than I love his book!  Episode 25 is on the S.A.V.E.R.S components of the Miracle Morning and includes some great tips that aren’t in the book.  Also,  at  TMMbook.com  you can download a few things that are suggested in the book including a 30-day guide to getting started.

Tips On Waking Up Earlier

Probably one of the most important parts of The Miracle Morning for me were the tips on waking up earlier.  If it weren’t for these, I probably never would have gotten off the ground with this practice.

• Set your intentions before bed.  Imagine yourself waking up well-rested and excited for the day.  Don’t set yourself up to feel bad with thoughts like “I’m going to feel so tired tomorrow morning.  I only have 6 hours until my alarm goes off!”
• Place your alarm clock across the room.  This way, you have to get out of bed and can’t just hit snooze and fall back asleep.
• Brush your teeth.  The simple act of doing this helps to get you in motion.  Plus it’s simple enough you can do it while still half asleep.
• Drink a full glass of water.  This helps you to re-hydrate after not drinking anything for several hours while sleeping.
• Take a shower or get dressed.  This way, you’re ready for the day.  Dressing in workout clothes is recommended since exercise is part of the next part.

S.A.V.E.R.S.

S.A.V.E.R.S  is the acronym used for the six key activities that are recommended.  These include:

• Silence.  Spending time meditating, praying, reviewing things your grateful for or other similar activities.
• Affirmations.  Time spent practicing positive affirmations about how you want your life to be.
• Visualization.   Spending time picturing your day going smoothly, meeting your goals or similar things.
• Exercise.  Yep, we all know what this is.  Benefits of doing it in the morning include increased energy through-out the day.
• Reading.  Reading self-help books, motivational books, spiritual books or other books to help meet goals or further personal growth.
• Scribing (Writing).  Reflecting on accomplishments, listing things your grateful for, setting goals or writing down your thoughts.

My experience with The Miracle Morning

Here are some of my thoughts from along the way.

Day 1- Getting started

Recently, I started reading The Miracle Morning.  I thought I would give it a shot for 30 days.  I may modify things to fit my life a little after that, but I wanted to try it pretty much as outlined in the book to start with.  After all, I may find things that work that I never would have tried otherwise.  The whole point is to try something new rather than to keep doing things like I’ve always been.

When people post about these great new things that they are doing, I always wonder how long they are going to stick to them.  Is it really a permanent life-changing thing?  Or is it just a fad that they will soon abandon?  So, I want to commit to re-visiting this topic in a year and evaluate how it actually changed things for me.

I’m not a “morning person.”  I’ve never been a “morning person” or aspired to be one.  Until now.  I started reading “The Miracle Morning” by Hal Elrod yesterday.  I’m only about half way through the book, but I was motivated enough to start the routine this morning.

Waking up has always been a struggle for me.  I hit the snooze button a few times.  I drag myself out of bed.  For that matter, I’m self-employed and it’s only been the last few months that I’ve started setting my alarm and trying to start the day at a decent hour.  It was part of my continual effort at being the person I want to be.  Even though I have been adjusting to getting out of bed by 7 rather than 8 or 9, I can’t say I liked it.

Last night, I followed one of the pieces of advice from “The Miracle Morning” and left my phone across the room so that when my alarm went off I would have to get up to turn it off rather than hitting the snooze button and just falling back asleep.  Initially, upon waking this morning when my alarm went of at 6 am, I thought, “This is crazy.  I just want to go back to bed and re-set my alarm for another hour of sleep.”  I’m proud to say that I pushed through.  I made my bed.  (Another habit I have  been diligent about for a few years now.  Habits are SO important to life.)  Then I brushed my teeth, which happens to be the next piece of advice from “The Miracle Morning” about waking up and was already the next thing I always do after making the bed anyway.  The next piece of advice was to drink a full glass of water, so I did that too.

Then I went through all six activities.  So, how was it?  It was actually pretty great.  After over-coming the initial desire to go back to sleep, it felt really good to be up early.  I feel excited and motivated for the day.

Day 2- Up at 5 am!

I set my alarm an hour earlier for this morning, so I was up at 5 am.  First off, I feel a small amount of disbelief at this.  I have never gotten up at 5 am unless I had some incredibly compelling reason.  Then again, I do have an incredibly compelling reason for doing this: to make the most of this amazing life I’m blessed enough to be living.  I keep thinking about Hal talking about how when you hit the snooze button, you’re basically telling the universe and yourself that you’d rather lie there unconscious than get up and live your life.

Things went well this morning.  I spent a little quiet time doing some gentle stretching.  Then I spent a little time reviewing the last few days, writing down what I want to do today in my planner, and making a gratitude list.  After that, I changed into my workout clothes, and did an exercise video from YouTube.  From there, I was on into the shower and went on to make breakfast and even washed the dishes immediately afterward.

After all that, I really did feel amazing and ready for a great day!

Day 3- Thoughts on exercise

One thing I am really liking is working out as part of this routine.  It does take just a little discipline to make myself start that part, but once I’m going, it feels good.

Working out is one of those things that I have attempted to put into my life time and time again.  Sometimes, I do OK for a couple weeks or so, and then somehow I always seem to quit.  Writing that, it feels like a strong word: quit.  It’s not like I ever consciously decided that I  going to stop working out.  One way or another though, it has never made it as a lasting change in my life.  The reality is that I did always quit.

I really want to find a place in my day where working out will really stick.  I’ve never really tried putting it first thing in the morning and maybe doing so will help.  My health really is important to me, so it makes sense to make it something that I actually work to maintain and improve first thing every day.

On a side note, I’ve been thinking about what things in my life that are my priorities in theory verses what I actually spend my time on.  My health is definitely one of those things that is ‘a priority’, but that I really don’t prioritize.  I’m going to change that!

Day 6- Seeing changes

The Miracle Morning book starts out with these testimonials about the amazing changes people experienced from the program: losing 25 pounds, having more energy, being more motivated, accomplishing more at work, etc.  The sorts of things that make you just want to stop reading because you’re sure the whole thing must just be another scam with false promises.  So, are these things true?

Well, I don’t have 25 pounds to lose and at day 6 I wouldn’t expect much progress on the little I would like to shed.  Plus, I donated my scale to the thrift store, so we’ll never know if I lose weight doing this.  I do feel good after working out each morning and I care a lot more about feeling good than about any number anyway.

I do have more energy.  I expected to be dragging a bit waking up so early and getting a little less sleep.  I’ve tried to move my bedtime a little earlier, but it still doesn’t compensate for waking up two hours earlier.  I really don’t feel tired, and in fact have been less likely to take a nap later during the day than before starting this.  Perhaps I was actually getting too much sleep before.  While we hear a lot about the detrimental effects not getting enough sleep, a quick Google search on ‘too much sleep’ brings up a ton of results on how maybe that’s not good either.  Or maybe I’m feeling better because of working out in the mornings.  Either way, I’m happy to feel more energetic and awake throughout the day.

I do feel more motivated as well.  It’s probably a combination of the time spent visualizing what an amazing day I’m going to have and how good it feels knowing I am waking up early and doing these things to start my day off in the most amazing way possible.

I have also been more productive at work.  I start working earlier since I’m up and going earlier and feel like I accomplish a lot even before lunch time!  The extra energy and motivation discussed above help a lot too.

For just being on day 6, I really am impressed at the results of doing this.  To be clear, it’s not like some miracle pill that will just make your problems go away.  It takes dedication and commitment.  The person that lost 25 pounds doing this didn’t just snap their fingers and wake up thinner.  They got out of bed earlier than normal every day and made exercise part of their routine.  Waking up at 5 am is a little challenging, although the first 3 minutes out of bed are the worst for me.  Pushing myself to start working out before the sun is up is a little hard too.  The increased energy, motivation and excitement about my life and goals provides more than enough fuel to make me really want to keep doing this.  I am working hard at making the most of this Miracle Morning challenge and I am loving the results that I am seeing!

Day 9- Settling in

I have to admit that the last couple of days, I haven’t had quite the same level of excitement for this as at the beginning.  This is a common occurrence with things that we start:  the first few days are grand and amazing and then the excitement wears off.  This is where commitment comes in.  Trying this out and seeing how it works for me is worth it to me so I’ll keep it up.

Something else can happen when we start to settle in to changes that we’ve made and that is that we start taking for granted the improvements.  We become used to things being better and forget how they were worse before.  This  can make us forget what motivated us to make the changes to start with.  This can result in losing our motivation a little bit even though things have improved.  It helps to look back and intentionally reflect on the improvements.

I accept all of this as part of the process of settling into this new routine.  If I think about it a little, I am still seeing benefits.  I have exercised every day for the last nine days and I haven’t had a streak like that in quite some time.  This helps me to feel accomplished and positive about myself.  Honestly, if the only thing that changed for me with all of this was to start exercising daily, that would be more than enough.

Hal mentions in The Miracle Morning that the activities he recommends aren’t like anything new that he came up with.  They are the six activities that are most recommended for personal development.  None of these activities was a new concept for me.  It’s just a matter of carving out time in my life to make these things a priority and do them.  Exercise was always something I intended to be doing.  Now, I am just actually doing it.

Day 10- Routine

Today something revolutionary happened: I woke up at 4:45 and not because my alarm went off.  It was actually 15 minutes before my scheduled alarm time.  I don’t know if this was a fluke or if it will happen again, but it was the first time this has ever happened.

I have really settled nicely into my Miracle Morning routine.  I’ve tweaked it a little to fit my preferences and with the goal of being all ready for the day once my morning is complete.  I haven’t taken out any of the suggested things, only added some that I find beneficial.  My routine looks like this (more or less depending on the day):

• 5:00- Wake up, make bed, turn on lights around the house, brush my teeth, drink a glass of water, make a cup of coffee.
• 5:20- Gentle stretching, meditation
• 5:35- Write down goals for the day in my planner, affirmations, visualizations, and a gratitude list
• 6:05- Change into workout clothes, workout
• 6:45- Step out on the back porch for a moment and just breath in some fresh air
• 6:50- Shower, and get dressed
• 7:25- Cook breakfast, eat breakfast while reading something that will benefit me
• 8:00- Brush teeth, wash dishes while listening to music or podcasts, make another cup of coffee
• 8:20- Spend time writing, editing photos, etc. for this site
• 9:15- Work

The couple of things I’ve added to what the book suggests are all habits that I think are really important for me.  Making the bed and washing the dishes are just simple things that keep my space more tidy and doing them daily is the only way to go.  It’s also important to me to take time to cook a real meal- normally some combination of eggs and tons of vegetables to start my day off right nutritionally.

Another important thing is to shower early in the day and try to dress with at least a little bit of effort. I work at home, so I could really just wear my pajamas all day if I wanted to.  It sounds like a nice thing, but at the end of the day if I’m still in my pajamas, it doesn’t matter how much I’ve gotten done, I feel like a loser. Starting the day showered and dressed sounds simple, but is so important.

Day 12- Variations

The last part was on setting a routine.  I think routines and habits are super important, but variety is equally important.

Let’s take exercise as an example.  Making a routine out of exercising every morning is a great thing.  But if you do the same workout video every single morning, you will likely soon grow bored and and lost interest in this exercise routine.  This is why it’s important to make sure and include variety in these things.

It is possible to include different options for all of the habits that make up The Miracle Morning.

Silence- Change up the type of meditation that you’re doing.  Try searching online for different types of trying  a meditation app.  Or if the weather is good, try moving this portion outside and enjoying some fresh air.

Affirmations- Part of the power of affirmations comes with repeating the same positive statements over and over.  This doesn’t mean that you can’t add to your list or change them as your goals change.

Visualization- You can try visualizing success in different areas of your life.  Or have fun with it and draw pictures of how you see the future- even if they’re just stick figures.  One day, I used Google Photos to make a little collage of nine different pictures that shows what is important to me in my life.

Exercise- There are tons of different options for this.  You might try looking for a YouTube video with a new routine or buying a workout DVD at the store.  Or go outside and go for a walk, run or bike ride.

Reading- This is an easy place to mix things up since you can always pick a new book to read.  I love to read books on all sorts of different topics from entrepreneurship, to relationship skills, to stress-reduction, to habits and motivation, etc.  You could even read a book on a new hobby you want to pick up or a new skill you want to learn.

Writing- This is another easy place to include variety.  Writing topics could include anything from what you’re grateful for to what your goals are to what happened yesterday.  I like to make a gratitude list, write my to-do list and schedule in my planner and then spend some time writing for this site or journaling.

Day 13- Push through

I woke up this morning and I didn’t feel like doing this whole Miracle Morning routine at all.  I felt tired and my head hurt a little and I just didn’t want to do all the stuff.  I told myself that I was committed to it and that I wasn’t going to slack.  There may be days that I don’t feel like doing this sort of thing, but it is precisely those days when it is the most important to do it.

Committing to a new habit or routine doesn’t mean that we do it just when we feel like it.  It means that we do it no matter what.  Being the sort of person that pushes through when things get difficult rather than quitting is what makes somebody successful.

I had to keep reminding myself of these things all the way through my routine this morning.  First, I just wanted to go back to bed.  Then I wanted to just work on my website rather than doing my workout.  Then I didn’t want to go and have a shower and after that, I most definitely did not feel like washing the dishes.

Now I get the rewards.  I feel better, I am ready for the day and I have a nice clean kitchen.  It’s important to find things that make us feel motivated and incorporate variety to keep ourselves interested.  Life shouldn’t be just pushing ourselves through and hating it all the time.  But there will be times when we don’t feel motivated.  Sometimes, the answer is just to push through and do the thing we don’t want to. 

Day 16- Recognizing progress

I am more than half way done with my 30 day trial of this.  It’s always important to recognize our progress on our way towards meeting our goals.  Really, waking up at 5 am for 16 days in a row is an amazing accomplishment for me!  I don’t think I’ve ever gotten up at 5 am two days in a row before in my whole life.

A couple of days recently, I have gone out on walks for the exercise portion.  It’s really enjoyable to be outside while the sun is rising, breathing the fresh air, watching the sky brighten and seeing the few other people that are out walking or jogging.  When I see other people out then, I feel a certain sense of camaraderie and think, “We are the people really living life!”  I bring my headphones along and listen to some good songs and that perks me up as well.

Two months in

I am now about two months in to practicing The Miracle Morning.  I did struggle some with adjusting my sleep schedule for the first few weeks, but now I am used to it.  I still don’t like it when the alarm first goes off in the morning, but once I get going, I am glad I am up.

I’ll even admit that I fell off of the routine for about a week in there.  Life was a little chaotic, but the excuse doesn’t really matter.  The important part is that I corrected my path and got right back at it.  Waking up early and doing my new morning routine really does get the day off to a positive start.  I find that I am more productive at work.  I feel more positive about my life and about myself.

I found that really doing a good workout for 30-60 minutes and focusing on crushing it makes a big difference for me.  I know that I am  unlikely to workout later in the day so making it a priority to do a solid workout in the morning has really been helping me.  After two months of doing this, I am in better shape.  I also feel more like I am living in alignment with my most important goals because my health is very important to me.  That said, I haven’t always actually made exercise a priority.  It feels really good to start the day off with a workout.

I have also been listening to Hal’s podcast A LOT.  His positive message and tips on achieving goals has really impacted my life.  I’ve always been fairly competent at achieving goals, but his tips take it to the next level.  One of the most important shifts in how I think has been regarding looking at the value I create for others.  For example, at my job I am really thinking more in terms of providing value for my customers rather than making money for me.  This is probably one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned from Hal.

I also started writing a book after listening to his podcast on why everybody should write a book.  It was kind of interesting because when I was listening to the podcast, I really wasn’t thinking about writing a book, but it must have sunk into my subconscious because a few days later I decided to really go for it.

The bottom line is that I like the results I am seeing enough that I plan to continue doing The Miracle Morning pretty much indefinitely.  I am really glad that I gave it a shot and that I pushed through when it was kind of tough.

Further Reading

It’s interesting because now that I have become more aware of this idea of waking up early, I am finding that I see where tons of successful people tout their early morning routines.  I’ve heard it said that success leaves clues and all we have to do to become successful is to identify successful people, look at what they do and then do the same things.

Here was a good article I found on StevePavlina.com  (a great website that I coincidentally found because it was mentioned in The Miracle Morning).  At the bottom of the article there are more links to some of his related posts on early rising.

How to Get Up Right Away When Your Alarm Goes Off

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