4 a.m. mornings

No. I did not wake up today at 4 a.m. To be more precise, I did not wake up and stay up.

Why 4 a.m.?

There are several things I want to get done after work, asides from working out. Currently, I'm working on a paper. Once this finishes, I plan to study for the MCATs.

For the past few weeks, I have tried to work on my paper after work, to no avail. By the time I get home from work, my mind is fried. Indeed, as tired as I am in the morning, I feel the freshest in the morning.

Also, working at home after work is also generally unproductive. Our house is very open, and it is hard to concentrate while others are trying to make conversation.

One habit at a time

I read a post by Matt Frazier (the No-Meat-Athlete) about learning one habit at a time (he got his inspiration from Leo Babauta, author of Zen Habits). Often times, when we want to make change, we have a goal of changing a plethora of habits (from adding new ones, to eliminating bad ones). Here's a brain dump of habits I want to add / change:
  • Waking up early
  • Stop drinking coffee
  • Tracking finances
  • Running consistently
  • Morning prayer
  • Stop checking Facebook / e-mail often
  • Eat healthy
  • Memorizing scripture
And the list goes on. I have tried to change one of these habits. After failing, I would set my sights on another habit, hoping to change another area. What Matt found was that there is incredible value in sticking with one habit until it becomes a habit. The key is to not lose patience and to keep at it.
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." --Aristotle
Epilogue

So today I ended up waking up at 5:30 a.m. I had a back-up alarm. However, I will try 4 a.m. again tomorrow. And the day after that. And the day after.

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