Neal was here

As I half suspected, I failed to chronicle my failures and successes at morning times for the remainding 15 days. It is now about a week past the last day and I don’t remember significant failures or fantastic successes.

Except for one day: I don’t remember which specific day it was, but I had a definite sense that I was losing control of the mornings. I had woken up quite late. I think I still made it ‘on time’, but not to the extent I had been hoping.

Otherwise, the remainder of the days were average successes. I was not exceptionally early, but I never missed any meetings and made it to everything I needed to make it to in the mornings, which was my real ultimate goal. So success.

However, since I’ve stopped pressing for it, I’ve seen myself slipping. Today I returned from a short vacation and was not able to get in here as early as I should have. 10am. A bit too late. Tomorrow is a new day. This will continue to be an area of effort. But now I don’t have to record about it online anymore. For now.

Day 14 : Tuesday. Felt like crap when I woke up around 8am so worked from home. So I was up and succeeding by 9, so win.

Day 15 : Wednesday. There is a phenomenon in my life labeled “Tuesday Nights” which is a glorious weekly meeting of minds, hookah, friends, and beer. Right now, I would not trade it for anything. Unfortunately, this Tuesday led to some great conversations that kept me up very very late. But I made into the office by 10. Technically a failure.

Tonight, I need to go to bed much before midnight. Should be very doable.

Day 9 : Nov 13 : Worked from home and was up on time. But napped for a bit.
Day 10 : Nov 14 : Friday, was on time. Don’t remember exact time.
Day 11 : Nov 15 : Saturday, slept till 11:30. Felt great.
Day 12 : Nov 16 : Sunday, was up at at church by 8. Felt great.
Day 13 : Nov 17 : Monday. Got here around 10. Been fighting a bit of a cold and staying out a bit too late which made getting rolling today quite difficult.

Lessons learned: go to bed on time. It’s ok to be asleep before midnight.

not my actual coffee

Wednesday morning comes too quickly when Tuesday nights are gloriously long. I showed up at 10 today. I had no meetings and so nobody cared, which is part of the reason I had trouble with mornings in the first place. Coffee, however, is required and next on my agenda.

Am I really going to keep this up all the way through 30? I think I have to.

Day 7 – here at 9:04. Felt good, but the meeting I was supposed to attend appeared to be cancelled.

Yesterday, another habit I’m trying to break won, and it has reminded me that I really like the feeling of not being ruled by a habit.  The feelings of defeat and disappointment are much better to do without. And I’m not discouraged; it’s just a downer to see the progress you’ve made destroyed temporarily. You have to start all over. Again. When other things ride on the progress, it’s worth it to succeed. Immensely.

And these jeans are dirty and it’s bugging me.

Day 4: up for traffic school at 6:00am

Day 5: slept till 2. Weekends are grand.

Day 6: Arrive in time for my 9:30 meeting. Great success!

A positive attitude toward mornings seems to be crucial to the success of the operation. That takes a bit of preparation.

9:00am. I win.

And with a lot of late nights this week. If I can get myself to bed earlier, I should be golden.

9:49. Off by 20 minutes.

It’s because I was up too late watching Monk. DVR may be my downfall.

Score: 1 for 2.

On the up side, my morning attitude, while still one of bitterness at the morning, was more prone to recognize the need for alertness. A few more mornings of that and I might be able to will myself from slumber regardless of circumstance.

It is 9:29. Because of daylight savings time, that is a win for me.

I made a poor start to my progress by staying out way too late last night, so I am pleased that I was able to get up this morning. I really feel I should blame the Diety for this, because I didn’t do anything special.

So day 1 : success. I need some coffee.

I’ve got a series of habits that I’d like to cancel / change / improve / start. Doing a fair amount of reading has revealed that putting it out there is a key aspect to making it happen. So I’m going to attempt with my online journal. It’s out there, and it’s easy.

First habit: Mornings – getting up at a consistently early time.

I am not a morning person. I am grouchy. I am tired. I have to drudge my lackadaisical human body from within the comfortable confines of my covers and into the bare air where responsibility and stress reside. This is not a joy for me, most days.

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