Thread: Wake up and... Ah screw it.

Admittedly, that's me 9 days out of 8. I've tried to adapt the really cool mantra of "Wake up and fight!" but it hasn't worked out for me. That's a 0 care, 0 will, 0 desire period of time. Even external motivators often fail. "Hey Justin! You wanna go-" Nope. "WHAT?! Really?" Yep. "Ok... We're leaving in ten minutes if you change your mind." Whatever, bye.

And yet one day, after a nap (I admit, naps don't suffer the same whiteout) when I woke up, I said "I can't wait to go for a walk, then work on my project!" I was so happy with that, so impressed with it, I want to feel like that every time I wake up.
So I'm going to mash together accountability, fake it 'til you make it, practicing perfection, and a 21 day habit forming experiment. Will this monstrosity of methods synergize?


Here's the rundown: Every day, I want to wake up, flex my muscles, then stretch and get out of bed. Say "I can't wait to get something done!", then proceed to get a drink. Over my drink, or shortly after when the ability to care exists, I will visualize that my morning went perfectly.
That means I will take a few minutes to imagine, from a first-person perspective that I went through all the steps; how I sound, feel, and act genuinely happy to be awake so I can get something done now...
Regardless of what actually happened in reality.


So that's the method. For the next 21 days, I will edit this post and put a yes, or a no beside the day count. I will put a yes if I at least took the time to do the mind exercise.
At the end of the 21 days, I'll let you know to which degree I succeeded.

Day 1: Yes
Day 2:
Day 3:
Day 4:
Day 5:
Day 6:
Day 7:
Day 8:
Day 9:
Day 10:
Day 11:
Day 12:
Day 13:
Day 14:
Day 15:
Day 16:
Day 17:
Day 18:
Day 19:
Day 20:
Day 21;

Hey, didn't know there were responses, sorry about that.
Yes, I have eaten cup o noodles for breakfast. I enjoyed it. Not filling, but it was hot and chicken boullioney. I used to only eat once a day, ya know? I don't need much along the line of creature comforts. I'd have to cut out something like my web browser.

Hmm... My last update was on the 9th, and it's the 26th. So I guess that means I've been at it for 27 days. Which means updating you is overdue!


Alright, this experiment has had some positive impact. I still wouldn't call myself a morning person, but every now and again I wake up and actually feel like doing something. Or at the very least, I wake up much less 'I -really- don't care.' than when I started this.

If you remember this line "I will put a yes if I at least took the time to do the mind exercise." I made it very easy to say yes every day... I did that because the goal was to develop a habit that can induce change and be built on. Some of you might find this fact neat; I have trouble turning corners and passing doorways in my mind.


So to sum it up: There's a pretty big improvement, but it's not as good as "Wake up, stretch, and dance with anticipation!"
Maybe in time. But is it a habit? Uhm, yeah, I'd say so. It's usually the first thing I think of when I wake up. Plus it's getting easier to follow the motions.