Monthly Archives: April 2010

A Little Rationalization

I finished Ultimate last night more ragged and tired than usual, I suspect because I brought no water or warm clothes.  So, this morning is was expectedly more difficult to get out of bed. I’m guilty of some rationalization because my normal routine (shower) was blocked since Mom took an early morning one, so I stayed in bed until 6:10 and hit the snooze button once.  Next Wednesday morning, I’ll prepare to get on my feet as quick as possible to avoid what happened today.  Despite the delay, I still arrived at OCC by 7:35.

Monday

Allegedly, Mondays are the most challenging day of the week.  This morning however, eager to begin the first, and last, full week of my behavior change, I leapt from my the protection of my heavy comforter to silence my alarm, making Monday an accomplishment before even the sun rose.
Rising at 5:50 am isn’t too unfamiliar.  Milking over the summer and the occasional Sunday morning during school has provided me the early morning experience, but knowing that my experiment was running gave me a heightened awareness of what a slow offers.
I milked last night and so took a shower before going to bed allowing me this morning to gain extra time by washing my hair in bath tub.  Dressed by 6:10, I prepared my usual breakfast: Two fried eggs (collected yesterday), a glass of milk (raw), and peanut butter (Nature’s Way – Organic), butter (Organic Valley Pasture Butter), and honey (Kutik’s).  By 6:30, lunch assembled, bag ready, teeth brushed, I felt totally chill as I decided what my next move would be on this strikingly slow morning.  I settled on a cup of coffee (Sumatra Mandheling – black – organically grown) and the comics, leaving the house at 7:05, thirty minutes before I usually do.
The luxury of a finding a convenient parking spot at OCC feels so so good.  I pulled in at 7:35 and to a front row parking spot.  It’s the little things in life that make one happy.  This is one of those little things for me.

Today

If a singular action is repeated every day for thirty days, the probability it will persist as a hardwired habit are high.  This means that each year provides twelve arenas of improvement.  I decided to adopt this method of behavior change on January 1, challenging myself to make my bed everyday, for thirty days.  I know, I know, but beginning with a simple change I thought would be good to way to become comfortable and confident with the method.  And admittedly, four months later, I make my bed everyday.
In February, upon losing the radio antennae on the pickup and breaking the iPod adapter, I dedicated my school commute to silence and my own thoughts.
March passed by without any serious habits, followed by April, until two days ago. A snooze button overdose resulted in missing my fourth Bio lecture.
So, with the start simple mantra and the seven remaining days of April, I begin my first experiment: Defeating the snooze button.