Will Power and Self Discipline - Experiment

After a week of 12 hours works day and immense stress, I find myself wanting a vacation. Good thing I leave for Alaska in a week. Unfortunately, my body says it needs a vacation now which makes it difficult to get any work done. My room is a bigger mess than it has been in months, the house is a wreck, and I can't even bring myself to make anything more complicated than Fruit Loops for breakfast. Good thing I made all my lunches on Monday. Anyhow, I've noticed a pattern of this type reoccuring in my life. I work really hard for a week or two, taking no breaks, then I realize I'm human and need breaks and don't do any work for a week. Normally that week would be a very depressing time for me as I kick myself for not doing anything and then wallow is self loathing. This week I've decided to accept that I am human and not fight myself over it. So after sitting in the shower for a half hour allowing myself to enjoy the water rushing over me while I just wasted time and analyzing this new realization I decided I couldn't get a good enough grasp of what was going on on my own. So I turned to God for understanding. After some complex processing which included a few flashbacks I concluded to do some research on developing discipline. The first couple sites I read were indeed exactly what I was looking for, so off I go on a journey of self exploration in the areas of Willpower and Self Discipline.

Business Ownership - End

Well, I consistently worked 12 hour days making posting not very possible. I must admit that I also didn't really want to. I was having too much fun. I know I have a lot to learn until I can get to the point where I can be successfully running my own business, but this little test run was a good experience for me. It certainly puts to test my organizational system, which I am delighted to say passed with flying colors. Through this experiment I now have a better grasp of what I need to accomplish before I can get to where I want to be, which gives me goals to work towards.

On a side note, I leave for my Alaska mission trip in about a week. I am totally frightened and excited. For those of you who pray, please be praying for the team and me and the people in Alaska. Stay tuned for pictures and stories.

Morning Blues

I wanted to prove to everyone once and for all that you do not have to be a morning person to get up early every morning. If I had my way, I would probably wake up no later than noon everyday and stay up until well past midnight. In fact, that's what I did for the first several years after high school. However, I soon realized that it was indeed beneficial for me to get up early each morning and by golly I was going to figure out how to do it. So I did :) After a week or so of sleep deprivation and a strict cardio regiment, I was able to figure out what I needed to be an early riser. Here are some pretty universal tips to get you started.

1. Get up at the same time, every day, no matter what. This gets your body used to a schedule, sets your body's internal clock, so to speak. After your pretty set in your schedule, it's not so important, I let myself sleep in on weekends, though that's still rarely past 7, and never past 8.

2. Realize that your body is just waking up. Of course you're tired. The only way you're going to get the energy to start your day is to start your day. Get moving. Doing something, anything. I personally needed some extra energy so I opted for a 5 minute jog. That 5 minutes changed my entire daily schedule. It had taken me an hour and a half to get out of bed and shower. The day I added a 5 minute jog I had jogged, showered, eaten two breakfasts, made my lunch and processed my entire inbox in that same time.

3. It helps to go to bed at the same time each night. It's not entirely necessary for me. I can go about two weeks with a messed up sleep schedule before I need to really buckle down and get my body back into shape.

4. Figure out how much sleep you need each night, and schedule for it. I work best on 8 hours of sleep. As soon as I get that much, I tend to wake right up. I can go about a week on 7 nightly, a few days on 6 nightly, and can squeak by on 5 hours if I make sure to catch up the next day. Everyone is different though, and you won't be able to know what you can handle, until you adjust yourself to the right amount.

Honestly, it's not hard. It's certainly work, but it's not hard. As long as you realize that the human body will adapt to anything you give it, you'll be fine. Sure, some people function better in the morning than others, but that doesn't mean it's not possible for you to wake up at a decent hour. Take hope :)

Business Ownership - Day 1

The guy who gives me most of my work went on his honeymoon to Greece yesterday, leaving me to field all of the calls and make all of the executive decisions. Can you say "AHHHH!!!!!"? Twelve work hours, 300 minutes over my cell phone limit, 200 miles driven, and one quart of sweat later, I can honestly say, it went really well. There is no better way to test yourself than under such fire and I can say now that I look forward to the rest of the ten days that I will in charge. Today was a day to be proud of, I think I'll go celebrate by running Day 3 of my 30 minute training program.