On Monday night, my wife and I were making dinner about 9:00 p.m. We both had come back from work late. As my wife was preparing dinner, she saw a mouse run across the floor. At first, she didn’t realize what it was but then it ran across again and she saw it. We did not have any mouse traps and we both didn’t want to go to bed with him in the house. I am terrified of mice. They freak me out. There’s something about how small, fast and skinny they are that just gives me the jitters when I see them. It took me a total of two hours to come up with the courage to get in the bathroom with him (where we trapped him) and catch him. By the time my wife and I had eaten dinner, it was already 11:30 p.m. and I knew my morning was going to be shot. I planned to wake up at 6:00 a.m. instead of 5:00 a.m. and I got very little done that morning. I did not like it and my hatred for mice only grew.
You probably don’t care about the mouse that ruined my morning routine. However, I know that when you make plans to do something in the morning and you struggle to get to bed on time the night before, it can be frustrating. Your sleep schedule is upset and waking up in the morning can be a near-impossible challenge. This can snowball into stress throughout the day since the morning off rushed and hurried. That is exactly how I felt on Tuesday morning and I was very uncomfortable.
I have been waking up early (around 5:00 a.m.) for nearly 7 weeks now and this mouse put a halt to that habit. So instead of getting caught up in the fact that I had messed up one morning. I decided to be proactive and make sure that I got to bed on time that night. The challenge is that our bodies are similar to clocks. Once we start going to bed at a specific time, it is easier to go to bed at the same time the next night and the night after that. So I forced myself to go to bed at 10:45 p.m. on Tuesday night which was about 45 minutes past my pre-mouse-incident bedtime and 45 minutes earlier than Monday night. I wasn’t exhausted, but I forced myself to head to dreamland because I really wanted to get back to my 5:00 a.m. morning routine. On Wednesday night, I was able to be in bed by 9:45 p.m. and fell asleep by 10:00 p.m. As I write this, It is 6:45 a.m. and I successfully woke up at 5:00 a.m., worked out, have done my reading and worked on some of the important tasks that need my attention.
If waking up earlier to accomplish the most important items on your “To Do” list is your goal, don’t beat yourself up when if your bedtime schedule is disrupted. Simply create a plan to get to bed 15 minutes before last night and wake up 15 minutes earlier than normal. Take baby steps to start winning! This is an easier approach than setting unrealistic goals and expectations and not following through, which leads to self-condemnation and more stress.
I hope this article was helpful to you and your goals and will enable you to begin accomplishing what is important to you and allow you to spend more time with those who matter most. If you would like a detailed plan for yourself to start waking up earlier and achieving your goals, feel free to email me at andrewleearnold@gmail.com. I would love to see how I could benefit you in the areas of health, fitness and time management.
Contributed By: Andrew Arnold, Fitness With Andrew
