Although my 31st birthday isn’t until December, I always felt that September/October represented a new year vibe for me. It could be because of the school year. It could be because of the Jewish calendar. I’m not sure, but when I was giving healthy as my word for the year, I knew I wanted to start as early as possible. August and September were all mental challenges for me. I wanted to see if I could wake up at 4:30 am. I wanted to know if I could drink warm lemon water every morning. I wanted to see if I can drink a gallon of water every day. After doing each of those things a few times, I realized that I could build these into habits, and that is what is going to help me break through my excuses.
After reading The 5 AM Club by Robin Sharma, I learned that we should focus on taking care of what he calls The 4 Interior Empires: Mindset (Psychology), Heartset (Emotionality), Healthset (Physicality), Soulset (Spirituality). All of these are areas that I knew I wanted to actively focus on getting healthy, along with relationships and my home. While I have some ideas of goals that I would like to accomplish, this idea of getting healthy is one that is still growing inside of me, and I know over the next few months if not the whole year, I will be coming up with different areas and goals to improve and grow. Hopefully, as I build some habits and accomplish some goals, I can use those as stairsteps to reach another level of getting healthy.
Right now, I plan on taking it slow, month by month, as I try and plan out precisely what I want. I have a bunch of ideas in my head, and as much as I want to start building all the habits on day one, I know that will be my quickest way to failure.
Wake up at 4:30 AM 5 days a week
My husband and I came to an agreement. If he stops hitting his snooze button a million times in the morning, I will get up and cook him breakfast. We agreed on 4:30 AM since I wanted to get up as early as 5:00 AM, and he needed to get to work early.
Finish reading the Old Testament this month
Back in April, I started to read through each book of the Bible. I started with random books in the New Testament, and then I switched to reading Chronologically using this bible. I finished the New Testament last month, and I would like to finish the Old Testament this month, if possible. After I cook breakfast for my husband to take to work, I usually dive into my Bible reading for the day.
Write at least three times a week
Writing for the blog, writing to clear my head, writing my morning pages. I’ve started to journal, and to be honest, the thought of having a journal full of my thoughts and ideas is so motivating. Seeing the pages no longer be clean and crisp is just so inspiring. But I struggle with the habit of handwriting because it’s so easy to type. I want to write after my Bible reading to talk about what I learned. Maybe even write a little beforehand if I have something in my head that may be blocking me from my reading or understanding.
Hit each timeline on my water bottle on time
I bought a water bottle that allows me to drink a gallon of water a day. The problem has been I find myself chugging the water in the afternoon once I get behind and then spend all evening and night peeing. It’s been such a pain. So if I could hit the timelines on time (7 AM, 9 AM, 11 AM, 1 PM, 3 PM, 5 PM, 7 PM, 9 PM), I am hoping that will help with my frequent trips to the bathroom.
Walk for 30 minutes three times a week
I mentioned how much I hate exercising, right? Like, hate it. But I know it is essential to exercise. At my last doctor’s appointment, we talked about how to bring some exercise into my life, and she wants me to do at least 30 minutes a day, five times a week. I’m not there yet, so we will start with three times. My husband used to be a runner and has expressed wanting to get back into that habit, so we want to use these walks as his warm-up. I’ve also been able to connect with a friend, and part of us spending time together is walking together.
Read at least 30 minutes a day
As much as I love reading, I do find myself burning out at times. That has been my recent season. But I have been reading Tools of Titans by Tim Ferris and the way it is formatted, it is little nuggets from each Titan. I think reading this book for about 30 minutes a day will help me come out of my reading slump. I sometimes read throughout the day, but I have been loving reading while in bed to unwind from the day. I’ve decided that I am going to try and read one book a month that will help with my goals for the month. I am picking The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg for this month.
Downtime from 9 PM to 9 AM
I mostly ignored Apple’s Screentime app because it gave me nothing but negative information. I know I spend too much time on my phone; there is no need to be reminded about it. But I was checking it out one day and somehow accidentally turned on the Downtime, which was set from 10 PM to 7 AM. I decided to leave it and test it out. And I felt so guilty every time I hit the Ignore Limit button, and I would put the phone down. Since that has been mostly working, I decided to expand it from 9 PM to 9 AM. This allows me some downtime at night and not have me starting my first few hours glued to social media or technology.
Let’s Do This
All of this may seem like a lot, but I hope you see how they are connected and I am hoping they will be easier to accomplish that way. I’ve read multiple places that if you can have triggers, it helps make your habit-building easier. Using one habit as a trigger (me waking up early) and stacking some of the habits together, let’s hope for success.
Do any of these habits sound like some you need to pick up? Want to join me? Leave a comment below and let me know if you are in for making these happen for October.
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