Frenzy Firelight

Last night I made a list. Of all habits I’m willing to have.

• Writing 3 pages of Morning Pages first thing in the morning
• Jogging every morning
• A session of badminton every week
• A session of Futsal (indoor football) every week
• Having 3 healthy meals that include no instant noodle (and on time!) every day
• Drinking enough water
• Smoking less cigarettes
• Having really cool morning and night routines

Quite a list, huh? But then I remember… Leo Babauta on his blog once wrote,

Focus on one goal for at least a month… and turn it into a habit.

It means I have to pick one goal to stick to. Hmm, everything on the list seems important right now. Which one should I choose?

After some deep analysis (in less than one minute, actually), a solution arose: Waking up early.

These goals on the list are quite challenging, considering I’ve been disorganized for more than 10 years. But, the first step that would make them more achievable would be waking up early.

Definitely.

So, tonight I’m sleeping at 10:00 PM, and tomorrow morning I’m waking up at 4:00 AM. I’ll then have enough time to do those things before I go to work.

Benefits

Waking up early should allow me to:

• Do Morning Pages
• Face the day with better mood (I usually woke up feeling angry and tired, btw)
• Do exercise which, in return, keeps my body and mind healthy
• Actually get more things done

Also, I happen to live in Bandung, the most beautiful mountain city in Indonesia. Its view in the morning (as you can see from the picture above) is breathtaking; not enjoying it would be a horrible sin.

Tricks

I asked myself, “What did you do, Dian, that you could not wake up early?
I replied, “Well, I like doing stuff after midnight.”

“What stuff?”
“You know. Fun stuff. Writing. Blogging. Blogwalking. YouTube-ing.”

“What the hell is that word… YouTube-ing?”
“Shut up.”

“Why in the middle of the night? You could do them in the morning, right?”
“Well, I can’t concentrate without solitude.”

“Buy a nice headphone.”
“Good idea! You’re a smart girl, Dian!”

“Of course I am! Next question: Did you set up the alarm correctly?”
“Why, yes! But when it rang, I usually grabbed it from the desk next to my head, hit the snooze button and went back to sleep.”

“Err… Okay. Try to put the alarm far from the bed, far enough so you need to get out of the bed to reach it.”
“Hmm, I guess I can do that. I’ll just put it on top of the closet. It’s far and high enough.”

“Attagirl.”
“Thanks, Dian.”
“You’re welcome, Dian.”

Reward

I read somewhere that, if you commit to something and do it repetitively for 21 days straight, it will turn into a habit.

So, other than the benefits I mentioned above, I’m planning to reward myself with a Nintendo 3DS game when waking up early successfully becomes my habit.

Affirmation

I’m willing to wake up at 4:00 AM and go to bed at 10:00 PM everyday in October 2012 because… well, I really want this:

Cooking Mama 4: Kitchen Magic for 3DS