Day 5 - of a life of Self-Discipline
OK, so 5am, was a little overly optimistic for me, to wake up at, on a Friday morning, when I had to go to work the next day, and went to bed real late, the night before, since I was spending time with my sister and brother-in-law visiting from Canada.
But what I did do, was set my alarm for 6am, and as soon as the alarm went off, I jumped out of bed, welcomed the new day, with a huge smile on my face, and started to get ready for my day of work.
I'm slowly letting go of the reigns of my IT career, and so I have to tie up a few loose ends that would otherwise be left dangling, in the wind. That means going onto the customer's site, and being more in control than the customer. I suppose one of the reasons why the job isn't finished yet, is because I wasn't taking 'charge' of the situation. Allowing the customer to throw new requirements into the mix, at every given opportunity, and judging by the importance of these tasks for the customer jumping from one task to the other like a kangaroo, bouncing about all over the place.
Well, funnily enough, since starting my day, with a clear sense of what I was going to set out to accomplish, I spent the whole hour and a bit journey getting to the customers site, seeing the end in mind. I saw exactly what I was going to complete, and by what time, using the creative visulaization, to allow myself the luxury of finishing the job, and walking out of the clients office early. Arriving at the client's site, it seems I arrived just a little too early, and there was no-one there!! Still, by the end of the day, I hadn't finished, and instead of continuing in a manic way, as I would have done in the past, I set a very clear boundary, and needed to be back home, for a friends wedding, and decided that it was time to leave, and said I'll just return another day. In the past, I would have tried to stay a little longer, a little longer, all in the hopes of getting the job done, and not having to return, and the stress of that would mean that less would actually be completed.
But instead, this time, I was very clear on what I was going to do, and when it was impractical to keep going. I can't directly connect this sense of clear boundaries with waking up early, or the decision to start using my self-discipline. But it does feel like it's a lot easier for me to make a decision, compared to before. I guess a part of me feels like, I decided to wake up in the morning at 6am, and I did - and even though it wasn't the 5am start I wanted to have, it was a more pragmatic solution given the situation of my life at home, and at work, at the moment.
Perhaps, at work, I started to use a similar approach. I certainly didn't waste anywhere near as much time 'chatting' or socialising as I used to. http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif Part of it, definitely has to be to do with a sense of responsibility to get the job done, and with a need to stay focussed on what I'm working on. In the past, I would have very easily wasted a huge portion of the day socialising, and whilst it would be great for building rapport with the customer, the payoff was that I wouldn't have the job done. And I'm starting to appreciate how as I work with people, especially clients, whilst the rapport is critical to my success, if I don't start to engage with the issues at hand, I won't get very productive results.
Another side effect of giving myself an earlier time to wake up at, in my opinion has been to help me start being a little more organised. In the past, if I went to bed, and clothes were left lying around, it wouldn't be such a big deal. But now, it's kinda like I have to tidy up a little before I can let myself rest. I guess at a certain level, I've become very clear on what I'm going to set out to accomplish, and part of that success is going to require being on top of things. It hasn't meant that my room has restored itself to a perfectly organised neat and tidy living space, yet, but it's already starting to look better, with space to put things, and piles of clothes starting to disappear a little.
In fact, as part of an exercise in 'branding', one of the suggestions from Thomas Power from Ecademy yesterday, at a Blackstar Openday was that it's wise to have a consistent 'image' so that people can remember you, recognise you, and be able to start to recognise the brand of 'you'. That's got me thinking more and more, as I've already been doing, on how I want to present myself, what image I want to portray, and how I want to start to have a consistent image, whenever I'm 'working', or networking, so that it's easier for people to be able to remember me, and associate me with the work I do.
Well, times cracking on, so I'll give my abridged version of my experience with self-disciplining myself so far...
Saturday morning was a very late return to bed, and with a day that had no need to wake up early, I decided to just rest (and at least get some catch up sleep). Sunday morning, I kicked the day off late again, allowing myself to get woken up naturally, especially since I had no 'commitments', and another late night! Monday morning, I finally hit the alarm button - but needing some rest (after going to bed at 3am), decided 6am, would be ok - but I would make sure I was really looking forward to it - which I was!!
Then this morning, I set the alarm for 5am, decided I had to go to bed early last night, and nodded off, till this morning, where I woke up, bright and early, giving myself a whole hour to meditate, before deciding I'll blog a little this morning, to keep a track of my progress. So aside from the benefits of getting more done in my mornings, I'm working on the idea that once I establish the discipline to introduce a new routine into my life, and become adjusted to my new routine, I'll be able to start building on that, and get into some other fresh habits too.
It's an interesting balance, having routine and regularity, compared to being spontaneous, and in the flow. You could almost say, it's like living in two completely different worlds. But without the regularity, and systematicness, I can't see myself having available the resources to be able to completely be spontaneous, and in the flow.
Perhaps, like a Zen Buddhist monk, once I become accustomed to the daily cycles of life, then I will be able to be in a constant state of flow, a moving meditation through life... We shall see where this goes...
Have a wonderful, awe inspiring, uplifting, motivationally charged, wonderful day! And if you can't manage all that - at least have a nice day :)
But what I did do, was set my alarm for 6am, and as soon as the alarm went off, I jumped out of bed, welcomed the new day, with a huge smile on my face, and started to get ready for my day of work.
I'm slowly letting go of the reigns of my IT career, and so I have to tie up a few loose ends that would otherwise be left dangling, in the wind. That means going onto the customer's site, and being more in control than the customer. I suppose one of the reasons why the job isn't finished yet, is because I wasn't taking 'charge' of the situation. Allowing the customer to throw new requirements into the mix, at every given opportunity, and judging by the importance of these tasks for the customer jumping from one task to the other like a kangaroo, bouncing about all over the place.
Well, funnily enough, since starting my day, with a clear sense of what I was going to set out to accomplish, I spent the whole hour and a bit journey getting to the customers site, seeing the end in mind. I saw exactly what I was going to complete, and by what time, using the creative visulaization, to allow myself the luxury of finishing the job, and walking out of the clients office early. Arriving at the client's site, it seems I arrived just a little too early, and there was no-one there!! Still, by the end of the day, I hadn't finished, and instead of continuing in a manic way, as I would have done in the past, I set a very clear boundary, and needed to be back home, for a friends wedding, and decided that it was time to leave, and said I'll just return another day. In the past, I would have tried to stay a little longer, a little longer, all in the hopes of getting the job done, and not having to return, and the stress of that would mean that less would actually be completed.
But instead, this time, I was very clear on what I was going to do, and when it was impractical to keep going. I can't directly connect this sense of clear boundaries with waking up early, or the decision to start using my self-discipline. But it does feel like it's a lot easier for me to make a decision, compared to before. I guess a part of me feels like, I decided to wake up in the morning at 6am, and I did - and even though it wasn't the 5am start I wanted to have, it was a more pragmatic solution given the situation of my life at home, and at work, at the moment.
Perhaps, at work, I started to use a similar approach. I certainly didn't waste anywhere near as much time 'chatting' or socialising as I used to. http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif Part of it, definitely has to be to do with a sense of responsibility to get the job done, and with a need to stay focussed on what I'm working on. In the past, I would have very easily wasted a huge portion of the day socialising, and whilst it would be great for building rapport with the customer, the payoff was that I wouldn't have the job done. And I'm starting to appreciate how as I work with people, especially clients, whilst the rapport is critical to my success, if I don't start to engage with the issues at hand, I won't get very productive results.
Another side effect of giving myself an earlier time to wake up at, in my opinion has been to help me start being a little more organised. In the past, if I went to bed, and clothes were left lying around, it wouldn't be such a big deal. But now, it's kinda like I have to tidy up a little before I can let myself rest. I guess at a certain level, I've become very clear on what I'm going to set out to accomplish, and part of that success is going to require being on top of things. It hasn't meant that my room has restored itself to a perfectly organised neat and tidy living space, yet, but it's already starting to look better, with space to put things, and piles of clothes starting to disappear a little.
In fact, as part of an exercise in 'branding', one of the suggestions from Thomas Power from Ecademy yesterday, at a Blackstar Openday was that it's wise to have a consistent 'image' so that people can remember you, recognise you, and be able to start to recognise the brand of 'you'. That's got me thinking more and more, as I've already been doing, on how I want to present myself, what image I want to portray, and how I want to start to have a consistent image, whenever I'm 'working', or networking, so that it's easier for people to be able to remember me, and associate me with the work I do.
Well, times cracking on, so I'll give my abridged version of my experience with self-disciplining myself so far...
Saturday morning was a very late return to bed, and with a day that had no need to wake up early, I decided to just rest (and at least get some catch up sleep). Sunday morning, I kicked the day off late again, allowing myself to get woken up naturally, especially since I had no 'commitments', and another late night! Monday morning, I finally hit the alarm button - but needing some rest (after going to bed at 3am), decided 6am, would be ok - but I would make sure I was really looking forward to it - which I was!!
Then this morning, I set the alarm for 5am, decided I had to go to bed early last night, and nodded off, till this morning, where I woke up, bright and early, giving myself a whole hour to meditate, before deciding I'll blog a little this morning, to keep a track of my progress. So aside from the benefits of getting more done in my mornings, I'm working on the idea that once I establish the discipline to introduce a new routine into my life, and become adjusted to my new routine, I'll be able to start building on that, and get into some other fresh habits too.
It's an interesting balance, having routine and regularity, compared to being spontaneous, and in the flow. You could almost say, it's like living in two completely different worlds. But without the regularity, and systematicness, I can't see myself having available the resources to be able to completely be spontaneous, and in the flow.
Perhaps, like a Zen Buddhist monk, once I become accustomed to the daily cycles of life, then I will be able to be in a constant state of flow, a moving meditation through life... We shall see where this goes...
Have a wonderful, awe inspiring, uplifting, motivationally charged, wonderful day! And if you can't manage all that - at least have a nice day :)
posted by magitam at 6:00 am
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