“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen”
My #21earlydays Challenge (challenging myself to wake up at 4:30am every weekday as a means to achieving some personal goals) started out on a high note; Monday morning (November 9, 2015) the alarm rang and I jumped out of bed. Just when I was about to tweet, I was like, ‘why does my phone say 2am?’. Well, it was actually 2am, lol! For some reason, I had accidentally set my alarm that early. Such enthusiasm I guess! So I went back to bed and woke up at 4:30am as planned. Then two days into the challenge my knee injury got worse and I went to see a doctor, who prescribed a homestay. So for the rest of the week, I have been home all day, every day. But despite the injury, I still woke up at 4:30am each day though with a change in tempo and some limitations in what I did. All in all, it’s been a good week and here are some things I am learning so far.
Self-awareness: One of the things I’ve been doing every morning is taking a little time to pray and meditate as a way of getting more in touch with my invisible self, my real self. In doing so, I am beginning to pay more attention to my feelings, my thoughts, especially my subconscious. I am learning some of the things that trigger both positive and negative emotions/feelings in me and slowly beginning to find ways of enhancing the positive triggers and reducing the negative ones. This has not been easy, but I am learning to finding healthy and meaningful ways of managing this thing called ‘self’
Set specific goals and act on them: You can only see this at work if you actually try it. Once you are specific about your goals, it is easy (not simple) to accomplish them. Some of my goals in these 21 work days include, read at least 3 books (because it literally takes me 3 months to read one book), exercise at least 3 times a week (and I have specific exercises I would like to be doing), write at least one blog per week (because I am challenging myself to write more and become better at it), and other goals. So far this week I have exercised twice, before my knee decided to give up on me, have already read one book in one week (unbelievable!), titled ‘Ending Aid Dependence’ by Yash Tandon-2008 (more on book in another blog). And here I am, writing a weekly blog. For me, each small accomplishment boosts my confidence that I can achieve more and be more.
Plan ahead of time: Once you set your goals, plan specific actions you will take to make your goals become a reality. So with my waking up at 4:30am, I have had to plan every night before I go to bed what I will do when I wake up. In that way, my mind is prepared and I end up utilizing the time appropriately.
Each day is a different experience, embrace it: Each day this week turned out different, at times I woke up feeling crappy, and at times excited. But in the end, I had to choose what attitude to go with, and that’s what made the difference in each day’s experience. I know the remaining 16 work days will each be different, and stuff like getting injured, being sick, cold weather, receiving good or bad news, etc, may happen and affect me, but it will always be my choice how I respond to these different situations.
This journey has only begun, and I am excited that I am still carrying on. Tomorrow I resume waking up at 4:30am and look forward to more learning! I have specific goals I want to achieve and I’m using this #21earlydays challenge as my means to accomplishing them. So I hope you’ll continue with me on this journey and hopefully in some way it will inspire you to accomplish your own dreams and goals.
Next blog in this series will be published next week. But you can follow me on twitter for daily inspiration: https://twitter.com/longwegrace12
Original Blog was posted here by the author