First week.

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

It’s feeling really good.

My intention for this month is to build willpower. To grow this muscle so that I can start to tackle the deep work later. And to break some bad habits.

How am I developing the willpower muscle? By implementing a level of discipline and routine I have never had in my life before. Willpower is at its peak early in the day. It’s easier to push yourself to workout and do the things you want to do when you have that willpower. By the end of the day willpower is drained or weak so it’s much easier to not do the things, to order out, to play video games, etc. I believe that I can break the bad habits and get into the deep work that matters, by improving willpower, starting by developing this routine and discipline early in the day.

I am going to be early, so I can wake early, because I have setup a few non-negotiables for myself each day.

  1. Meditate
  2. Workout/Movement
  3. Get Good Sleep

Additionally, I understand that I am at my best early in the day, so that is the best time to get into the deep work that matters to me.

The rub is, my job generally starts around 830 am each day. That means, in order to have the time to do the things I need to do, I need to go to bed earlier. Historically that has been really fucking hard for me to do. I have had this personal vendetta against the day so I stay up until midnight or later so I “win”. Anyways. Getting up early and all of a sudden I have plenty of time to do the non-negotiables, and get in some work, before I even have to think about my day job.

The interesting thing is that this means there is less time for the things that are not serving me. I’m not playing video games until midnight. Or browsing youtube all night. Or pretending I am learning something but am really not since my faculties are not as sharp as I think they are at 11pm. I am doing more and doing less at the same time. More that matters, more that is important, more that is serving me. Far less of the things that are not.

While not perfect, I am getting good signals that things are moving in the right direction and this plan has merit.

I am meeting the challenge. Looking forward to week 2.