When I was in university I was training in karate. I was really good at one of them, and going through the motions with the other.
I wanted my black belt, and pursued it with a single minded purpose, even putting it ahead of my education. Let’s be honest, a Mechanical Engineering degree isn’t particularly difficult, but a black belt? That takes work.
I developed two training routines; one for the school year, and one for the summers. In each of them, I developed the routine into a habit, and I doubt I missed a single class, barring an exam getting in the way.
I flew up through the ranks, and even with a month off at the end of each term for final exams, I maintained a straight line fast track to black belt.
That is the power of habit.
Now I’m long gone from the world of karate, though I’m still banging around engineering. I’m looking to get out of that, though.
One of the components of my off ramp is a new sleep habit. My days of late night creativity are long gone, my most productive and creative time is now early in the morning.
To get that time for me, rather than my employer, I’m getting up earlier, around 6 am. It’s been a couple of months now, and much as I hate it, I haven’t slept in during that time.
Unfortunately, lately I’ve been backsliding; reading a little news and fiddling around with my first hour of the day. Just as I used to do.
That time is supposed to be for my business, but habit is getting in the way.
That is the problem of habit.
The challenge is to fix it.
