21 Days to a More Disciplined Life: Day 14

I am reading 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life as part of my goals for 2014 and I'm sharing insights from each day's readings. If you want to catch up on my progress, read previous days: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13.

Day 14:
Set yourself up for success. In this chapter, Crystal discussing the crippling problem of making excuses for why you can't do something. "Instead, choose to invest the time you usually would devote to formulating an excuse to considering what you can do to set yourself up for success in achieving your goals." If you goal is to get up early, you have to make going to bed earlier a priority. You may need to buy an alarm without a snooze, set multiple alarms, have a friend call you, etc. I had an alarm on my phone that wouldn't turn off or snooze till I had solved a couple of math problems successfully. I've also had alarms that slowly get louder and louder. If you're trying to exercise first thing in the morning, make sure you have everything ready the night before. Plan out your calories the night before if you're trying to get in the habit of eating fewer/better calories. Basically, do as much of the prep work ahead of time so that you have a better chance at success.
Practical Application: Think about what things are keeping you from succeeding with your goals. What can you do to set yourself up for better success? And as always, talk to your accountability partner so they can help you stay on track.

Mega Project Progress: Today you need to determine the best time of day to work on your Mega Project. Since my project is going through all my mending, I work best on it at night after the kids are in bed as the hand sewing helps me wind down for the day.

General Progress: I did it again. I got up early and worked out for 32 minutes. :) I also went to bed with a clean kitchen even after getting home late due to a funeral. I knew that I wouldn't have much time for mending this week so I planned ahead and got through 10 mending projects yesterday so that I wouldn't fall behind on my mega project.