go to bed earlier

• I wouldn’t make mistakes like forgetting to call my mother to check on her
• People wouldn’t ask me if I’m all right at the end of the day because I look like warmed over death
• My heart would be healther and my blood pressure would be lower
• I would be more productive
• It would be much easier to form other good habits
• I would eat less
• I would spend less money on parking (driving to work) and food (eating out)
• It would be easier to make decisions and sort my priorities
• It would be easier to get the exercise I need
• I would move faster when doing every day tasks like getting ready for work

This is my #1 priority right now – even above the walking goal. I’m struggling with exhaustion too much of the time. As I get older my body is less resilient and it’s not going to put up with this much longer.

I thought about doing a 30 day challenge like with my walking, but I can’t even seem to get a single night of going to bed early under my belt. So I’m going to start with “Turn off the TV and start my bedtime routine by 9:30 or 10 – just once.” We’ll see how it goes from there.

I’m starting to figure out this is never going to happen until I decide that going to bed earlier is more important to me than the alternatives. And I need to be reminded of that at bedtime not in the morning when I feel awful.

That means this has to be more important than that TV show I’ve got to see or any of the other stuff I promised myself I would get done before the day was over.

Last night I was up until 1am. It’s time for change.

I don’t know exactly why this is so hard for me but I need to pay more attention to this goal. In fact I’m learning that getting enough sleep could be the key to accomplishing a bunch of my other goals – like losing weight, taking care of myself, lowering my blood pressure, etc. Without enough sleep I find I am less disciplined in all areas of my life and just accomplish less in general.

Still working on this one. I really should be in bed by 10 most nights to get enough sleep but many times it’s 11 or later.

I have a bad cycle going. I get home late from work and then end up staying up too late just to get the basics done (dinner, etc.). Staying up too late means I either go sleep deprived or more likely get up too late and get to work late. Which makes me feel like I need to stay late, and we start all over again.

What would help? Leave my office on time and watch less TV.