Habits

Motivation can be fickle for me. I always get most motivated at night. I could blame the years of working nights but I have to be honest, I’ve always been a night owl. When I was growing up I was the kid that had to be chased to bed, and then checked on to make sure I wasn’t reading in bed with a flashlight – or uhmm…as a teenager that I was even in bed. Yes, I admit it. I skipped out my bedroom a time or two. I’ve always been the last out of bed in the morning, even on Christmas morning. There’s just something about the dark and the night that gives me energy. Mental and physical.
However, it’s not a good thing when you got to bed thinking, planning and all motivated, but then don’t follow through the next day. Not just because then I don’t get things done, but because it starts a new habit. A Lazy habit. A habit of not doing what I say I’m going to do. Sure, I’m only breaking promises I make to myself, but is that better, or worse than breaking promises I’ve made to others? I think it’s worse.
I used to always do what I said I was going to do. Always.
Then somehow it stopped happening. To be blunt, it stopped happening about the time I started to make writing my first priority. Then other things started to get shuffled aside. Friends, birthday dinners, work shifts, my own healthy habits -all for the sake of writing. If you’ve been following this blog for a while you’ll know that I’ve been struggling to find balance with things for a long time, and *knock on wood* I think I might have found it. It’s not easy, but then again, the good things in life rarely are.
Maybe in a month I’ll talk more about it again, but right now, I’m not willing to jinx myself. Yes, I’m superstitious that way. I will tell you how I started to reform myself though. I sat down and I thought hard, and then I wrote down what my top three priorities in life are. Everyday I look at those priorities, and it helps me stay on track.
A tip, make sure your put time for YOU on that list. My Me Time includes reading time, movies, and being social with friends and family. Not every day, but I don’t ever want to push that aside for work, of any kind, again.
There’s a saying that sounds trite, but needs to be repeated more often.Work t o live. Don’t live to work. And when you follow this- or at least when I follow this- my work (writing) gets better. Funny huh?
I have a small book of quotes from strong women on life and love here. Share what saying has motivated you lately in the comments for a chance to win it.