It’s time to honestly look at the results from the Power Of Less Habit Challenge in February. Because as fun as it is to pat yourself on the back for a job well done, it’s often more rewarding to look at why we didn’t achieve our goals.

For the first half of February, I did great. I read at least a half hour of French every day, without missing a day. I had great reading material (L’Alchemiste, French Motorcycle Magazines and National Geographics), and looked forward to my study time each day. Week three, however, my momentum dropped. I got busy, and missed 3 days. Then, the last week in February, while I was on vacation, I only studied 3 times, for a total of 2 hours clocked. Not so good.

A few reasons why I think I didn’t succeed:

1. I didn’t set a regular time/trigger for the habit. If my goal habit were to floss once per day for example, I could say that before I brushed my teeth every night before bed, I would floss. The habit trigger would be when I go to brush my teeth before bed. I neglected to do this with the French study habit, electing to just pick it up during my free time. Which worked fine at the begining of the month when I was motivated, but wasn’t conducive to building a HABIT. Lesson learned. Adaptive measures to follow soon.

2. Some of my habit “support group” (the youth volunteers I supervise) lost interest in the Power Of Less Challenge, and I was without support for a week while on vacation. As committed as I am to getting this French goal taken care of, I’ll be the first to admit that it’s sometimes hard to find that motivation by yourself, or when everyone else is slacking.

March’s Mornings

After an internal debate, I’ve decided that the most potentially rewarding challenge for March would be to BECOME A MORNING PERSON. I’ve always wanted to have a morning routine and wake up earlier, and have often found that my least productive/interesting days have been those that I’ve slept in, stay in bed too long, or spent half the day lounging around in my pajamas (figuratively, that is — I don’t actually have pajamas).

So here’s the dailiy morning plan:

(I started this routine today)

1. Wake up at least an hour an a half before I have to work (Mondays, 6:30am, the rest of the week, 7:30)

2. Ask myself the “Power Questions” (I know, sounds cheesy, true. But how can asking yourself “What am I thankful for?” possibly be bad for you? — this is already an established part of my routine)

3. Drink a glass of water (to replenish – my body’s been without water for a good 7 hours)

4. Eat breakfast (usually an egg or two with an extra eggwhite thrown in, and a bowl of oatmeal)

5. Read some non-fiction that’s good for my brain, at the very least 10 minutes (right now I’m reading A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle, thanks Tanissa!)

6. Exercise for 15 mins (not doing this yet, something that I’m going to work in).

7. Floss, brush and shower (I’ve always been a sporadic flosser, this is my attempt to stick to it as part of the morning habit).

That’s it. Pretty simple. I woke up early today, 6:30am, went through the routine and had a fantastic morning. Think of that phrase, “man, he really woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,” and about how a bad morning has affected your day. I believe that the opposite can also be true: that a great morning can really set the tone for your entire day.