This challenge will start on Sunday, March 1st, and end on Monday, March 30th. During this time, I will:

1. Adjust to waking up at 7 AM by setting my alarm two minutes earlier each night.
2. Develop a habit to do things immediately rather than waiting for the right time.

Edited by The Helldragon on February 24, 2009 at 19:32:58.

I usually have to wake up at 3am so I can get to work at 4am. As much as I would like to get into that kind of habit, I won't. My brain boggles enough as is, that sort of thing would drive me even more crazier.

Ha ha ha! Yeah. The last few days have been a bit crazier than expected, so instead, we're going to start this challenge next Sunday, March 1st. Hopefully everything will stay sane until then.

DAY ONE - March 1

Hey, we're back. Now, cultivating the Action Habit started off pretty well today, but after four-five hours of work I ran out of steam and didn't even finish the draft I was trying to write. Maybe it was because I was spending too much time writing and not mixing things up. Maybe it was because the draft itself was a problem. Eh, who knows. As for the waking up earlier part, I can't report on that yet because it's not due to really begin until tomorrow, but I don't expect many difficulties.

DAY TWO - March 2

The best example of the Action Habit-today I got my first freelance writing gig, and immediately, I completed it and sent it in for payment. After that, the rest of the day kinda fell apart with a trip to the mall and lunch and purchasing and such :V Ah, well. It's only the second day, and I gotta keep finding gigs, so it's back on track tomorrow.

As for waking up earlier, no big problems. I won't really mention this part of the trial unless something interesting comes up.

Now the trick is to keep the gigs coming in, but I think I'm up for it.

DAY THREE - March 3

Really, so far the biggest problem I've encounter is burning out. If I do too much writing, I lose focus and crash for the day. I work approximately six hours per day right now, so it'd probably be wise to spend two-three hours on writing, max. Also, it'd probably be best to put that earlier in the morning, and save gig searching and other stuff for later on. I dunno. Really the problem is just getting that under habit.

DAY FOUR - March 4

Alarm: 7:54 AM

There, now I found a way to keep track of waking up earlier. It's weird, though-so far I've been waking up way earlier. Last night I woke up at 4 AM and couldn't get back to sleep due to stomach pains. (I blame cheap pizza.) As a result, I kinda wasted the morning, but once I felt better, I took immediate action as much as I was able to complete some work, so the day wasn't a total loss. Can't slack off tomorrow, though-got my second gig, and that requires some concentration.

DAY FIVE - March 5

Alarm: 7:52 AM

Nothing really to report. Everything worked out per normal today.

DAY SIX/SEVEN - March 5/6

Alarm: 7:50 AM/7:48 AM

Sorry about completely forgetting to post yesterday. It happens.

Anyway, my big obstacles for the action habit seem to involve how easy it is for me to get distracted, especially with unexpected side trips. Just yesterday, we picked up a new game for my sister and I to play together, and that burned some time that could've been used for work. It's things like that and other little stuff that keep my producitivity just short of its full potential, and I think I need a different tactic to clear that problem out.

DAY EIGHT - March 8

Alarm: 7:46 AM

Pretty good today. I stuck to my guns and finished a lengthy revision of a piece with minimal distractions. Now to see if I can do it more than once.

DAY NINE - March 9

Alarm: 7:44 AM

I really gotta cut down on side trips during the day. Granted, I have time for these since I'm not exactly strapped with work right now, but I can definitely afford to miss some of them. Okay, this doesn't directly affect the action habit, but it's still something I need to note.

DAY TEN - March 10

Alarm: 7:42 AM

Gosh these updates are so exciting, I gotta take a breather.

Anyway, I was mostly successful in staying away from distractions for the entire rough six-seven hours I worked today. I'd say 75-80%. Kinda-kinda good. That sort of thing. Let's see if we can do better tomorrow.

By the way. Waking up early? S'allright.

DAY ELEVEN - March 11

Alarm: 7:40 AM

I could've wrote some more today than I needed to, but I didn't. Just have to grin and bear it for those kind of things.

DAY TWELVE - March 12

Alarm: 7:38 AM

It was pretty hard to focus on the action habit today. Sometimes you get one of those bad days that really mess you up, and today seemed to fit the bill. But you get those every so often, so it's something you can't really worry about in the long run, so I'm not too concerned over it.

DAY THIRTEEN - March 13

Alarm: 7:36 AM

There's only so much I can change, I keep getting reminded, without being able to manipulate my enviroment itself. I certainly get easily distracted by others in the house, so it can be hard to achieve the results I want. I'll try as best as I can, but I really think I'll only be able to get better results once I'm in a place of my own, with a greater ability to manage things.

Also, I'm starting to thing just waking up at 7 straight would've been a better idea. It's taking a lot longer to adjust when doing it gradually.

DAY FOURTEEN - March 14

Alarm: 7:34 AM

Adjusting to waking up earlier is still hard, because of all the constant changing of the time, but by waking up earlier, I can work without distractions and more easily use the action habit, which is important enough to me. So, hey-I'll suffer for personal art.

As for the action habit, today was break day, but I went ahead and wrote up another review for my site, as opposed to listening in class, so it worked out fine, I guess :V

DAY FIFTEEN - March 15

Alarm: 7:32 AM

Approaching the halfway point in waking up at 7. Hopefully, when I'm more adjusted to it, I can get to business right off the bat without having to get geared up first. As for business itself, didn't have any real problems today taking action.

DAY SIXTEEN / SEVENTEEN - March 16 / 17

Alarm: 7:30 AM / 7:28 AM

Now I'm realizing that it's probably wiser to try and determine if a habit can be broken down into more clear habits to resolve. Some habits are better served by attacking them head-on, while other habits are more easily cleared up by putting in supporting habits first. This "action habit" I'm trying to build probably could've been better served through the latter-maybe a habit to shake off unneccessary social activities during work time or something like that. I dunno.

DAY EIGHTEEN - March 18

Alarm: 7:26 AM

Nothing major to report. I worked pretty well in doing stuff all day. Having people asleep during the morning helps with eliminating distractions :V

DAY NINETEEN - March 19

Alarm: 7:24 AM

Did pretty good except near the end of the workday, but I'll live. No complex descriptions right now-I've got a headache.

DAY TWENTY - March 20

Alarm: 7:22 AM

When I get really discouraged while trying to do something, I just usually crash for the day. That's basically what I did here. I still hate resumes :V I gotta learn to just take a deep breath, refocus, and do something else when I get majorly discouraged like that. The trick is remembering it.

Also, I need to set up a habit to read in the morning when I wake up, otherwise I just surf the Net for a bit and that's not a good way to kickstart the day.

DAY TWENTY ONE - March 21

Alarm: 7:20 AM

As long as I remember to get myself up when I naturally awaken in the morning, I can avoid falling back to sleep and becoming real groggy when the alarm goes off and I have to stumble out of bed. This still needs practice, but today I did this, so doing it more is advised.

Anyway, today was my day off, so I didn't do anything neccessarily productive except use class time to do some writing.

DAY TWENTY TWO - March 22

Alarm: 7:18 AM

Managed to salvage a bit of my day by figuring out how to approach my writing, but for the most part, it could have been better. I anticipate better things for tomorrow, though.