Do You Have A Plan?

I  just finished up a book by author, Kat Lee, called hello mornings I was intrigued by the title because I am a morning person. I love mornings but I do go through seasons when I wonder why if I am getting up so early is more not getting accomplished? It can be frustrating if find at the end of the day the extra hours you were up before anyone else didn’t make any difference at all.

Sometimes its perspective and reminding myself what is and what is not important and sometimes I need a little kick in the hiney to best use the time I have carved out.  The book is mainly for those who do not get up early and the author has come up with 3 simple things one can do every day to begin to make early a habit and something to build upon.

1. God
2. Plan
3. Move

That’s it. Those three things. The best part it only takes 3 minutes.

1. Read/Memorize/Write out and or Pray Psalm 143:8
2. Look at your calendar for today – 1 minute
3. Drink a glass of water – 1 minute

The author lays out these three things in the 1st chapter of the book so she can then elaborate on how each item works and how to take these small steps and add on to them later. Her main idea is to start somewhere and to not beat yourself up when life gets in the way. What I liked about it is that it removes the guilt for those days when kids are sick or something else important that needs my immediate attention. If I can only get those three things in, well… its something.

I upped my running game last September. I began getting up even earlier than normal and running with friends who have some of the same goals as I do. It has been a game changer for me and I am loving it. I am running faster and farther than I ever thought possible.

 

While the running is going great it has left little time for time in The Word and writing because by the time I get home there are but a few minutes before the kids are up and the day has begun. After reading this book I think where I am falling short is in the planning part. If I know there is a very short window to get stuff done before the kids get up then I need to set that time aside and get it done. No Instagram, no chatting with Mr. Wonderful nothing but the task at hand. Because once that time is gone it’s gone.

I would love to say that I will read and write in the evenings but that is a no can do. I have very few mental faculties left in the late afternoons and evenings. A 3:15 am wake up time means there is also a 3:15 pm shut down time. Obviously, I still function after 3:00 pm but ask me to do much more than make dinner, fold a bit of laundry or curl up with a good book and we will have some serious issues.

A plan. I need a better plan. There needs to be a bit more structure to my days so that I can know what to expect and how to adjust when it gets off kilter. My life makes more sense to me when I can see (on a schedule) what the end goal is for the day. What did I find so important that I took the time to write it down? If its important to me then why haven’t I carved out time to do it? Why did I schedule something over the top of it and not find space elsewhere?

Side note: I began writing this yesterday, this morning was one of those mornings where you have to tell yourself over and over again… “if you do not get out of bed right now you will hate yourself forever.” I got up, checked the weather app on my phone to determine if I needed a raincoat. It said clouds but I did note the big red bar at the top of the screen that said, TSUNAMI ALERT. (I live on the Oregon Coast) I didn’t take my raincoat and noted halfway down the block as I was driving to our running spot that it was indeed raining. I went back for the coat.

1.76 miles into our run, the goal for the day was 4/5 miles, we stopped at the top of a large hill to catch our breath. For 4:15 am there seemed to be an awful lot of traffic bombing down the hill. A guy pulled up in his pickup truck and told us he had been given credible information from his firefighter buddy that indeed the Oregon Coast was on high alert for a potential tsunami because of an 8.2 earthquake that happened off the coast of Alaska. To make a long story short we  hightailed it back to our cars and headed home (we all live up high on a hill and well out of tsunami danger.)

I get home and while I’m debating whether or not it’s a good idea to wake up Mr. Wonderful at 4:30 am because there may or may not be a tsunami headed our way in a half hour, I get an alert on my phone that all is well. Our town has thankfully been spared. Well as happy as I am about this news, I still have some running to do and because of my schedule 4:00 am is my only time to do it. The whole rest of the day seemed as if it was spent putting out one fire after another, aside from my two-hour reprieve where I was able to meet with some ladies from church to plan an upcoming event. I didn’t have a plan and I never quite got my feet back underneath me.

So all this to say, I NEED A PLAN. Any suggestions? How do you organize your days? Do you have a fail-proof system you want to share? I’m in.

Have a Beautiful Day My Friends!

A Run On “The Rock” – Always A Favorite Morning

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
    for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
    for to you I entrust my life. Psalm:143:8

 

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