Discipline, Habits & Routines

This morning, I read about how there are three types of discipline. Structural, reactive, and expansive. Ideally, all three are needed to achieve goals. I think I do need to work on some structural aspects of my day. When I was working, I had alarms set for all sorts of things, and was very regimented. Now, I kind of just go with the flow, and sometimes life gets in the way (Like health issues, etc.). I need to add some strategically reactive ways to handle events that pop up and push me off course. I think I already do well with being expansive as I do try to challenge myself.

Some strategically reactive ways I do well include stacking habits. When I take Gumbo outside in the morning, I often take the garbage with me and feed my fish. In the evenings, I’m really tired but I manage to brush my teeth. Now, I stack putting on my tretinoin cream and other habits that help me at bedtime. Really, I should build a bedtime routine. Lately, I have been going to bed at around six in the evening. I sleep until 5 am. Maybe I have needed this extra rest, but I wish I could get back to a 9-5 sleep schedule sometime soon.

One thing I want to make a habit is doing my pelvic floor therapy exercises while I’m watching YouTube videos in the morning. This way, I’m not just lazily sitting on the couch sipping coffee for over an hour. To get started with this habit, I designed a little workout and rest position program and did that this morning for 30 minutes.

A habit that is well ingrained in me is to weigh myself every single morning. So, as usual, I weighed myself. One thing I could do to improve that is to do a body composition weigh-in once a week on a designated day. I’ll probably choose Fridays since I did my first recent body composition weigh-in this morning. Overall, I have lost 12 pounds. My visceral fat was 9 and now it is a 7. My skeletal muscle is increasing, and my subcutaneous fat is also decreasing. I’m feeling pretty good about today’s weigh-in!

To challenge myself, I’d like to create a real habit and time for researching and writing for my book on maternal psychosis. I think I will do that today because I haven’t been researching and I really need to get started on my project. If I delay progress too long, I risk not finishing it at all.

Concluding Thoughts

I am feeling better today and am having a lot less pain. The antibiotics are making me feel a little sick to my stomach, but nothing too bad. Learning that my body composition is improving towards my goals made me feel really good. I have been making many changes to get that going in the right direction.

This morning, my soy milk machine’s motor started smelling so I had to shut the unit off. Looked on Amazon and chose a pricier model that will be delivered today. My current soy milk machine has only been used for about 7 months so I’m pretty bummed that it died so quickly. The new one has a lot of good reviews so I’m hoping it will last; some reviewers said theirs are still going strong after a year of heavy usage. I can’t live without soy milk. Sometimes I buy it, but after tasting the real deal—I prefer the homemade milk.

Well, I got my reading done, got in some physical therapy exercise, some chores, and now I think I will do research for my book. There is a job I want to apply for today as well. I took a break from applying and now I feel ready to resume the process.

Thanks for reading about my thoughts on discipline, habits, and routines. What are some of your favourite ways to stack habits?