Leverage Your Excitement As a Catalyst for Badass Training

What gets you up at an ungodly hour before work?

If you told me 50 days ago that my answer would be meditation and running, I would've laughed. Like snorted and everything.

And yet, here we are friends. For the past 49 mornings* I have been getting up, turning off my alarm, making coffee, and meditating. And the for the past eight weeks, I've run twice a week before work (they are short runs - now 2.5 miles each - but I realized that any number of miles > 0). 

How in the actual f*ck am I doing this? I still sometimes wonder as gaze at the habit tracker (aka gold star chart for adults) on my wall in complete adoration. I realized it's because I'm excited to do them!

I've been meditating on and off for two years and hit a couple decent month and two  months streaks so I've felt the benefits of consistent meditation. I've been progressing in CrossFit and know that two extra cardio workouts a week will make me even stronger. Bonus: running = spending time outside + endorphins + doing something completely unrelated to work before I spend 13 hours of my day there.

Building these consistent habits has made me mentally take full responsibility for what I do with every single day. Sure, there are things outside of my control. But I can blame my work schedule or the weather or the price of a CrossFit membership all I want and my goals aren't gettin' done any faster. Truly understanding that, and living it, is powerful. It's been a whirlwind of habits, career prep, and reading even more insatiably than usual, and I haven't felt this energized or fulfilled in a long time.

Whatever you're excited about - it doesn't have to be career related or nerdy or noble - make it a priority in your day. Leverage the excitement you get from that and use the momentum for the next goal or project you want to work on.

If you don't have something that gets you hot and bothered enough to wake up an hour early, don't wait around for it to just magically present itself. Find the damn thing! Read books. Listen to podcasts. Watch documentaries. Explore different parts of your city.  Meet new people and ask them their stories. The flood of opinions, questions, and epiphanies (for real) you'll have from exposure to new people and topics will amaze you. 

*3 of those mornings I was sick and didn't meditate until the afternoon or before bed. Strep throat is no joke when you're in your 30s.