Since I wrote about writing time in my last blog post, I have realized that one of my roadblocks to finding writing time is that I struggle to get up in the morning. I have found I can find time to write if I simply get out of bed and stay out of bed. What often happens, however, is that I get up and get the kids to the bus then decide I am tired and want to take a “short nap.” But my “I’ll only nap for 30 minutes” promise to myself often turns into, “oh, just another 10 minutes” and soon I’ll find that I had slept away the morning. I need sleep, I know that, but I don’t feel good about myself when I sleep away the day and I certainly lose out on my writing time.

I’ve been pretty successful so far this year in getting up and going in the morning. But I didn’t sleep well last night and it was cold morning and more than anything I wanted to get the kids on the bus and go back to bed. But, thanks to some tips on morning routine from the Uncoveries blog and from learning about setting and visualizing my goals in my Life.REVAMP class, I stayed up and got going with my day.

This morning I did two things that Uncoveries suggests – I sat up when my alarm went off and I drank water first thing (yes, even before coffee) to hydrate my body. I also used a REVAMP tool to help me get up and going – I thought about the goals on my Rock this Day list and visualized how I’d feel when I accomplished my two goals.

Sitting up, getting some water (and then coffee) into my system and thinking about my goals helped keep me up and out of bed. Yay! Oh, and I have also found that if I make my bed right away I’m not as tempted to get back in it!

My morning routine can use some tweaks so that I actually get out the door to work on time (I’m still struggling with that) but the things I am doing are helping. I am also scheduling writing time on my calendar and am pleased that I’m finding more time to write. I have noticed that my roadblocks to writing time are the same roadblocks that trip me up in my morning routine: I get distracted with goals not on my list, I spend time on Facebook, I do laundry, I clean, I create work for myself that doesn’t need to be done, I text and, yes, sometimes I blog when I planned to edit an essay!

Knowing what gets in the way of my morning routine and writing time is step in the right direction and I have lots of room for improvement! For the moment, though, I will focus on what I AM doing that’s working

I’m up and at ’em this morning. I got the kids out the door to the bus on time. It’s only 8:45 a.m. and I’m not in bed asleep. I am, in fact, writing and I will get my writing work done. I have made time for writing and it makes me feel good 🙂