Do you remember when I declared that I was waking up earlier and starting my day at 5:00am, so I could be more productive, less stressed and more consistent with my morning practice?

Well, I hit a few bumps in the road.

I had anticipated that waking up earlier would be a challenge, so I put my phone far away from the bed so that when the alarm rings, I have to get up to turn it off and my wife knows not to let me get back in bed afterwards.

Last week I forgot to charge my phone one night, so no alarm went off, and I did not get up. And then a few nights later, I kept my phone by my bed and when the alarm rang, I turned it off and went back to sleep.

I woke up and was bummed all day long that I had done that; and I knew that I had to interrupt that pattern right away.

In a book called Atomic Habits (which I highly recommend), author James Clear says to point out the ineffective habit by saying it out loud. Bringing awareness to the habits that you deem ineffective will help you achieve your goal or new habit.

So here I go… I have been sleeping in and not allowing time for my morning routine.

I also shared with my wife and my livestream community that I had slept in, and that it was not an effective habit I wanted to reinforce. Simply saying it, pointing it out, bringing it to my awareness and sharing it in a non-judgmental way was so powerful. It helped me to remember that consistency is power and if I stick to it, soon the habit to wake up earlier will be just part of my identity as an early riser.

So today I encourage you to pay attention to which habits you are reinforcing that are not effective towards you achieving your goals. Point them out, say them out loud and bring conscious awareness to the choices you are making. And if you do it in a non-judgmental way, with the intention to wake yourself up from auto-pilot, you will recognize you are more powerful than you seem.

Change doesn’t happen by chance. It happens by choice. Wakey wakey.