What are you not going to do?

Every time we choose to do something we are choosing not to do 100 other things. 

^^^^ I spend a lot of time on this one with my kids. 

To be honest it's something I'm trying to teach myself as much as them. 

"Daddy can we go out on our bikes now?"

"No we used the time we had on beed's, that film, not helping with cleaning". 

We wake up, 
we go to bed, 
We prepare meals, 
We eat meals, 
We drink water, 

There are other things as parents that we have chosen for ourselves like taking the kids to school, and getting them ready and prepared for the day. 

That'll likely look different based on your parenting approach.

But the rest of the time, we are choosing not to do hundreds of other things in the time we have available. 

The one I'm working on is the last 30 minutes of the day. 

I have a habit of taking 30 minutes more than I should watching tv. 

I got into the habit when I worked at the gym til 8.15 and needed to unwind before bed. 

When you set a morning alarm it's an easy trade off to make you think, there is only a small tiredness trade off to tell yourself. 

Well since I've been here I haven't set an alarm as part of my dream life plan that I wrote before we left, I've learned that the tiredness sorry isn't true. 

Theory is great but reality is a much better teacher. 

If I get off the sofa at 10.30 I wake up at 6:20 for the next 2-3 days. 

If I get off the sofa at 10:00 I'm up at 6:00 

I have a 25 minute morning ritual that I really enjoy. Not only do I really enjoy it but my day is immeasurably more productive and enjoyable when I do it. 

and in this I now have my leverage. 

If I don't get off the sofa at 10:00 then I don't have time to do it. 

That's a pretty big part of stopping a habit you enjoy, find something you enjoy more to replace it. 

We only have so much time, we only have so much attention. 

When ever we choose something we are saying no to hundreds of other things. 

Ed Ley