the art of self-leadership

in the past few days, i've been ruminating on the art of self-leadership. "before we lead others, we must lead ourselves." a part of self-leadership is developing the disciplines that are lacking in my life, and the first two i'm tackling together: rising early, and exercise.

i used to be great at rising early. even on weekends, i'd set an alarm, even if it was technically "sleeping in" and when my alarm went off, no matter the day, i'd get up, and do my routine: brush teeth, make coffee and breakfast, eat/drink/read my bible. lately, i've let this slip - not every day, but now i snooze more, start later, and then get less than edifying time in the Word. i want to have the self-discipline to rise early every day, to greet the day with a right heart after a relaxed routine. so, i'm beginning by rising at the same time every day, even on weekends and days off. currently this means 6:45am - but that's just to get into the habit. as i grow in this discipline, i'll be bumping the time back in 5 minute increments until i'm rising around 6am, in theory.

i wish i was ever as "great" at exercise as i was at rising early, but it's never been something i could get into consistently. this is part of why i'm tackling it with rising early. i know that if i don't exercise in the morning, it won't happen at all. so for now, i'll get up at 6:45, and add a little exercise into my routine. this will throw off my work day by a half hour for a few weeks, but once i get used to that pattern, and begin bumping my rising time backward, i should be able to stick to the pattern quite nicely.

that's what's on my mind today. that, and furniture placement in my new house. how is it that we're paring down, moving into a bigger home, and i *still* don't have enough room for my furniture??