Fitting it all in

OK, so it's all well and good to say that your life can be filled with a full-time job, plenty of time for your family, lots of interests and consistent dedication to your fitness. But it's NOT easy. I've had to make a number of adjustments to my routine lately to embrace all that's important to me. I've tried many times before to fit it all in without doing the unthinkable...getting up a minute earlier than I absolutely had to. Frankly, it's impossible. My old routine looked a little something like this:

7:45 am - finally get my ass out of bed, scramble to get myself showered, shaved (occasionally) and fed (this part usually came in the car on the way to work), while pitching in what little I could related to the kids' and dog's morning routines

8:45 am - arrive at work stressed and harried

6:00 pm-ish - leave work

6:15 pm - arrive at the gym (this step was treated as exceedingly optional)

7:30 pm - arrive home, jam in some time with the kids before they go to bed)

8:45 pm - come down from putting kids to bed, generally after having fallen asleep next to my son in his bed; throw together some crappy dinner

9:15 - 11:00 pm - do something mindless like watch TV

The problems here are obvious - limited family time, inconsistent working out, no energy to pursue other interests.

In recent months, I've made a big effort to get up an hour or so earlier, during which time I'll do yoga, read the paper and have breakfast with my family. I end up getting to work in a much better state of mind, feeling much more relaxed and like I've already accomplished something. Since I've adopted the training philosophy I described in my previous post, my workouts have been much more consistent because a) I'm doing most of them at home; b) they are much shorter in duration; c) I love the process and results, so my motivation is high; and d) my feeling of accomplishment from my morning routine carries through the day and I want to continue it. So, now my days look more like this:

6:30 am - get up, yoga, paper, b'fast, get ready for work (over time, I hope to get up even earlier and take more advantage of this time of day)

8:45 am - arrive at work

6:00 pm - arrive home, work out

7:00 pm - have dinner, spend time with the family

8:45 pm - come down from putting kids to bed and spend time doing something productive / enjoyable (work on blog, work on personal training business, read)

11:00 pm - bed

At first glance, the changes in the schedule aren't huge (although I'm still not even close to being a morning person, so the early get up feels huge to me!). But the changes in my mindset, lifestyle, stress level and happiness are substantial.

My hope is that this habit will be well-established by the time the days get much shorter...