Special Post: Because LiveJournal were not working: Sacrifice

I realized something the other day. Seems I have been making a mistake about the concept of priorities. I have always thought of them as the things I do outside of eating, sleeping and such. I have made lifting a priority over the last three years and writing has gone by the wayside. I saw a video the other day about training. In the video the narrator (who is apparently talking to inner city athletes) says that in order to be successful you have to want whatever it is as much as you want to breathe. I am not geared that way, but he went on to say that "a lot of you want success but would rather spend time with your friends. You want success but you want to sleep more." He then goes on to tell them about the rapper Fifty Cent who was working on a movie and when he as not on set he was in the studio working on the soundtrack. Someone asked him when he slept. Fifty said, "Sleeping is for poor people."

And while a little hyperbolic, I immediately understood what I needed to do.

So, starting last Saturday I started to get up two hours earlier than I would normally would. The result:

Saturday: 1200 words
Sunday: I took off and will from here on out.
Monday: 1800 words
Tuesday: 2200 words
Wednesday: 1600 words

All on a brand new idea (that has been cooking for 17 years) and all as clean as I have ever written a rough first draft. All while the family slept so I was not taking any time away from anyone. All without hitting the snooze button once. My goal is 1500 words a morning. Initially it was a 1000, but that is a bit low. I'll stick with 1500.

Lost in a miasma of dissatisfaction with my life, I figured that I needed to something to change that life. It is not possible for me to go back to school right now. It would be too much to leave a job where I do a good work and am needed. I am not giving up lifting because it is too ingrained. Maybe I will never make it as a writer (and by "make it" I mean just scrape by a living doin' it), but I will never be able to do anything if I never do it and this is my response.

Of course, I have made such plans before and they have failed, but they have failed because of the priority factor. I was gonna write on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Other things like the gym, training, yard work, time with family, kept getting in the way. If nothing else, 5:15 to 6:45 am does not take away from anyone but me, and that is huge because I have always felt like writing when you have kids and a wife is an inherently selfish endeavor. All that happens is that my normal eight to nine hours of sleep gets cut to six or seven.

As of right now it is a price I am willing to pay. We will see if it pans out or not.

Then, as a side note, I had to skip the gym. Christan was chosen by one of the top ten students as one of their most influential teachers and was recognized at Honor's Night. I hate Honor's Night, but I was not going to miss it. Ten years ago, Christan received an award at Waycross College. I put up a stink and we did not go and I have never forgiven myself for it. I'll never miss another event.