I am $800 away from maxing out the Roth IRA for 2008.
This is what I realized – the pay-yourself-first mentality (rightly) extolled in the personal finance community can be applied to so many other aspects of life.
I have been consistently studying for my test, but I don’t think I have been studying as long or as hard as I can (or should). Yes, I am tired when I get home from work. No, I don’t want to sit down with another set of math problems. But it’s what I have to do to get to where I want to go. Along the personal finance vein, it’d be much more FUN to spend $100 on a nice dress than it is to save that money, but the dress decision probably won’t be as good for my long-term financial well-being.
So instead of trying to work up the motivation to study English grammar at 8PM, I’ve decided to wake up early instead and study for 1.5 hours before work. So my new goal: 6:15-7:45 AM is solid, no interruptions, good ol’ quality study time. It’ll be difficult getting up so early, but I’m hoping to make up for it by getting to bed earlier (10 PM – which means that I can usually squeeze in another hour (or two, if I am feeling extra ambitious) of studying at night).
I’ve also resisted the urge to stop by Ross on the way to work today, and instead will be using the time that I could be shopping for a new dress (and spending $$) on some math drills.
Joy.
I switched over to morning “work” time too. I find I’m actually much more awake from 6:00-7:30AM than 6:00-7:30PM (after dinner I start to fade)
After about a week it gets really easy to get up. Make sure you don’t let yourself sleep too long on the weekend and get out of habit. And I find it helps to open the blinds and let the sunrise naturally wake me up.
Good luck studying. Getting up earlier makes the day a lot “longer”
Well-said, and I quite agree. I’ve been listening to Dave Ramsey a lot lately, and he repeats this one phrase so much that it’s starting to stick with me:
“Live like nobody else now, and you can live like nobody else later.”
Study your heart out now, and you’ll be the one with the awesome score. Best wishes!
Yes on open blinds. It makes it amazingly easier to get up in the mornings when the sun is starting to come up, too (and you can *see* it).
You are so *GOOD* it blows my mind. In an inspiring sort of way. =)