Why not?

I have always been a fast starter. I like fresh, new beginnings. Monday’s, to me, have always represented hope and opportunity rather than the end of something. I rise early, get a jump on the day, and try my best to maintain a high level of output until it is time to officially call it a day, rest, recover, downshift, debrief. 

Somewhere along that path the notion that ‘hitting the ground running’ implied that in order to hit and in order to run one must first put oneself in motion to obtain operating velocity, came to mean that the first part, rule number one, of anything is in showing up. You aren’t going to be hitting the ground at any speed, let along a sprint, if your lazy ass stays between the sheets till noon. There needs to be intent, desire, discipline, stamina, preparedness and meaning. One must know, completely, what the mission is and what is the goal. One must have already made a commitment to the commitment. One must, if one seeks growth, to appreciate the test, the time and the trial. One must, in other words, embrace the suck. 

The same is just as true with one’s work as it is with one’s play. We show up ready for work, be it the 9-5 or 24/7 variety. Whether the job is dull, mid-level and dead-end or an exciting new project for a well-funded start-up. Without the ‘show up ready to go’ attitude you might as well stay home. I work for myself. I work at home. I know my tendencies and I know my preferences. I absolutely must get a certain amount of work done by noon if the day has any chance at all of being called a success. I need the afternoons for free lance. I want to go out and explore without a deadline hanging over my head like a ticking bomb. My afternoons are about flow. That flow takes me like a wave into the evening phase, already pleased and productive, ready for another training session and the inevitable wind-down afterwords. 

All this makes it a challenge to deal with the changes the club has asked of me. I offered to be a team player and give up my morning classes (0530 starts) and move to the way more popular 0845 sessions. Suddenly the discipline of hitting the ground running at 0430 was gone and I could now stay in fantasy REM for another 3 hours IF I SO DESIRED. 

Wow, what freedom. What responsibility. What a sweet stroke of softness. WHAT?

I am sure that I’ll grow into the new ‘clock’. And while not exactly playing into my bio-rhythmic patterns, I will adjust, adapt and find a way to make it work. 

Maybe I short use this sour reshuffle as an opportunity to make some lemonade and see if I could become, I don’t know..a strong finisher? Both?

Why not?