Tonight seems like a good time to update the progress on my week’s goal. In one word, failure.

I forgot my own cardinal rule of habit setting: a new habit has to begin with one thing so easy I can’t help but follow through. I figured my desired routine was simple enough. That it was easy enough. Nope.

The first couple days, perfect. Then, my old friend fatigue set in. You see, even my “easy” routine required an additional hour or so of extra time, and because I am perpetually sleep-deprived, I couldn’t didn’t get up early enough yesterday to make it happen. Not even my public commitment here could get me out of bed, because I didn’t just need to do just one thing. I had to do four things. Four things is way too much for sleeping-me to handle. I’m might as well do no thing.

Except I did manage to stick with one part of my plan, because I kept up with my entry into cold therapy. Since I take a shower in the morning every day, I can just use full cold water while shampooing my hair. In other words, time is no factor. Plus, it is only one thing, so I can’t help but follow through.

Now, I absolutely hate the cold until it’s over, but man, it’s worth it. Turning the temperature knob down¹ requires a true act of will, but this act of discipline first thing in the morning starts the day out on the right foot.² As I said, I hate the cold water, but I’m starting to believe there’s something to all the claims of its benefits. I feel great for hours after even this very minimal cold therapy.

So maybe this week’s goal is—so far—a partial success, rather than complete failure. I’ll take it.