Self-Improvement Is Masturbation. Or Is It?

I was re-made aware of the infamous line from Fight Club the other day in a discussion, but it wasn't related to what this post is about. But yet it is. The context of the source conversation was in the more Fight Club-ish context about material possessions, social status, et al. But there's definitely a positive and necessary need for self-improvement. Improvement in your job, in your relationships (creating a more healthy environment), improvement in your hobbies, and improving your physical health (and mental health, I'd say). It's important to life to seek improvement in these core components of one's life. So, what am I doing to improve myself?

I'm making an attempt to get back into shape. Not like I was ever there in the first place, but you know what I mean. I'm tired of being unhealthy, overweight, and perhaps most importantly, being tired and not sleeping well due to whatever. Since I started my new job and have my shift, I've begun making regular use of the on-site fitness center every morning before work. That may be pretty normal for some of you, but not for me. Especially since I hate waking up early. And my shift? 4am. Yeah. So my routine has now become:

• Go to bed at 5pm (hopefully)
• Wake up at 1am (again, hopefully, both give or take up to an hour)
• Drive to work (occasional Jack In The Box Sirloin Steak & Egg Burrito may or may not be acquired at this point)
• Work out for 20-40 minutes, depending on how early I get to work
• Shower
• Start work at 4am
• Go home at 1pm
• Rinse, repeat

Any of you who know me personally or have been following me online over the past few years know that I abhor waking up early. Or, waking up in general. I think that's more accurate. If I had my druthers, I'd go to sleep when I'm tired, and wake up when I wake up. That's just unfortunately how I've historically seemed to work.

Given that behavior, I'm pretty happy with my progress up to date. I've been getting to work early enough to get at least 20 minutes of exercise in every day except one in the past two weeks, have been getting a good decent overall workout, but have decided to work on mostly weights for the current moment (which would explain the slight increase in weight despite my better eating habits as well as exercising).

I've also managed to cut out about 95% of the soda I drank two weeks ago. The lure of free Mountain Dew at work is always tempting, but now rely on it only when I need a caffeine boost, and that's not even every day. I just bought a 36-pack of Mountain Dew at home the other day for me, my wife, and her brother who is staying over (as he often does), and oddly enough, I believe I've had only one or maybe two cans in the past three days or so. As opposed to two or three cans a day, as has my traditional habit been (as well as my wife and her brother), I think that's a pretty good improvement.

I'm not here tooting my own horn, I'm not trying to say "Oh, well I'm better than anyone because of this and this and this", I'm attempting to document my own steps, my own progress. And it's definitely only a start, but it's something that I've made conscious efforts to place as a priority in my day-to-day routine, and I definitely aim to keep that up. Better eating habits, more exercise, more sleep (which like last night--no matter how long I laid in bed, I couldn't fall asleep--sometimes can't be helped), all of which will hopefully add up to a much more healthy and happy me.

So now it's your turn. What steps have you made to (reasonably) improve yourself or your life? New job? Physical/mental health? What sort of (possibly) drastic or out-of-the-ordinary steps have you added to your day-to-day routine in order to affect those changes? What works and doesn't work for you? I'd love to hear your thoughts, opinions, and success stories (and even failure stories, if there's something to learn from them)! Comment away, people!