Threading the Needle-of-the-Day

I am a thinker, but I am not consistent. (just in case anyone wanted a one-sentence overview of this post)

There are people, I am informed, that follow daily routines for significant portions of their lives - I'm talking 360+ days a year, perhaps 40+ years with minimal adjustments. At the other extreme, getting up at 7 a.m., five days a week to go to work, has often nearly killed me. Not from exertion or stress, but because it all seems so bleak. For better or worse, I like variety, and I like free choice.

This does not bode particularly well, especially if someone considers that I actually like my job, and feel inspired to do well - some of the time. What will happen when these things are no longer aligned? How long is the ramp of job satisfaction that I can hope to climb? Am I building momentum? Or am I approaching a day of reckoning?

Lately, I have found my mind to be both active and "under control" (which deserves those quotes after ten years spent on behavioral medications), although my focus has shifted. I have done a horrendous job of staying physically active since I graduated. I suppose a person can only focus on so many things at once, and I have been gearing up my brain to take on bigger and better challenges at work. On the other hand, my diet has also changed for the worse. Something tells me that school simply primes me for multitasking and productivity in a way that work does not. There are fewer shortcuts at school. The "to-do" list is more absolute.

But, these things will have to come under control at some point. I do think it is important to "keep moving", mentally - to learn to love learning so that you are constantly doing it. This has been hard for me because I had an early innate response to shy away from things that I did not understand. Teaching yourself to act oppositely to that predisposition is a pot of gold.

Some day, I will have to learn to execute more consistently; I stopped working out and eating healthy after two short years. How do I build a mindset that will force me to get exercise and proper nutrition every day, without waste or excess, and enjoy it for the next 40+ years?