Having a space everyday for my own time

There are a lot of things that I want to do as a matter of routine, but I never seem to be able to get around do doing them as a matter of routine. For instance, I want to exercise consistently, doing exercises every single day, so that I can lose weight and make gains muscle-wise. I want to have time every day where I can read, both philosophically and my normal recreational reading. I want to have time everyday to meditate. I want to have a bit of time every day where I can play guitar and mandolin.

These are things I want to do everyday. Yet, I don't end up doing them. I have an incredibly inconsistent schedule, where I end up not going to bed at the same time each night (probably causing me terrible harm), not eating the right good all the time (for instance, at the moment I am eating a lot of sugar brought back from the temple, because there is a lack of good food for me in the fridge, because I haven't gone shopping since I've come back), and not consistently doing the things that I want to do.

What I think I need, is a block of time where I can say exactly what I am going to do. It is time to myself, and a sort of "minimum bar" for passing the day.

When I was at the temple, we would wake at 03.30 in the morning and go to the temple for the morning services (masala arti, iirc). They would go from 04.30 to 08.30 or 09.00 when we would then break for prasadam. We would always feel fairly accomplished as even before we'd started the day, we had done the morning services. It was fun, and exercise too.

I want something like that for my own life. For instance, I could wake at 04.00 I think, and then:

• do yoga or exercise until 04.30
• meditate from 04.30 until 04.45
• read philosophy until 05.30
• shower, dry, put on new clothes (until 06.00 though I doubt it'd take so long)
• read recreationally until say 06.30
• then get ready for work or start doing whatever I'm doing on the weekend

That way, I, in the span of two and a half hours have done pretty much all I want to do.

(I've tried this for the past week and I'm failing at the first hurdle: I can't wake up 04.00)

If I do it later, it means I can't do it on weekdays. I have to leave the house around 06.50 for work on weekdays.

In the evenings, it's a bit harder to do too. I see a friend online two days a week that can go on until late, and I might have events on in the city, or I might even just need to sort out the garden and allotment, etc. It means I can't guarantee time each day.

So, in the morning are best.

Of course, this doesn't give me all I want. I want time to play and study guitar and mandolin too, but I don't think I'll get that. I do have other things in my life, and I can't just do exactly what I want. Work constricts me, gardening restricts me, everything binds me timewise. However, if I at least have these basics, which are, after all, the basics of health (sleep, exercise, meditation, philosophy), then I have a good base to do the rest from.