Early Mornings
I’m not a morning person, but I still get up ridiculously early.
I’m not an early bird nor a night owl. I’m more of an afternoon ostrich, all awkward and weird. If I could sleep until noon and be in bed by nine, I’d be content and well-rested. So what the hell am I doing waking up willingly between five and six in the morning everyday, including weekends?
I’m fairly certain there’s something wrong with me every time I get up instead of punching my alarm clock like I want to. But I’m trying to reach all sorts of goals this year. That means reading widely and trying the techniques of successful people. Including getting up early.
So, the alarm goes off at five and I get up instead of throwing it across the room (which would suck because I use my phone as my alarm clock). I go and sit at my desk with my breakfast and caffeinated water and I start knocking things off my to-do list.
Read one chapter of a non-fiction book- I want to keep learning so I’m alternating between writing and self-help books. My current book is Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis. I’m a fan of blunt authors. I just finished a writing book last week and this one came highly recommended by my sister.
Do two lessons on Duolingo- I want to learn foreign languages, but never make the time. I decided to start with Korean because I’m a huge fan of the K-Pop group Girls Generation and want to know what they are saying without waiting for translation. After I’ve learned Korean, my intention is to move on to Japanese to further my martial art studies (and then maybe relearn French).
Take my vitamins- I do this while I’m doing the previous two actions. I set up a small plate (it’s from a cheap kid’s tea set) the night before so they are sitting in my face. No excuses to not take them.
Small workout- I plank for 30 seconds, shaking like a leaf the entire time. My theory is planking is the worst thing that can happen to me in a day so it’s best to get it out of the way early. That mindset actually helped this week when I spilled hot tea laced with coffee flavored Mio on myself getting out of the car. I just shrugged and decided that I smelled delicious.
I then do 25 squats, 25 overhead presses with my ten pound kettlebell, and 10 reps of 5 dynamic breathing exercises one of my martial arts teachers taught me. I don’t always do the same five exercises because it all depends on what I can remember at the time. He swore they were better than a cup of coffee to wake you up in the morning, but I’ll stick to drinking caffeine.
These last two I just added this week to my line-up, we’ll see how well they slot in:
Journal- A lot of successful people put pen to paper, even if it’s just to write what they are grateful for or to plot out their day. I have about a billion notebooks lying around that were bought with the intention of journaling, but it never stuck as a habit. We’ll see how it works first thing in the morning.
Meditate- This is another one I generally start with the best intentions but never keep up with. I found a couple three minute guided meditations on YouTube. I never thought not actively doing stuff for three minutes could be so hard. I’ll have to keep you posted on how well I do and if I notice any results.
I still don’t like getting up early. I’m not one of those people who jumps out of bed, ready to greet the day with a smile on my face. I groan and shut off my alarm and roll out of bed because I know that I’ll be more groggy if I try to go back to sleep for any amount of time. And I’ll be upset with myself if I fail to show up.
I’ve been doing the whole wake up ass early thing for over a month now and I’ve noticed a few things:
It’s getting easier to get up. I think part of this is I go to bed at about the same time every night now so my schedule is more set.
My brain still shuts off at about 3 PM. It doesn’t seem to matter what time I get up, my brain pretty much wants to be done thinking around three if I’m doing any kind of work. I can trick it to restart a few hours later if I’m writing, but I need to cram most of my thinking and doing in early.
A lot of my “one day” tasks are being worked on regularly. I think everyone has a list of things they want to do one day, if only we had the time. I’ve already made it through three of my non-fiction books that have been stacked waiting for one day. Learn a foreign language? Only works if I work on it a little everyday.
My weight loss has accelerated. This might just be a coincidence because I started with my fitness app about the same time. My morning mini workouts might have something to do with my drop in weight, but it might be a chicken/ egg thing where I’ll never know for certain without stopping one of the activities. For now, I’ll just enjoy it.
If you had told me a year ago, hell even three months ago, that I’d be getting up at five in the morning just about everyday, I’d have laughed at you and called you crazy. Especially because I’m not doing it because I need to get up that early for work, I’m doing it because I want to do it for me and my goals. But isn’t it time that I start achieving everything I want out of life?
Weekly goal update:
Go to the gym twice: Success!
Sew ten dice bags: Failure, I failed to prioritize this.
Go to marital arts class: Failure, my teacher is still out of the country.
Read one book: Success! I finished Write Naked by Jennifer Probst
Write 7 thousand words: Success! I had one of those weeks were the words flowed and I definitely prioritized my writing over everything else.
What crazy thing have you tried on your road to success?
