HEY-LO!!!!
Wow two posts a day, two days in a row. It feels like the good old days. I told you that my blogging was much quicker now! Thank you Eric, techie genius. ;)
I feel literally ah-may–ZING since I have started NOT multitasking and the Early Rising Challenge. I have an extra kick to my step. I can’t wait to see what I feel like in a few weeks if this has only been a few days. They say it takes 21 days to form a habit, so that is what I am shooting for.
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Some of you have been asking me how I am getting up early so I thought I would talk about it a bit tonight and tell you what has worked for me so far.
Here are some of my Early Rising Challenge tips:
- GET WARM: If your place is like mine, it is freezing when you wake up. The walk from the bedroom to the bathroom is the most painful thing I experience all day. COLD. I have found that it is much easier to get out of bed if my fluffy robe and slippers are beside the bed. As soon as I get up the robe and slippers go on and I instantly feel a bit (bit) better about getting up. I also have a small space heater in our bathroom that I immediately turn on when I get up. I look forward to the warmth and I stand beside it for a few minutes while I brush my teeth. These little rewards add up in the early morning!
- WAKE UP NATURALLY WHEN POSSIBLE: I don’t use an alarm clock. I have this strange internal clock that I can ‘set’ before bed and I magically awake for that time. I prefer not using an alarm clock because it means that I am more likely to wake up at the end of a sleep cycle– and not being jolted awake in the middle of one! This method is not for everyone of course (i.e., my hubby). If you can’t go without your alarm clock, I suggest putting it across the room so you have to get out of bed to turn it off.
- CAFFEINE: I will bulldoze anything in my path to get to the kettle in the morning to make my Japanese Sencha. It has just enough caffeine to wake me up and energize me. While I don’t suggest consuming massive quantities of caffeine, I think a little bit is nice!
- GET YOUR ENDORPHINS: If you are going to the trouble of getting up early you might as well cross off your workout while you are at it! I feel ‘ok’ after 15 mins. of rising, but I feel especially AMAZING after an early morning workout. I will be honest though, the first 10 minutes of my workout are often brutal and I feel like I have no energy, however after 10 minutes I magically wake-up and it goes pretty well. When I workout in the early morning I have half a Glo Bar or a Run bar to tide my hunger over until breakfast, which is usually 1-1.5 hours later (after workout and showering).
- REWARD YOUR SUCCESS- TWICE! I want a morning reward and a weekly reward for my hard work! My morning reward is having more time for a relaxing, delicious breakfast. I also spend a bit more time reading fun blogs or reading my book. For my weekly treat, I was thinking giving myself ‘permission’ to buy a special item at the grocery store that I typically don’t buy. Nothing motivates me more than good food! ha!!! ;)
- BE FLEXIBLE: A reader named Ariel gave me this great tip. She says to be flexible with the goal time that you set for your early morning. So for example, if Ariel’s goal time is 5am, she won’t be hard on herself if she gets up at 5:30 on some mornings. We have to take into account the fact that some days we will just need more sleep than others and that is OK! Be flexible with yourself and you will be less stressed and happier (this applies to all areas of life too!).
I was asked if I have a ‘goal time’ for the Early Rising Challenge.
The answer is YES.
You know me, I need goals to strive for in everything that I do. I find they are so motivating. My goal is 4:45-5am wake-up time, and a more realistic goal is probably 5:30am, given Eric’s sleep schedule and the fact that I do need to spend quality time with him in the evening! :) I can’t see myself going to bed much earlier than 10pm, but maybe that will change with the earlier mornings. Baby steps…
All in all it is only day two of the challenge and I am already feeling so much more productive and overall much happier. That is in part thanks to my NOT multitasking too! My life is feeling more simplified with each passing day and I am really excited to keep at it and see what benefits I get from it.
Would you like a chance to win a 2 pound bag of CHIA SEEDS from Chia Seeds Direct?
Just answer this simple question below:
- What time do you get up in the morning during the weekdays and WHY!
Contest open to Canadian and US residents only please. Runs until Friday Jan 15th at 8am.
BONNE CHANCE MES AMIES!
See you tomorrow AM for Pumpkin Pie Baked Breakfast Cake.
I’m off to do Whittle My Middle 2 with Eric, then make some din dins. Ta-ta!
I used to be an early riser (4:30, 5:00), but since my one-year old began running things, schedules have changed. I do my workouts in the evening now, and then budget in time for showering and just some quality ‘me’ time. So I’m usually dressed and pressed in the mornings by 6:30 (night showers tend to help!)
My alarm goes off at 5:40 every morning, but I usually stay in bed until 6:00. I’m going to try putting my alarm clock on the other side of the room to see if it helps me get up earlier.
I wake up at 7:15. My fiance gets home from work at 10pm so by the time I talk to him and wind down it is usually midnight. I’d love to get to bed earlier but it is also the only time we see each other!
I wake up at 5am to workout and eat breakfast before work! It is much harder in the colder months!!
I try to get up by 5:30 every morning to squeeze in a workout before my 45 minute commute, but usually just hit the snooze alarm enough that it bugs my hubby until he finally pushes me out of the bed at 6am! Any later than that, and I’ll surely get a speeding ticket trying to get to work on time!
I’m naturally a morning person so I usually wake up early on my own. And usually I’m excited for breakfast!
I’m usually up and at ’em between 5:30 and 6…to run before work! I have way more energy in the morning than after work!
ps
I love those little chias!
4:45 is quite ambitious! I’ve never been a morning person… probably why I work evenings! I get home from work just before midnight and stay up late to unwind.. I usually sleep til 10:30 or 11.
I shoot for 6 a.m., but it is more often than not 6:30 a.m. The extra half hour of wake up time and cuddle time with the husband is priceless!
I don’t get up at a certain time on weekdays. I aim for 6:30 but usually get out after 7. I really need to commit to an early morning challenge but I really LOVE sleep.
I don’t get up very early, because my husband doesn’t HAVE to get up early, and he is the lightest sleeper EVER. So, if I’m up early, so is he.
I wake at about 7 am. :D
Between 4:00 and 4:15 a.m. – I’m a morning person and I like to get up and work out, play with my dog so he gets some exercise. Get dressed and sit in traffic for an hour to get to work!
My goal is to be a 10:30 pm – 6:30 am sleeper, but right now it’s more like 1 or 1:30 to 8:30.
I live near Lake Michigan and would so love to get to wake up, throw on yoga pants (and boots) and be walking along the lake shore by 6:45!!!
I get up between 4 and 5 am most days. I get up so early because I work at Panera Bread and we open super early in the morning!
everyday (yes even Saturdays and Sundays) I get up at 6am, get the kids out of bed and ready for school … we are out the door by 7:20am and I’m at work at 8am.
On weekends we are just used to getting up early.
I wake up at 5:45 to work out before I have to shower and get myself and my little guy ready for work/school!
I usually get up between 6:30 and 7 because it’s early enough to still get my “morning time” (my favorite time of day!), but it’s not so early that I’m sleepy by 8 pm.
Okay, I’m a slacker. I get up around 8:15 or so – and why – I don’t go into work until 9:30 or so and I’m NOT a morning person! Would love to try chia seeds, have heard about them but no clue what they are or how they taste!
I wake up between 5:30 and 6:00 because I love the morning. I am a nursing student and I am most productive in the morning so it is a good time for me to get homework and studying done as well.
I wake up at seven to get to work and devour a steaming bowl of oatmeal!
I set my alarm for 6:30, but often don’t wake up until close to 7am. But I have to get up to get to work by 8:45am!
I get up between 7-8am….I usually don’t work until 10am. Also I’m up late most nights!
My alarm wakes me up at 5:30…but I don’t wake up and actually get out of bed until 6:00 . Going to try the ZenHabit of keeping my alarm clock away from my bedside…no more 30 minute snoozes in 2010!
I’m up at 6:15 every morning for school. It can be pretty brutal but I use the space heater and fuzzy robe trick too :)
I wake up at 8am. Plenty of time to take a nice hot shower, dry my hair, decide on an outfit, sit down for breakfast, and on some days even go grab a coffee. I never feel like I have to rush to be able to walk to work by 9am.
I’m up at 5:20 to make the 5:45am step class at my gym. It sucked (really really sucked) at first, but it’s gotten a lot easier. I do have to do a bit of rushing to be to work by 8, but I’d MUCH rather just get my workout out of the way!
I wake up ~5:20am because that is just about the latest I can sleep in to make it to work by 7:30!
I get up from 6:30 when I’m sleeping well to 9:30 when i need to peel myself out of bed for class. I’m looked at as a freak for getting up before 10 among my roommates!
I get up around 6:30 -7. It is really hard for me to sleep in on weekends because I am so used to getting up early.
I get up around 6 on days when I’m running in the morning. When I plan to run later in the day I get up at 7:15. My commute to work is about an hour long… so getting up at 7:15 allows me time to get out the door by 8. Hope I win the chia seeds!
I wake up around 630/7 every morning. Despite what class time i have my body just always wakes up then…during christmas break i woke up at 7 am every day while i was at home!! i just couldnt sleep later than that! tuesdays and wednesdays i have to wake up at 5 tho becuz i have work at 6 so those days arent as fun. definitely agree about the sleep cycle thing…i sometimes wake up at 5 ready to go but since i still have 2 hrs of sleep i go back to sleep and when my alarm rings i feel so much more tired than i was at 5am!
I get up a little before six because I am a teacher and school starts at 7:30.
hmm, i wake up when my body tells me to :) unless i set my alarm for a meeting or early morning class at the gym!
i have such a hard time falling asleep sometimes, too. the thing i find that works best is writing a list of whatever’s running through my head!
I get up at 5:35 am to milk cows! I know, its a little different answer! And that’s 7 days a week!
i am, sadly, NOT a morning person, so i DRAG myself out of bed between 7:30 and 8, and hurry on out to work by nine (or so…)
i have yet to try chia seeds but my curiosity is piqued!
I wake up around 4:30am. That gives me enough time to make coffee, eat my first breakfast and get ready for the gym. I am mostly a night person and I don’t like getting up this early. But I love going to the gym at 5:30 in the morning, it is so quiet and peaceful, and all the exercise machines are available.
Hey Angela, I have been reading your blog for sometime now during my downtime at work. My mom turned me onto it as her and OSGMOM are good friends and she thought that we are a lot alike!!
In response to your question, I get up every morning like a gym rat robot at 4:15 and am at the gym working out from 5am until 7am. I must do this because I have a desk job and sitting motionless ALL day makes me crazy!
Anyway, I would love some chia seeds…they are hard to come by in Calgary!
Cheers,
-Ashley
i used to get up at 5:45 (i have to be to work at 7) but i found that i needed some “me” time before the little ones got up so i started to get up at 5 a.m. It worked for about a wk and then my angels started getting up at that time too. so needless to say not much “me” time in the mornings but i do carve out bits and pieces throughout the day.
lori
What a cool giveaway! I usually get up about 7:30. I struggle to get up and get going because I am lacking motivation for my day time gig. I would love to try some chia seeds! I have not tried them, yet!! Sounds like everyone loves them and this is a great deal!
I get up at about 5:30 everyday. I like to have some quiet time to myself before getting ready and going to work for 7 a.m. It’s a little rough but it starts my day off the right way.
My times always vary because I’m a student. This month though, I’ve been getting up at 6:49AM every morning to go to class, and I’m not liking it! Because I’m doing a masters I do a lot of work from home and like you, I much prefer setting my internal alarm clock!
6am on weekdays, to have 1 hr to get my son ready without rushing for school. His bus picks him up at 7 am. I do have to use my alarm, too paranoid to oversleep! :-)
I get up during the week at 4:30 for work. Usually I’m up before my alarm clock, but I’m always afraid of oversleeping so I set two.
Varies between 7am and 9 am. Fortunately I do not have set working hours so there is a bit of leeway. I prefer to wake up early though, if I had enough sleep.
The alarm goes off at 7:30…but am not fully awake until some breakfast is in my belly.
I have to get up by 6AM during the week to make my 30-40 minute commute to school and work where I stay until 5pm most days. Which is an improvement, because last semester I was there until 8pm most days :(
I get up around 5 or 6. have always woke up early even as a kid??? all the adults in my life hated it of course, but I am a very quite person in the a.m. at least
I wake up at about 4 am everyday because I have to be at work by 5:30! It was a pain at first but now I can’t even attempt to wake up any later than 7 on my days off!
I wake up at 5:30 so I can get to the gym and get showered before my 8 am class! Working out in the morning gets my day off to a great start!
My goal time is the same 445. I loved it when that was my habit, I got so much done before my job at 930, it was like I had a whole extra day before my day! But it is killer to hang with night people when you gotta kick out at 830-930. Now I get up at 530, I get enough done before my job at 730…but I miss those extra 45 minutes. My “late”time is 630.