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!
On the weekdays I wake up at 6:40AM. I get up to make my kids breakfast (the most important meal of the day) and to make their lunches for school. First one is out the door at 7:30AM… next one an hour later.
On the weekends I would love to sleep in past 8am but rarely I do. My body just wakes up. I think it’s much easier to just wake up on your own in the wee hours. That’s why I love Summer and there’s no schedule. We rarely sleep in but it’s just the idea of waking up when we want to that makes a difference.
I usually get up at 8:30am because I got to bed pretty late. I’d love to get back to a 11pm-7am sleep schedule though. Maybe I should start working on that :)
I get up early for me, which is around 7 every morning. I am a college student and compared to my roommates this is pretty early, which is nice because I have a lovely period of time to myself for quiet and solitude before they get up. Getting up early is great because I am able to get things done before my day starts, so I don’t have them hanging over my head during classes, work, and studying. The best part is just the mood of the morning. It is my favorite time of the day because it is a fresh start, and even on mornings when I am so tired, I feel relaxed and meditative. I love opening my window to the fresh air outside, and making coffe my own way rather than rushing to Starbucks. It’s definitely worth it to get up early, and I am striving for an earlier wake up call soon, as long as I can start getting to bed earlier too! (NEED my sleep!)
-Becca
6:30… when I don’t hit snooze over and over again. Otherwise more like 6:50. I leave for work at 8:15 and have a puppy to take out so any later would not be good. I’m definitely not a morning person though, I love sleeping later on the weekends!
I wake up between 8 and 9 most days because I don’t have to wake up. However, your post has inspired me and I’ve been trying to get up just a little earlier.
I get up M,W,F at 5:50 to be on my treadmill at 6pm for my running workout. T & Th usually around 7, which i really enjoy after the early morning the rest of the week. I have been thinking about makijng it m-f early am and putting in a hill workout/weights but early 5 days a week is SO not appealing…we will see how everything turns out!!
I wake up around ten am because I’m a 19 year old girl with too much freedom haha.
I normally wake up around 10-10:30 because I enjoy staying up late at night after I get off work at 11pm
My morning wake up time is all over the place. My hubs and I are unemployed + night owls. We usually go to bed around 1:30-2am. I like getting 8 hours of sleep, like getting up early, and staying up late. haha Can’t have it all! I usually get about 7hrs of sleep and get up around 8:30-9am. =)
I get up at 6am, and only because that`s when my 20 month old daughter demands that I do so!!! Otherwise it would be closer to 7 am.
Varies from either 5am to 7am depending on what classes I have that day and who is feeding the horses! Gotta love a farm…
I get up at 6 a.m. every day. I teach fitness classes at 7 a.m. every day!
I usually go to bed around midnight, and I get up at 7am–to an alarm. I wish I could wake up naturally! I’m afraid I would just sleep through my morning classes though.
All good tips, my friend :-) During the weekdays I usually wake up between 7:30-9:00 depending on when I have class. Yes, that’s pretty late. But since I don’t go on early morning runs anymore, I don’t feel the need to get up quite as early ;-)
During the week, I wake up at 6am for work! I work from home, but the company I work for is in a different time zone, so I have to work during their office hours. Luckily, I like waking up early. :)
Right now I get to sleep in because I’m on winter break, so normally 9ish. When school starts… 6ish, gotta grab the bus and get to Chem by 8!
I get up around 5:45 and run my hubby to the ferry and then climb back into bed for about 45 min. I get up and get the kids going around 7:00. I would like to get up earlier though. You are giving me a little spark. Thanks:)
6am – anything with a 5 in it feels just tooooo early these dark winter days! How you can do that without an alarm clock is amazing to me :p
I like to get up early–for me–around 8 or 9. I work til 11 or so at night, so that totally works for me.
My boyfriend though likes to stay up til 3 or 4 working on his freelance writing, and sleep in til 11 or noon. When he does that and I stay at his house, I sleep in til then sometimes too.
#Fail!
It’s so nice to cuddle, but I really enjoy waking up early enough to go for a run and be productive early. I need to find a happy medium!
I wake up around 4pm Tues-Fri, closer to 11am on Monday. I work nights and switch my schedule over on the weekends so I can be up during the day. After work I usually get to bed around 8:30-9am.