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 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!