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!
Sadly, I wake up quite late 8am! I am definitely trying to fix that by bumping it up (or should I say down?) to 7am. Hopefully soon I will be back to the 5-6am threshold that I have been wanting to do! Oh and awesome chia seed giveaway! go Angela!
My body likes to sleep until 7. I’m also a night owl and so is my husband. Since the beginnin of this month I’ve been getting up at 6 and I feel great getting into work early (and leaving early)! :) On the weekends I usually let myself fall back asleep/doze until 9.
I get up at 5:45 so that I have time to workout before getting ready for work and getting my daughter up. I have been doing it for a few months now and it is still hard for me to do some mornings but I feel so much better once I am up.
I am always on the fence between snuggling an extra few minutes with my husband and getting up a few minutes early to get things done before my baby is up. Usually I hop off the fence around 7!
I wake up @ 7 o’clock, because I’m a night owl. ;)
I hope to do better this year.
I get up at 7:00 when I have class and 8:00 when I don’t. However, i’m trying to push the 8:00 to earlier to get some work done in the mornings!
I get up at 6am on weekdays. Sometimes it’s difficult, especially when I’m up working or studying until midnight, but that extra time in the morning (before the husband gets up at 6:30 and my daughter gets up at 7) gives me time to make a nice cup of tea, eat breakfast, and relax before the day starts.
I get up at 5am because I have an hour commute, and I have to be at work at 7. I don’t mind it too much, but I hate that I can’t work out before work because my gym doesn’t open until 6. Sad! O’well, maybe someday I’ll get to go back to morning workouts. I also totally understand your dislike of going to bed so early. I feel like I barely get an evening. Thanks so much for doing the giveaway. I’m almost out of chias now!
wow. I guess a lot of people want Chia Seeds! :) I am a student so it depends what I have that day. Normally, I will wake up around 8, 8:30. However, if I need to be somewhere earlier, I could be up anytime around 6:00-7:00.
630 or 7 even though I dont lave til 8 or 830- just cause i like to slooowly wake up while watching the today show and eating breakfast! when it gets warmer i’ll go back to running in the AM too.
I am up at 6:30-6:45 on weekdays. I used to get up at 5:00 to do schoolwork before work and/or exercise. I just had a hard time getting to sleep early enough and got very tired. Also I had less time to spend with my fiance.
I get up a lot later than I want to! I have my own goals set for Feb (the shortest month ha) of getting up the same time, every day. I do fine during the week, but I sleep in too much on the weekends.
I’ve been trying to wake up earlier, too. So while usually I’d get up around ten, lately I’ve been waking up at seven or eight. It gives me nice, long mornings that perhaps include a workout, but in all honesty, I don’t feel as rested as when I wake up later even though I’ve adjusted my bedtime. It’s been like this my whole life: no matter how early I go to bed, no matter how long I sleep, I just can’t seem to force myself to be a morning person. Still, it’s working better for my schedule right now.
I’m TRYING to do just what you’re doing – and get up around 5:30am. My partner works at 6:30, so I’m pushing myself to get up and take him to work. I’d like to eventually work out prior to that!
Reality: I get up around 7-8am daily depending on my work schedule.
I love Chia! :D
I get up between 5:30 and 6am so I can get a good workout in before work! :)
I get up around 8:00am. I am currently in grad school, and find I am most productive late at night.
I get up about an hour before I need to be out the door. Most days I get up at about 7:30. I’ve got to “plan” and prepare mentally if I need to get up earlier. If I prepare myself, I’m usually fine with waking up earlier, but if something sudden happens and I HAVE to get up- watch out, I’m cranky!
I get up at 5:15 to workout each morning before I go to school to teach my third graders!
:)
I get up between 5:30 and 6 so I can get to the gym before work/school. I feel so much better when I do!
Hi Angela! I heard about you in an issue of Self magazine and have loved your blog ever since! My mom, sister (who has been a vegetarian since she was 5 years old, and challenged us all to try it)and I, are all vegetarians and sometimes find it difficult to create new and delicious, meatless meals. But we have been inspired by your blog!!
My mom is a yoga instructor and always stresses to my sister and I that “we are what we eat.” It’s sometimes hard as a teenager to be a vegetarian, but I’ve found that eating healthy, excersising, and taking care of my body is my passion. I’ve decided that in college I would like to major in nutritional sciences and hopefully in the future, open a healthy bakery/cafe/yoga studio like you did! You have inspired me.
I’m a high school senior, so I get up at 6 a.m. to make my younger sister and I oatmeal with bananas(our favorite!) before heading off to school. We enjoy decorating our oatmeal with nuts, dried fruit and seeds, but just recently fell in love with chia seeds!! I had never heard about chia seeds until I started reading your blog! My mom has always loved flax seeds, but after seeing how much more nutritious chia seeds are, she made a trip to whole foods to buy us some.
Thanks so much Angela! Look forward to reading your next blog and trying your next recipes!!!
I’ve been dying to try chia seeds!! I usually wake up between 620 and 645 on the weekdays and around 8 on the weekends!