Up Early

One of my recent projects has been to get up earlier than usual. My desire to do this was first motivated by my frustration that I was not able to maintain a daily consistency of gym workouts if I waited until the evening. I also remembered from many years ago that when I do workout early in the morning before work, I have much more energy, focus, motivation and engagement throughout the day. Not to mention higher confidence and a more positive mood. So, I started by getting up a half hour to 1 hour earlier than needed to simply get out of bed, shower and head to work.

The result of this change was significant. The benefits mentioned above were immediately noticeable. But I was still frustrated that by the time I get home in the evening, do dinner and catch up on the day's news and events, I did not have enough time or concentration to pursue some things. This realization, coupled with a strong desire to "get centered and focused" before starting the day led to moving my goal of getting up early to 5:00 am.

I've been working on this for about 3 weeks now and have been successful at getting up between 5:30 and 6:00 about 3 mornings per week. On the days I do this, I am much more productive. By the time I get to work, I am fully energized and focused for the day. My goal now is to increase the number of days that I get up earlier and continue moving the time back to as early as 5:00 am. The challenge here is getting enough sleep, but I have confidence this will happen.

The routine that seems to be jelling is:

1. Get up
2. Make coffee
3. Meditate
4. Journal
5. Read
6. Write
7. Workout
8. Breakfast
9. Get ready for work
10. Play a couple of jazz tunes on piano

All this is done by 8:00, when I head to work, so you can see why I need the 3 hours. I can definitely say it is making a positive impact on my productivity, effectiveness and life in general. I recommend quality morning time for anyone who can do it. Well, gotta go, time to workout :-)