I’m sure I’m not alone when I say things like, “I want to be more productive”, or “I would like to get out of bed earlier”. Sometimes we go as far as to say “I’m waking up at x time tomorrow”, and we set an alarm for that x time.
I bet I’m also not alone when I tell you that I often hit the snooze bar (or equivalent button on your phone) at that x time. The funny thing is, I’m not normally like this. I’m one to get up at 3:30am to drive an hour to work, and then not make it home ’till 8:30pm, put the boy to bed, make supper, pack a lunch, in bed by 10:30pm, and then back at ‘er again the next morning at 3:30am. I’ve done this without complaints, and I’ll tell you it’s easy as hell to come up with reasons not to get up at 3:30.
Nobody likes 3:30am unless your still up.
3:30am mornings means watching the clock turn to the infamous 4am. That time that’s been considered the most middle of the night as possible in so many stories, books, film, and music. It’s the time of ghost stories, and a time that you can feel the gravity of the Sun on the other side of the planet pulling you back into bed! 4am is not a time that humans are supposed to be awake, and yet I used to do it.
The problem is since my layoff, I don’t have a strict appointment to be at that requires me to be up so early. I usually set an alarm for 6am, but just snooze in until my son wakes up at 7… or sometimes 8-ish.
Why should I wake up early?
The point is, that I don’t feel as productive as I could be, and I’ve been feeling more tired than I should be. There’s a lot of bad habits I’ve picked up since the birth of my son, such as exercising less, eating more poorly, and now the final kicker, is sleeping in.
It’s time for a system reboot. I want to get back to being more energized, and exercising more often, but first I want to start waking up at the same time everyday like I used to, without hammer-fisting my snooze bar unconscious. Waking up earlier, and at the same time every day, will actually help me feel more rested, even if at first it doesn’t feel like it.
Bottom line is that to be successful at my long term goals, I need to wake up when the alarm goes off. I need to stop hitting snooze, and get my ass out of bed early enough that I can accomplish things before my son wakes up.
What’s my plan?
My goal is to start small. I’m going to set my alarm for 6:30am tomorrow morning. Gradually working my way back to 5am. To give myself motivation, I want to commit to posting a blog tomorrow by 7am to prove I was up on time.
Feel free to keep me in check 🙂
Cheers,
Dan
Like what you just read? Share this article with one of the social buttons below 🙂
Stay informed by following me on Twitter: @danfletcherblog
or like my Facebook page: Dan Fletcher Blog
