First off the photo is here

Seeeeee I didn’t hit the snooze today!( this is me in my own head telling my self I told you so)

And I didn’t today. This is day one of the chain that gets built and then becomes a pattern. I know because I have done this before. When You want to start to wake up early. There is only one way I know. set the alarm and force yourself. At first it will seem like hell. But then once you are up and doing something your mind will start to become alert and you will be awake.

You get the blood flow going with some arm circles, pushups, light squats. Or maybe a brisk walk. Get the fresh morning air in your lungs. The circulation helps your brain.

Also why not wake up at 5 a.m.?

I like it because when I do I already feel like my day has a small accomplishment in it. Goal one for the day complete. Check. It starts my pattern for the day.

• Wake up early
• Cold shower – blood flow
• Light exercise – blood flow
• No food until supper today( and with my schedule it is anywhere between 5 and 9 p.m.)
• Read and or write in the morning.
• Prepare for the day – list of things to do and pick up

 

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You see it starts with WAKE UP EARLY!

So if I don’t get it done at the start the whole chain will not happen. I will not hold myself accountable for the rest of the day. It is like I say to myself well you already started as a failure so might as well keep it up. See self talk here, Gorilla mindest. That was from a whole year ago. I was doing great then. Fit and motivated.

Also at 5 in the morning probably no one else in your house is awake. It allows you to get done what you need to or want to with out distraction. The is no wife or children trying to get your attention that quite frankly they are deprived of.  Once you get the good stuff out of the way your day starts on a great note. It is a lot easier to keep it up.

 

Tips on actually getting up.

Keep you alarm device in another room

This will make you have to actually get out of bed and walk to the other room to turn it off. Now it is easier to stay out of bed. Keep in mind you brain will play tricks on you. You will hear a voice tell you “lay down for a little bit, you won’t fall back a sleep”, or ” this is stupid, just go back to bed”.

Well that is what mine always told me. And for the last whole bunch of months I listened. I had the alarm set and I would go get it . Then Hit snooze and walk back and lay down with my wife in bed. Only to magically snooze the next alarm without even waking up. As it was in my hand in bed. I use my phone as my alarm.

Arm circles

You know where you whip your arms around and around. I do it and my shoulders click in the morning. Gets the fluid moving in the joint. and gets my brain starting to wake up. You can then do leg circles     or a small joint mobility warm up. Get that fluid moving in all the joints.

Having something to do when awake

Don’t wake up and watch T.V. You can do that anytime. Remember this a.m. time is yours. Family is asleep, most of the city is as well. You have an extra hour or two to do as you please without interruption. Use that to your advantage.You just gave yourself an extra hour today. If you can keep this up for a whole year you now gave yourself and extra 365 hours. Give or take the few times when the kids wake up too. That is a lot of extra time.In full time work hours that is just over two months of time. Imagine if you could get paid for fourteen months of work every year instead of 12. That can add up pretty quickly. When I was successful at this get up early thing last year, I would rise and read or write every morning. I did not surf the net, I did not lay down for any reason. I did do some exercise.

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So in order to start the day with pride, you must start with a small success. And build from there. After a while it will be normal.It will not be a thing for you to feel good about. But it is a start. Like when you learned to tie you shoes. First you parents were proud then , now , not so much. Soon the small success becomes larger. It grows like a plant. You need to water it and check on it every day. Pull the weeds from around it. Give it sunlight. Remember you are the plant, and you need to nurture yourself , because you want to be better.

Things you can do in the morning

• Imagine your master plan for the day
• You can visualize your life in a year
• You can just sit and listen to the noises of wherever you live
• Run!
• Read, or write
• Take a course on UDEMY
• Go to work Early
• Go to the gym be home and done your workout before family wakes up
• Make breakfast for your family
• Make breakfast for yourself and smell up the house with the last piece of bacon
• Draw, or rather practice drawing.
• Learn to resist yawning, and the magnetism of the mattress.
• Make the best cup of coffee in the world. I mean you have the time.
• Invent the next best thing since sliced bread.

Remember 1 extra hour is giving yourself 4% more than everyone else is. If you get 4 % better , or have four percent more time to get something done imagine the possibilities. Imagine where you will be in a year. And imagine it every day. I hope you do ell, and dont fall into the trap I did with myself. I could have had at least 52 more articles up. Probably more like a hundred. I would probably get more visits a day than I do. But I know people are reading. They are seeing it and I like to do it. SO I will continue. Instead of living in my past, mind and body. I choose to grow. Starting now. Not looking bac and at what I don’t have now.

I am going to stop there.