Today was day 3 of my 4-day, 8-hour challenge.
After yesterday’s crazy schedule, I was determined to stick to the normal schedule today. I did and it felt good! I got up at 4:30, did four ours work, had a break and then did another 4 hours work.
Tomorrow is the last day of this short experiment and then I have some time off to enjoy a wonderful Christmas!
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Today was day 2 of my 4-day, 8-hour challenge.
I’ve got to admit, I didn’t get up at 4:30am. For some reason I couldn’t sleep last night and didn’t get to sleep until after 3am. I suppose if I was totally hard core it wouldn’t have made a difference but functioning on 1 hour of sleep is taking things a little too far.
More importantly, I managed to fit in the 8 hours of work. Yes! Which was made even harder by the fact that I had another commitment during the day. It meant that I finished quite late at night. It was a pretty productive day. I’m quite conscious of being focused and getting work done rather than just clocking up the hours.
Tomorrow is day 3 of my challenge. I think this will hopefully be a ‘normal’ day and I can finish at a good hour, feel satisfied and do some fun things in the evening.
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Today was the scheduled day off from my challenge, because I had a prior commitment. Having said that, the commitment fell through so I really just had a day off to do as I pleased. I still worked on my projects but perhaps not as intensely.
Tomorrow I’m back to it. Something else has actually come up that I need to attend tomorrow. Therefor I will get up at 4:30am and do a solid 4 hour shift, but then may have to play it by ear for the rest of the day. I will still put in the 8 hours work, but the last 4 hours might be broken up.
That’s ok, it’s much better to be flexible when there is no other choice.
Wish me luck.
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Today was the first day of my 4-day, 8-hour challenge.
It all went to plan. I’ve done enough of these sort of things now to know that day 1 is usually not that hard. The motivation is up and everything kind of feels fresh.
I was still pretty pleased with my focus levels. I was very conscious of staying focused and not just ‘showing up’.
Tomorrow is not part of the challenge, as I have prior commitments that must be met. But on Wednesday, I will resume the schedule!
Time for a new experiment.
I have 4 out of the next 5 days off, and I am setting myself the challenge of putting in 8 hours of work on each of those 4 days. By work, I mean focused, constructive work on a range of projects that I have. The details of the projects aren’t important. What is important is the commitment, discipline and execution of the challenge.
Ok, so 8 hours a day really isn’t that out there. Most people do this every day in their 9-5 jobs. It’s true. However, this really isn’t a test of whether or not I can ‘put in a hard days work’, it’s really a test of how well I can stick to something that I don’t really ‘have’ to do. There will be no one checking up on me or guiding me along. There won’t even really be a personal reward at the end of it all as the things that I will be working on are long term projects. The reward, as with most personal endeavours is the sense of achievement at the end of it all.
Get up at 4:30am on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
‘Work’ from 6am – 10am, then from 12pm – 4pm.
Report my experience each day on this blog.
Ok, here goes!
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Today was day 61 of my early rising experiment. The final day!
As it was a Sunday, I didn’t get up at 4:30am, but it was still the last day of the 2nd month, so it counted as a day in the experiment.
It’s hard to believe I’ve successfully completed the whole experiment. Out of the 61 days, there were 51 early rises, 9 Sundays (days off) and 2 allocated days off. That means that in the last 61 days, I have arisen at 4:30am on 51 of those days!
It has been an amazing journey. There have been many benefits that have resulted from the extra time I have given myself everyday and from the boosted sense of discipline and focus but the greatest accomplishment is simply the successful completion of the experiment and the sense of achievement that has come with knowing that I put in the discipline and hard work day in, day out, for 61 days.
There were some challenging times along the way, but I knew that if I focused on the small steps every day, I would achieve my goal. And I did.
My routine of practicing waking up to my alarm, every night before I went to bed was the key. I believe that is why I was able to get up early for 2 months without faltering, whereas in the past, I could barely get through a week. The alarm routine conditioned my waking response, which was important, but more importantly, it was a constant sign of commitment. I knew that if I did the routine the night before, I was serious about getting up the next morning at 4:30am. I wasn’t leaving it to chance.
Writing on this blog was also a key factor. Using it as a vehicle for expression and having visual proof of my journey was a really motivational tool.
The secondary benefits of this experiment were huge as well. Having so many extra hours in the day meant that I could work on so many things yet still have time to do all the things that I normally do. Interestingly, I didn’t really feel any more tired than usual. Occasionally I did get quite tired, but no more regularly than when I was getting up later in my previous lifestyle. The actual physical process of getting up at 4:30am was often very hard, but once I was up and about, I was fine.
So where to from here? If the benefits are so high, will I keep it going? I’m not sure. I’m going overseas in 2 days, so I am going to have a well earned break. When I get back, I will consider what kind of routine I want to get into. But I’m pretty sure I will get back into an early morning routine. It might not be as early as 4:30am, but who knows…
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Today was day 60 of my early rising experiment.
It was the 2nd last day of the experiment and the final day of rising early. Tomorrow is the last day but it is a Sunday, which means I do not have to get up early.
Today was a very enjoyable day. As soon as I got up, I had a certain level of excitement, knowing that I had just arisen at 4:30am for the final time of my experiment. That energy seemed to stay with me for the whole day, even though I had not had much sleep and was expecting to feel tired.
Tomorrow is the last day of the whole experiment. It is a day off, so it’s a nice wind down, but I will still put an entry on this site and acknowledge that it is the final day of the experiment.
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Today was day 59 of my early rising experiment.
Of course, I got up today at 4:30am. It was the second last early rise of this experiment, which means that tomorrow is the last early rise!! Technically, Sunday is the last day before the 2nd month (and therefor the whole experiment) finishes, but Sunday is always a day off from the early rise anyway.
I’m really excited and happy. I have been really enjoying this week, knowing that it is the last week and having lots of interesting things to do.
My aim is to make sure I get up tomorrow at 4:30am and then there’s nothing I really have to do but enjoy going through the finish line.
Even though Sunday is a day off, as it is still the last day of the 2nd month, I will put an entry in this space for that day. I will also summarize the whole experiment and reflect on the whole process (probably in a separate post).
But for now, I just want to get up tomorrow morning at 4:30am.
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Today was day 58 of my early rising experiment.
I am filled with a quiet excitement at the moment. It is probably largely to do with the fact that I’ll be going overseas in a few days. But the completion of this experiment is adding another dimension to it.
I feel a certain confidence in myself knowing that I am about to complete something that has taken a lot of focus and determination. It really is like climbing a mountain and then enjoying the view from the top. I still have two more early rises to go, so I shouldn’t start celebrating just yet, but once I get up tomorrow, there will only be one early rise left.
There is something in the air.
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Today was day 57 of my early rising experiment.
This experiment is starting to whirl past and will soon be over. I’m really enjoying this last week, as I have the week off work. As well as that, the last few days are packed with some really enjoyable tasks, so I am still busy, but enjoyably so.
It sounds crazy, but I’m almost going to miss getting up at 4:30am every morning. I was considering continuing the experiment, or modifying the details slightly. I still might do this later on down the track, but my trip overseas has given me a good excuse to take a break at the completion of this experiment and give myself a chance to reflect and take it all in.
Tomorrow is Thursday. It is the 3rd last day of actually getting up at 4:30am.
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