Up Before the Sun

This is definitely the earliest I’ve written for this blog. It’s currently 5:39 AM in the morning, and I’ve already accomplished more than some days I’ve experienced by 5:39 PM. Getting up at 5 AM each morning – 6 on the weekend – has proven to be more fulfilling than I expected. This early time in the morning gives me a level of purpose to my day and productivity I really can’t recreate at other times, though has had its own set of difficulties.

Morning Task Roundup

I typically have at least one or two specific tasks I need to accomplish on a given day. In the past, these were things I would save until late into the day. After work and re-energizing from said work often led to having overdue tasks from a prior day because I didn’t get to everything.

Now, I’m able to often get everything done before I even leave for work. I’ve written in the past about ideas pertaining will power and focus being resources a person has that deplete throughout the day. Waking up early may cost some of that will power, but is negligible compared to a day of commutes, work, socializing, cooking, eating, etc.

This post, for example, is generally something that I wait until late into the evening to write. Normally, the back of my mind is working on this throughout the entirety of the day, as I know I “have” to do it. Now, I can get this published before work even crosses my mind.

5 AM Focus

In his book Start, Jon Acuff suggests finding your 5 AM. I may have taken this a bit literally, but the idea is to find any time of the day when work can be done uninterrupted. It could be 5 AM, 9 PM, 12 AM, etc.

I boasted in the past of being a night owl and the farthest thing from a morning person, but I don’t think I ever really appreciated how great the morning could be. I am able to get highly focused work done without interruptions or distractions. No one is texting me, calling me, or otherwise trying to contact me. They are either asleep, or have their own focus they are holding dear.

Not All Sunshine

Now, I would be lying if I said all of this was completely easy to do. The first couple days, I was able to get up no problem. Then a college Homecoming weekend quickly threw a wrench into the 6 AM goal I sought to hit for weekends. This week then started a little rocky, but I’ve seem to have settled things out.

To my surprise, waking up wasn’t really too difficult. I actually got up and felt rested. The problems came when I didn’t really know what I should do at that point.

It’s starting to get rather cold and dark in Eastern Iowa, so a habit started in which I’ll wrap myself in a light blanket and lay back down. You can see where this goes.

I decided what I needed was a quick action I could do with little to no resistance that forced me out of the house for at least a few minutes. Once out and about, it’s feels dumb to try and go back to bed.

I also started implementing some old morning habits that kind of died off after months of negligence. A short workout in the morning has been another fun way to sort of shock my system. I’m hoping to continue improving on the routines I had worked on in the past. If you have any suggestions or want to share what time “your 5 AM” is, please let me know in the comments below!