Since about the age of 15 or so, I have considered myself a night owl. I would stay up or out late and get up late. I even carried that into adulthood. I would stay up until 1:00AM or 1:30AM working on websites, video production, etc.
However, over the last several months I have been contemplating changing my life. Not that my life was bad or I was miserable, I just wanted to raise my standards.
Around April 27th, 2009 I heard of a program about changing your daily routine. I almost immediately decided to follow this simple program on how to become more productive with my day. At the time I was waking up at about 8:00AM or 8:30AM and my wife and children were up an hour or so before me. I worked late every night and was feeling disconnected with my wife and kids – at least to the extent that I was feeling “out of the loop” in their daily routine. I wanted to contribute to the morning routine. Several changes have happened since then and I want to tell you how it happened…
In late April I was feeling tired a lot. A lack of energy and drive. I was feeling completely unproductive. I needed a change, a challenge, and an adventure. Anyone who truly knows me knows that I like to take on big projects. Whether it be a film, music project, remodeling or learning how to build a kid’s playhouse – I like to do things differently and do them in a big way.
Enter Eban Pagan’s Wake Up Productive. Here was a simple program that I started and follow to this day – and I haven’t even purchased his course. I’ve just adapted his “intro” techniques from his free video. Check it out.
What is my morning like? Well it is like this…
- Get up at 6:30AM
- Go for a run/walk for 30 minutes
- Meditate for 10 minutes
- Inspirational reading for 15 minutes
- Start the day!
Now I have complicated that since I started and I believe I do no less than 8 things before 7AM! That is okay with me because I have figured out how to do it like clockwork.
I’ve actually found that my most creative and most productive time is in the morning before 7.
So what have I made of my morning routine?
Here was this morning’s routine:
5:20AM – Get up
5:30 – Run/walk + content creation
6:00 – Meditate
6:15 – Reading & Memorization + content creation
6:40 – Cook Breakfast
5 eggs, 1 cup long grain brown rice, 1 Cup Black Beans + Supplements
6:55 – Get breakfast ready for daughter (she wakes up hungry)
7:10 – Wake up kids – get kids changed and ready for child care before they leave their rooms
7:25 – Take Shower and change
7:40 – Help with kids breakfast
8:00 – Leave for work
More about content creation in another post.
If you think you can’t change from being a night owl to an early bird, think again. It only takes a moment and a good reason and you can do it. And surprisingly, after a week or so, it will be second nature. It isn’t hard to do and it isn’t something that takes months to “correct”. You can wake up early and productive tomorrow morning if you choose.
I’ve learned that I have to get at least 7 hours of sleep to get it together for the morning. Sure there are the multiple cries in the night from the kids, the usual disruptions of my son’s arm across the face in my sleep, but it is doable and you can start tomorrow morning. Try it for a week for yourself.
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