Are You Still in Bed?

It’s 8:44am right now. I’ve gotten some “me” time, showered, worked for an hour, spent an hour at PT and grabbed myself some Starbucks.

If you’re still in bed, you have missed out on A LOT of your day.

Please note that I didn’t say “still in your Jammies “ because I’m okay with working in jammies.  I do it often!

Quick history: I always slept in. Anything before 9am was just wrong. In college I tried to schedule all of my classes to start at 11am or after.

Now I realize how wrong that was. Getting up early means I’m at my absolute clearest and best.

Why Wake Up Early?
You’re at your freshest. You got good sleep and your brain is ready to work. You have the most energy right now.  Even better, no one is around to bug you. Waking early means no one is calling or texting or stopping by. It’s all about you and what you want to get accomplished.

Here's My Routine
I’ve been working on a routine that works for me and it generally goes like this.

• Wake up and list at least 4 things I feel positive or happy about. This is all about mindset. Why do I want to start my day miserable?  So I think about some good things, silly things, etc.  It's not always easy.  Especially if I've had a previous "bad" day, or didn't get good sleep, or am just not feeling well.  But I woke up - that's a great thing to be happy about!  And the rest just follows.
• Next (after I hit the bathroom, of course), it’s “me” time. What? I’m not just getting to work? Nope. I rise slowly like the sun.  Slowly.  I make myself a cup of tea and then sit down at the table to work on a puzzle. Yeah, I said it. A puzzle.  It's a very calming and focused activity.  I spend 30 minutes where it's quiet and relaxing.
• Then I jump in and get to work, which usually means going through a ton of emails and getting my To Do list organized for the day.

By noon I've already gotten at least six hours of work done, so I can take a break, enjoy lunch, and know that I have the whole rest of the day to take things a bit slower...or goof off.

So get out of bed.  Start moving.  Enjoy that time to yourself and see how much more productive you'll become!