February: The Month of Early Mornings, Part III. And so the month is done.

 

Drumroll, please.

The Cons of Waking Up Ridiculously Early:

• Waking up early is really, really difficult (for the first hour after you wake up, especially when trying to convince yourself to get out of bed).

• I miss a lot of time with my husband in the evening.  The kids are in bed by 8:30.  If I want to wake up at 5 a.m. I should be in bed, with the lights off, by 10 p.m.  I never seem to have enough time to simultaneously spend time with the husband, sleep, and do stuff like cleaning or projects around the house.   

• Our house is old and creaky and so my son has started waking up quite early as well.  He seems happy about it…my husband, who now has to get up when I head off to the YMCA to work out, is less happy about it. 

The Pros of Waking Up Ridiculously Early:

• Waking up early feels awesome (an hour after you get up).

• I’ve been exercising regularly.  Which also makes me feel awesome.

• I’ve been eating a healthier breakfast.

• I AM SUPER DUPER PRODUCTIVE.  I cleaned out my entire laundry room this weekend for the first time since I moved in the house…four years ago.  It’s swept and  organized.  It’s glorious, to the extent that a clean laundry room in an unfinished part of the basement can be glorious. 

And without further ado, let me present my monthly recap.

On a grading scale from A through F, how would you rate this?  Did you accomplish your goal?

This was a solid A.  The pros outweigh the cons in my mind.

It really is amazing how much of a difference this makes in my productivity levels and my willingness to exercise.  I’d recommend it to anyone—but make sure you also adjust what time you go to sleep.   Otherwise you’ll be cranky and sleep deprived and not at all more productive and you’ll be secretly angry at me because this didn’t work for you SO DO IT RIGHT, DARN IT. 

Did you do this each and every day?

Nope, nope, nope.  I averaged about 75% of the time, though.  

Will you do anything different moving forward?

Yes, absolutely.  Not every weekend and maybe not quite so early, but I’m still planning on bumping up my daily wake-up time in general. 

A couple of people have inquired what is next for March, and I'll give you a little hint:

"Ommmmmmmmmmmmmm."