Many people know by now my goal for this year is to wake up early. Last year, I read the book The 5Am Club by Robin Sharma. Although I didn’t finish the book, I was still inspired by the concept. I thought it was a great goal for the new year in 2021. I didn’t start on the 1st of January, but on the first Monday of the year (Jan 4th 2021). In my head, Mondays are a fresh start, so that’s what I had decided on.
Originally, I was thinking instead of 5am, I was going to wake up at 6am instead to start my day. However, on Sunday night I chose to set my alarm for 5am instead of 6am. Mostly, because I just wanted to see if I would stick to it, or if I was going to hit snooze and chicken out. I know myself well, because prior to this, I would set 6 different alarms in the morning (7:00am – 7:15am – 7:25am -7:35am – 7:40am – 7:45am) and eventually get out of bed around 7:47am. I would snooze my alarm, snooze again, again and again. Therefore, when I set my alarm for 5am was was 95% sure I was going to just snooze and change my mind. However, I was determined. I wanted to do it just to say I did it. I wanted to stick to something my mind set out to do. My plan was to go to the gym in the apartment first thing in the morning. I knew that if I didn’t set my workout clothes aside for the next day, I wasn’t going to get out of bed. So, I had everything laid out next to my bed, so that in the morning I didn’t have to think about anything.
My alarm went off the next day and I was up right away. I grabbed the clothes I had laid out the night prior and got dressed in the bathroom. I was so proud of myself. I think the anticipation from the night before really gave me a boost and it felt so good to crush my goal first thing in the morning. It really lays the foundation for how the rest of your day is going to go. I was motivated, energized, and felt good about myself overall. I was confident that I would do anything if I set my mind to do it and push myself.
I got so much done the first 2 hours of the day. I got to go to the gym, journal and just have some time to myself. No interruptions.
The reason why I am so adamant about waking up early is because in the past I always seemed to have made excuses for why I couldn’t do this or do that. I made excuses for getting out of bed, I made excuses about why I can’t complete a project, or get my oil changed today. There was ALWAYS an excuse. Waking up at 5am each morning is how I train myself to stop with the excuses, because it is something that is challenging for me and I have to learn to push myself. I can stay in bed today and just wake up at 5am tomorrow. I can just close my eyes for 10 more minutes. I will try again tomorrow because I’m too tired this morning. No, no more excuses for myself. I have to start pushing myself and accomplish things I set out to do. Even if it means checking off at least one thing on my list, that’s a start.
This is my mindset for 2021 and I can’t wait to see where all of this takes me!
