My Early to Rise Challenge–Week One

My new slippers – ready for greatness!

Recently I introduced you to my latest book and challenge, Early to Rise by Andy Traub.  I had started last week but got the flu and realized that I could not continue in that condition.  Hence, I restarted this Monday, five days ago.

Certainly this is a *challenge* as Andy Traub reiterated this morning in the daily encouragement!  It is not easy!  I had high hopes and have not reached my goal as quickly as I thought I would. 

Here were my wake up times:
Monday – 6:30 a.m.
Tuesday – 6:45 a.m.
Wednesday – 6:50 a.m.
Thursday – 7:45 a.m.
Friday – 6:45 a.m.

My initial goal for the week was to wake up at 6:30 a.m., and I am hoping to inch that back to 6:00 a.m.  As you can see, I didn’t quite make that goal.  My biggest problem…. Going to bed late!  As Andy says, if you go to bed late, you are pretty much setting up yourself for failure.  Yep, it is true!  I have gotten to bed most nights around midnight or later for various reasons, and it is so hard to get up before 7:00 when I do that.

Even though I am not exactly achieving my intended goal, I feel fairly good about the week.  After all, most mornings I was up with a “6” introducing the time, and that is a great accomplishment for me!

Yesterday’s daily encouragement was perfect for me.  Andy talked about controlling what you *can* control.  I struggle with letting go of things I can not control.  They weigh on me sometimes… okay, oftentimes.  Andy’s good point about waking up early is that it is something you *can* control.  You *can* take charge of your day and be the initiator, rather than the responder.

I press on!  I like getting up earlier.  I like having some quiet time to myself, to get my Bible reading done, to spend time with the Lord, to read, to blog, and to get my daily chores started.  It’s nice.  I will continue…