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Waking Up at 5am is for the Birds

10/12/2010 By Leave a Comment

You don't need to be an early bird to be productive.Effective Time Management Doesn’t Mean 5am!

On Monday, I launched the Procrastepreneur 30day Early to Rise Challenge. I was excited about it. I believed in it. I had big plans for it. I was ready to greet the sun and start my day with a bang. However… I couldn’t make it work for me. Even though it was only for 30days!

And here’s the funny thing, waking up at 5am wasn’t the problem.

I did everything I was supposed to. I went to bed early, I planned my time and I prepared everything I needed in order to jump out of bed and right into work. But I never got my work done because… my 6 year old has motion detectors!

Every day this week…within 15 minutes of me waking up I’d hear him making his way downstairs ready to start his morning too. No matter how quiet I thought I was, it was never quiet enough! And unfortunately when he’s awake …he’s really awake. He immediately demands my time and attention. This is nothing out of the ordinary and I was able to buy myself an uninterrupted 15 minutes here and there. But honestly, it just not worth waking up at 5am.

  • By the end of the day I was no further ahead. In fact I was worse off.
  • I was tired by 9pm (when my house quiets down again and I can actually do something)
  • I was grumpy because I was tired
  • I took long afternoon naps
  • I didn’t accomplish anything I had planned.
  • My work schedule was completely thrown off
  • The one thing I planned to do…blog is the one thing I couldn’t do

So what’s the point right?
I know it works amazingly for some people. In fact, I was originally inspired by a few stories of others who were able to maximize this type of schedule. But alas, it’s not for me!

Is it for you? If not, what works for you? Let me know!

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Procrastepreneur Early to Rise Challenge Day 1

06/12/2010 By Leave a Comment

Good Morning! I love New York. I even dreamt about it last night. So I decided to showcase a beautiful sunrise over this fantastic city for day one. Enjoy!

I must say waking up at 5 am wasn’t that hard for me but my sleep was terrible. In anticipation for this morning I went to bed at 10pm last night. However I kept waking up every 45mins or so from 12am onwards. And on top of that, my six year old son decided that 5am is the perfect time to get up too! Well either way I am going to get something done now.

Check in with you later!

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If You Define Your Focus, You’ll Have a Reason to Wake Up At 5am

04/12/2010 By Leave a Comment

Focus on WHY you want to get up at 5am!There’s no doubt that waking up at 5am can help you build your business. However, I don’t believe it is sustainable habit for the average person. That’s why it’s extremely important that you define the reason why you are subjecting yourself to the Procrastepreneur 30day Early to Rise Challenge

For example: my goal is to get regular with my blogging. Like you I have a ton of to-dos and my days go by way too quickly to get everything done. This results in too many articles that are 75% finished. That’s not good enough. Unfinished articles don’t get published therefore my time and effort is wasted.
Quite honestly we can’t afford to waste anymore time now can we.

A gazelle-like focus is necessary to get through this.

I plan on using the time to write. Nothing else! No emailing, no twittering, no researching just straight writing. No distractions. No exceptions. What about you? Do you need to get your taxes done, work on your website, refine your marketing plan, write a newsletter article, research a great idea or develop a new product? As long as you define your goal you’ll have something to wake up for.

What do you think?

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The Procrastepreneur 30-Day Early to Rise Challenge Starts On Monday!

30/11/2010 By Leave a Comment

Will You Rise to the Challenge?Will You Rise to the Occasion?

A common complaint for most, if not all Procrastepreneurs (myself included) is there’s not enough time in the day! Although I hate to admit it but our time issues are most likely because we’ve wasted some of it. That being said, we also have a lot to get done. Either way you slice it, we need more time! So, starting on Monday we are going to get some. I want you to…

Join The Procrastepreneur 30-Day Early to Rise Challenge!

It may be painful…at first. But suck it up! You will be rewarded for your effort. Just imagine what you can get done for your business with a few extra highly productive hours added to your day. And you’re not in this alone either.
I will be waking up every morning at 5am and posting a new inspiring picture of a sunrise to prove that I am awake. Feel free to be the first of the day to test me. I will always respond to the first comment of the day immediately so y’all know I am really awake.Are you ready to commit? Let’s do this! In order to be successful, here are the five simple requirements of The Procrastepreneur 30-Day Early to Rise Challenge:

ONE: Wake up at 5:00 am every morning for the next 30 days (ouch)
No hitting snooze either! You are going to have to force yourself to be more disciplined in order to make this work. That means no exceptions to the 5am rule. Get up, wash your face and start doing.

TWO: Go to bed by 10pm every night!
I can already hear the groaning but you need your rest in order to be productive at the crack of dawn! If you have a PVR, use it! Record the shows you can’t watch live. Don’t let a TV schedule plan your time and rob your productivity.

THREE: Plan your time, ahead of time.
The main reason why you are forcing yourself to wake up at 5am is because you want to get more done. But in order to do that, you need to have a plan. There’s no point in dragging yourself through this exercise if you don’t. Spend a few minutes figuring out what is the most productive way to use the extra hours. Then create a measurable action plan around it.

FOUR: Publically commit to the challenge
Tweet about it. Blog about it. Invite a friend to join you in it. Be intentional about it. The more people who know you’ve committed to a 5am wake-up call the better. Many of those who know will hold you accountable to it.

FIVE: Check In Daily
Let me know you’ve accepted the challenge by leaving a short “I accept”-like comment below. As I mentioned earlier, I will be posting a new sunrise every day. This is where you check-in each morning to let everyone know you’re awake. A super short hello or grumble comment is proof enough. Are you ready???

Start by leaving your comment to let everyone know you’re up for the challenge!

Good luck and keep me posted.
BTW … Have you tried something like this before? Did it work? Do you have any advice to make it work? Please share it.

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Beware Of This Productivity Killer

27/01/2010 By 1 Comment

Are you a break buddy? Have you become the “Go-To” Break Buddy?
If your friends and family are regularly calling you when they’re on their way to work, taking a break or eating lunch, I’ve got bad news. You’re a Go-to Break buddy. And unfortunately this could be disasterous for any “recovering” procrastinator, especially if you work out of a home office.

Your well-meaning friends are probably forgeting the “office” part of “home office”.
They subconsciously imagine you sitting at home with nothing to do while they are at work. Although their intentions are innocent; the ramifications of you becoming the regular break-time entertainment are anything but. Think about it…

If you have three people calling you during their breaktimes, you could burn at least 3 primetime working hours!
And let’s be honest, if you are tackling a project that you’ve been putting off, it doesn’t take much to pull you away, now does it? No matter what you are working on, you have to put a stop to it  or else these calls will continue to:

  • Break your concentration flow
  • Rob you of valuable productivity time
  • Force you to steal hours from other areas of your life
  • Stress you out
  • And even make you feel like a bad friend

That’s right a bad friend. Once you realize and accept the importance of ending these daily interruptions you may feel terrible but…

Here’s what you have to do about it:
To put a stop to it you have to be straight up with your friends. Clearly and honestly explain why you can’t talk during the day, despite how much you may enjoy the unscheduled breaks. They should and will understand. But be warned, you may have to remind them more than once if it’s been a long-standing habit.

When you address this problem you have to be direct.
Becoming the world’s worst conversationalist by giving short one word answers, being ultra quiet or trying to sound like you are busy hoping they’ll get the hint, is not the way to go. This passive aggressive approach will only frustrate your friends and possibly put a strain on your relationship. Don’t worry. Your friends want what’s best for you, even if that means losing a break buddy.

But, sometimes you actually need the break and if so take it and enjoy it.  
Just make sure you watch your time

So what do you think? Do you have this problem? Or have you dealt with it in the past? What’s worked for you? What didn’t? I’d love to hear your story.

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