Day one of 1001.

Pretty anti-climatic I must say. I am in Washington DC and I am a nut to stay up way too late last night. I had a 4:30am wake up call today and a 4:00am (eastern time) wake up call tomorrow. That should help me in getting a jump start to my 30 day trial of waking up earlier. Ha! I have been taking my photos like a good girl, and will be posting them tomorrow. I did my workout tonight and stayed on the treadmill for an hour while watching the Biggest Loser (which is very motivating to watch when working out, I must add.) So far, it has been a productive start to 2008.Now, why do I want to do a trial on getting up at the same time every day? Well, I discovered a few interesting facts on the subject. Take a look at the magic of waking up only 30 minutes earlier a day. Did you know that only 30 minutes a day will equal to 182.5 hours in a year. That’s more than a month of working full-time (40 hours per week). Double it if you save 60 minutes a day, and triple it if you save 90 minutes a day. For me the savings can be monumental. And if I decide to get up only 90 minutes earlier, that’s like getting a free bonus year every decade. I can use that extra time to get those things done that I always feel there is never enough time to do (ahem, like my friggin artwork!)

Now I have always believed that you were born with a gene that makes you either a night owl or a morning person and there wasnt anything one could do to change that. It was like fighting mother nature if you tried to change it. But now the tides are turning. After reading this article, How to be an early riser, I think I have discovered the secret: self discipline. Ack! Is that it? Well, gee, I wonder where all that self discipline goes when you are deep under the cozy covers at 5am in the morning? But apparently, everyone has some ounce of self discipline inside them somewhere. If you can hold your breath, then guess what, you have self discipline. So there is HOPE for me yet. Woo hoo!Self discipline is like a muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it gets. My self discipline muscle has shriveled up over the years. Hence, my attempt to making the habit of getting up early is to be my first trial of the year. I am hoping it will pave the way for the others. If I can do this, then all the other goals will become only that much easier. It will open up extra hours in the day, every day to do everything else I want to do. Now if I could only decide on what time that lovely hour will be. Hmmmmm. This will be soon to be determined.