Let me start this post by telling you a few things about myself:
I am a goal person. I’m also usually a morning person. I regularly get up between 5 and 7 am.
I am an author. I try to write a little every day. I’m working on writing my second book now.
I also have a one year old child.
I don’t know if you know about one year olds but they keep you pretty busy. Which is fun…but not when you are an author trying to write a sequel.
So, I’m an author, who is woking on a second novel but who is also a father of a one year old and husband of a pregnant wife so he doesn’t have a lot of free time. As an experiment I decided I would try getting up a little earlier in the morning to accomplish my writing goals. Because I’m crazy. I also figured I would log the adventure for you, just in case you are interested in trying something this crazy yourself one day.
Wish me luck.
Goal 1: Wake up at 4am Monday-Friday
Goal 2: Write 5,000 words this week. (This is a lot. Usually 500 words is a solid day for me.)
Day 1: MONDAY
AM Update: I’m actually excited this morning. In a weird sadistic way I’ve been looking forward to seeing how this little experiment goes. So this morning I woke up before my alarm went off. So far so good…
Late AM Update: The excitement wore off about an hour in. I made breakfast and ate without being rushed. It was nice. Too nice, unfortunately. I thought I had so much extra time that I moved too slowly to get anything done. By the time I got around to sitting down to write I was out of time. The baby was up. The day had started.
Words written: 0
Goal to go: 5,000
PM Update: I had to salvage the day by writing 960 words in the afternoon while the baby napped.
Goal to go: 4,040
Lesson: Plan ahead.
Day 2: TUESDAY
AM Update: I didn’t sleep well. Maybe it was knowing the alarm would be yanking me from my sleep at four. I woke one minute before my alarm went off. Again. This is beginning to be a habit already. This morning I hit the ground running, which I needed to do because I work all morning and then have an interview this afternoon. I need to get my writing done and a workout in before seven am. Giddyup.
Late AM Update: Things didn’t go as planned.
Words written: 200
Goal to go: 3,840
PM Update: Even the best laid plans go awry. My extra two hours this morning were spent cleaning the floors after we developed a leak and a room in our house flooded. I got 15 minutes of writing in between drying towels and cleaning floors. Once again I tried to make up the word difference by writing in the afternoon after my interview. I accomplished just 350 words total for the day.
Goal to go: 3,490
Lesson: Life throws stuff in your way to stop you. Even at 4 am. Be ready for anything.
Day 3: WEDNESDAY
AM Update: I woke up tired this morning. Very tired. It took me several minutes to get out of bed. But I kicked it into gear after a slow start. I had to, because today I have a live radio interview at 5:30 (for some reason God put Ohio in the Eastern time zone) to knock out before I write. If you wish an actor luck by saying “break a leg,” what do you wish someone who is on the radio? Break a vocal cord? Anyway, wish me luck.
Late AM Update: The interview went well. Writing afterwards went well. I didn’t quite hit my goal, but it was the closest I’ve come yet.
Words written: 500
Goal to go: 2,990
PM Update: I meant to sit down and finish the second half of my goal for the day but between work and a doctors appointment for the baby my day was shot.
Goal to go: 2,990
Lesson: Don’t always count on “making it up later,” because that often doesn’t happen.
Day 4: THURSDAY
AM Update: I woke up early today. Before my alarm, again. It was the first day this week where I don’t have anything planned until seven am. So in theory I should be able to get some writing AND a workout done before my day starts. Yay!
Unfortunately, because I had so much extra time I laid in bed for thirty minutes before getting up and getting at it. Now I’m behind, gotta go…
Late AM Update: After a little writing and a big workout, this was my best morning yet because I got both in. Unfortunately, writing was slow going and I didn’t reach my daily goal.
Words written: 390
Goal to go: 2,600
PM Update: I knocked out 300 more words this afternoon but I need to figure out my morning better so I don’t have to keep trying to make up my goal in the afternoon. I have one more day left and I’m only just over halfway to my word goal.
Goal to go: 2,300 (and one more 4am day)
Lesson: Don’t waste thirty minutes lying in bed neither sleeping nor awake enough to get anything done.
Day 5: FRIDAY
AM Update: Last day of the 4 am experiment and I’m tired. I woke up four minutes before my alarm went off. I wonder if my body is afraid to sleep now? Anyway, my day would have started early even without my four a.m. challenge so today I have time to write or workout, but not both. One has to wait till later. Hmmm.
Hmm.
Zzzz.
I mean, hmm…
Ok, I’ll see you at the gym.
Late AM Update: The workout went well, but like I mentioned, that means I have to knock out quite a few words later (2,300 if you are counting), and I have work and an interview that will take up most of my afternoon. Uh oh.
Words written: 0
Goal to go: 2,300
PM Update: I needed to write 2,300 words to make my goal for the week. I wrote 500.
Goal to go: 1,800
Lesson: I’m tired. The body takes time to adjust to a new schedule.
Week Summary
The week was a mixed bag; I completed my goal of getting up early every day but I failed to reach my goal of 5k words. I learned that the body needs time to adjust to a new schedule, even a body like mine that is used to waking early. I learned that the more you plan ahead, the better your chances of success. And I learned that every step towards a goal counts, even if you don’t reach the final goal like you wanted.
Lastly, I learned that 4 a.m. is a lot earlier than 5….
