Morning Motivation

Today has been a good day so far. I’ve weighed myself and I’ve lost 2 lbs (yay me!) and my blog hit the 100 views mark! May not seem like a big deal, but it makes me feel good to know that people are actually reading it (Ryan doesn’t count)

Every night when I go to sleep I tell myself, maybe tomorrow morning I’ll get up a little earlier and go for a run, take the dogs for a long walk, do some morning yoga, etc etc, and it never happens. I even set the alarm on my iPhone for multiple times; once at 5:30, 6:00, and so on, but it never fails that I never see the day before 7 on a weekday. Ryan is so good about not nagging me about my alarm, because I know it’s annoying. Why even set it and allow it go off every 10 minutes, if I’m never going to get up on time? I think mostly it’s because I have ambition, just no discipline.

In the spring and summer it’s not nearly as difficult because I am anxious to get outside then. Going for a run in Central Park in the morning is one of my favorite things to do in the city. You get to see this place come alive, with the food vendors hauling their carts to their street corners, people out walking their dogs, and the hundreds of people that flock to the park to get a workout in before the start of their day. I like being a part of that.

But now during the winter when it’s yucky and dark out and cold, the only thing I want to do is hibernate under the warm covers. I especially feel this way since getting up early makes me envious of Ryan, still sleeping peacefully while I pull myself out of my slumber. I wish I could be like my little terrier, bouncing off the bed and walls (literally) at 6 am, fully of energy and ready to go.

I need some sort of morning motivation to get me out of bed and on the go, and not so rushed. Because that’s what I end up being nearly every morning: rushed.

I did a little research online to see if there was advice (non-medicated) to help with my little problem. I came across one site the recommends disciplining you to just get up as soon as the alarm goes off. Don’t think about it, don’t hit snooze, just get up. This one sounds a little easier said than done. If that was all there was to it, millions of people would be doing that by now.

With that said, I think that this could be a good starting point. You practice at everything else in your life to succeed, and this is just another task that must be worked at. I couldn’t just complete this marathon with training and preparing myself for it.

This approach is about setting a wake-up ritual.

I’m going to try it tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

Do you have any motivators that help get you up in the morning? I could use the suggestions!