Welcome to the Early to Rise Challenge! Throughout the month of March, I’m challenging myself and my readers to make the most of their mornings. So every week day morning at 9 a.m. EST, I’m posting a short Early to Rise post. I’ll share a few of my thoughts on the day’s passage from Early to Rise, tell you what time I got up that morning, and encourage you to leave a comment to tell us what time you got up and how you’re doing on the challenge.
Focus On Other People
Today’s reading in the Early to Rise book is on how you can change your life by living it to bless others. Getting up early is a great way to not only prepare yourself for a wonderful day, but also to help you be more organized so you have time in your life to bless others.
Think about it: if you’re always living life at breakneck speed with no time to breathe, you’re probably not going to have a lot of room or energy in your schedule to bless others. But if, on the other hand, you start your day off a little earlier and you have a plan of attack (and you actually follow through with that plan), you’re going to find that your days are not only more calm, you also have more enthusiasm for life. This enthusiasm will fuel your ability to bless others more.
I loved that a number of you said yesterday that one of the benefits of getting up early has been that you are a more cheerful person. I so agree (though if you get up late, don’t let that be an excuse for having a bad attitude, okay?).
You know what a direct by-product of a cheerful attitude is? Blessing others. Whether you intend to or not, when you are cheerful, it is going to be contagious.
What are you going to do today to bless someone else? Tell us your plan in the comments.
What Time Did You Get Up This Morning?
Me? I got up at 6:40 a.m. Not as early as I would have liked to, but I stayed up too late last night prepping for this weekend’s trip, so I set the alarm for 6:30 a.m. this morning… and then, ahem, I had a little trouble actually getting up when it went off.
That’s life sometimes, though. And I’m determined to have a great day today, even if it started out a little later than I would have liked.
What time did you get up? Leave a comment and let us know!
Join in the Chatter!
Want to blog about this challenge? If you’re blogging through this challenge with me, be sure to leave your link to your direct post for today below. Plus, if you’d like to post your daily posts to the Early to Rise Group Board on my Pinterest page, just shoot me an email (moneysavingmom @ gmail dot com) and I’ll invite you.
Want to follow along on Twitter or Instagram? Each week day morning on my Facebook Page, my Twitter account, and my Instagram account, I’ll be posting a picture of my alarm clock as public accountability. I’d love to have you do the same or join in the discussion on Twitter and Instagram. Just follow hashtag #EarlytoRise to see what others are tweeting and Instagramming about this challenge!
6am… still haven’t shot for early but seeing how daily savings happened and it’s pitch black again in the morning I’m already finding myself dragging (plus the stomach flu my husband decided to bring back from the hospital he works at isn’t helping).
I keep thinking… oh a little bit of extra time I can get a load of laundry done before I wake my husband up at 7. Or unload the dishwasher instead of nearly burning dinner every night multitasking…. Has yet to happen though. Perhaps when the sun returns and it doesn’t look like a blizzard out I’ll give it my all to try.
Congrats to everyone that’s been able to keep up on this challenge!
I loved today’s challenge. I look forward to seeing what list we come up with before Monday on my site. I love hearing ways people like to bless others.
Out of bed at 6:17 today. Moving slower this morning, but still had time to complete my morning goals and make it to work on time. One way I try to bless others is by greeting each patient with a smile no matter how my day is going…and treat them with a gracious, respectful attitude no matter what. Just hope it makes an impact 🙂
6:32. I picked the wrong day to let my husband wake me up…
Today’s topic is hard for me as an introvert, bordering on clinical Social Anxiety Disorder. Blessing others often involves giving up anonymity, which is completely paralyzing for me sometimes. Though I did cast on those gloves for our church’s nursery worker I mentioned two days ago. They will be easier to work on during waits for appointments than anything else I have to work on, so I won’t so much be adding to my schedule as I will be filling some empty niches.
I love this and I’m so proud of you!
I was up at 5:40am which is earlier than my original goal of 6am.I am enjoying my quiet mornings and have not found it too difficult to get out of bed.
I started my list of 100 ways to bless others and ran out of ideas by #12. That can’t be good. 🙂 I am very practical so I would think of something and then second guess myself by saying ‘that is just not realistic’ and then I wouldn’t write it down. I equally suck at brainstorming…
I will continue to work on my list… It just might take awhile.
A bit TMI here, but I have been PMSing and it brought along a stubborn headache. I had to take some meds for it that interfered with waking up at the 5am. I got out of bed at 6:20, brushed my teeth and slid back into bed until 7:30. My hubby who gets up early with me, didn’t leave to work early today so he crawled in bed w/me just to hold me because he knew I wasn’t feeling good. So, although I didn’t get my usual head start, it was nice to have that treat of my husband holding me. 🙂
Still a bit under-the-weather, I opted for extra sleep this AM. I am going to go back to my goal of at-least-by 6:30 AM tomorrow.
7:35 today for me. Hubby had to leave for work super early and the twins were not fond of my idea to get up when he did. Being up for a few hours in the middle of the night with them sure puts a damper on my morning plans!
I am definitely a better mother when I get up before my kids in the morning. I am more patient and cheerful and more more likely to spend quality time with them before naptime. If I’m not up before them, that’s my first chance to regroup and focus and I always feel like I wasted the morning.
If I don’t spend the morning in a fog, I have more time to do things during the day like bake the fresh bread my kids love or the cookies that hubby takes and shares with his coworkers!
See you this weekend at the Conference you’re speaking at in Greenville. Thanks for working hard to prepare for it.
Looking forward to seeing you!
Up at 4:21am -I am trying to not let it affect my attitude when I don’t jump right out of bed – I just tell myself I’m doing better than I was a few months ago!!
Here are a few ways I bless others when I am up early. 1. I pray for them 2. I send them an encouraging email or facebook message to find when the awaken for the day 3. I bake, I sometimes like to make a pan of your bread machine cinnamon buns for the family to enjoy when they awaken hours after I do 4. I cook, my husband hates sandwiches for lunch, so he takes leftovers to heat up, often however with growing children I am finding there are no leftovers so I have been known on occasion to make a big pot of pasta and sauce for him to take for his lunch some mornings.
8:37! That should make everyone else feel good, right? 🙂
But after three weeks of the flu, it was actually “early” and the kids weren’t up yet. It was so nice to get up and dressed, have time to work on some Bible memory, and clear out my inbox before they were all up.
Thanks so much for this series Crystal! It may be a while before I’m back to getting up early, but at least 8:30 is better than 9:30, right? Lol!
Time change is really affecting us this week. Usually the kids are my alarm by 7:00 but all of us slept til 7:30. Not good because that gave us a 1/2 hour to get ready, eat, pack lunches, brush teeth and out the door for school! Yikes!! I’m not a fan of the crazy mornings. I’ve really enjoyed getting up at 6am last week so I could have some devotion time and less crazy mornings.
My blessing today is for my kids. I am making a Yoda cake for my sons star wars party and an Ariel cake for my daughters Little Mermaid party. Neither of which I have ever done. I also make the buttercream frosting which requires several batches for these kinds of cakes. But I know they will be sooo happy!
I’m sure your kids will be very happy, I wish I could bake a cake like you. I’m poor at making a cake neverthless I like to baking. Never successful. Tastes are good though, but it will look like a uneven shape with sloppy frosting. lol
getting easier to physically get out of bed at 5:30am. benefits are getting out of house and to bed earlier. i notice i’m less stressed and more organized too. still not to point being so organized that can spend “me” time for an hr in a.m but i’m hopeful i can get to that point.
Up at 5:08am. It was tough getting moving this morning (my dog woke us up twice during the night) but somehow I got all of my 5 tasks to set up my day well completed and was mostly successful at not letting myself be overly grouchy just because I was tired. I tried to adjust my attitude and feel blessed that my dog is still with us at such an old age (almost 14 and he’s 70lbs) instead of being annoyed that he is growing increasingly needy as he ages.
Today I am participating in an activities committee meeting at work to try to arrange for some fun activities for the office.
Alarm set for 6:30. Hit snooze alarm.
My husband returned home from his once a month overnight stay at the homeless shelter for fellowship with those men who have jobs but no home.
Out of bed at 7:15.
Admitted 2 reasons why I want to rise early every day. Those reasons fall to the bottom of my daily t0-do list time and time again.
Admitted a different set of 2 reasons why I don’t rise early.
This challenge so far has been a big flop for me. BUT I have had two sick kids and am now sick myself. So instead of giving up I am giving myself this week to get better and will start the challenge from the beginning on Monday!!! I know I can do this! (When I am healthy!! lol)
Day 16 is about starting over 🙂
Alarm set for 6:30.
Hit snooze button.
My husband returned home at 6:40 from spending his once per month night at the homeless shelter, providing fellowship to men.
Admitted the 2 reasons I want to rise early, because those are the same 2 reasons that fall to the bottom of my daily to-do list over and over again.
Admitted a different set of 2 reasons why I keep hitting that snooze button.
Rise time was 7:15 to type my youngest’s writing assignment and then woke her up at 7:30 for school.
I was up and down again. Finally up at 8. My husband has been up since 3 with earache pain so this makes for a bit of rattled sleep.
I was going to bless my family with an indoor picnic but believe it or not my husband beat me to it. In his exhausted state and all.
I was up a little later than usual last night so I didn’t get up until 7am.
My husband is a truck driver who works crazy hours – mostly nights. To bless him I am going to write him a note to let him know how much I appreciate him and all that he does for our family. 🙂
Love this!
He will DEFINITELY appreciate that.
I’m happy to say that he did. He said it was a quite a surprise when he went into his work bag and found the note. I think I am going to have to do this more often!
Awake at 5:58am today on my day off 🙁 Way too early but maybe I’ll get a nap in today. I’d been looking for a replacement lid for my outdoor trash can and was disappointed to find that the big box stores in my area dont sell just lids, I’d have to buy a whole new can and lid together. Dont have room for another can so that wasnt an option. I needed to call my local hardware store today anyway to schedule my mower tune up so I asked them about trash can lids and 10 minutes later I had a new one, free of charge! Love my local independant hardware store, they are so helpful! So I will have to pay it forward today and bless someone else. Dont know who or when yet, thats half of the blessing, the opportunity coming unexpectedly 🙂
I love that you keep posting photos of your alarm clock! I often try to get up early, but I feel like a flop when I don’t get up at that exact time every day. It’s good to see that although you aim for a certain time, you’re not perfect either. It gives me more hope that I could do it too. 🙂
In the meantime, my 6-week-old has slept in our office for a week (we pushed her bassinet from our room into the room next to it). She’s gone from going to bed at 2:30am, to 1:00am, and now Midnight. This next week my goal is to get her to bed closer to 11pm.
It’s amazing the motivation it is to get up when I know I have to post a picture of my alarm clock each morning! 🙂
I woke up at 7:45 a.m. My 2 dogs out of 4 woke me up two times around 2:00 a.m and 4:00 a.m for potty….Men, I need to change their feeding time or something. It’s almost every nights these days and keeping me from my committing waking up time.
Bright side is I finished a lots of stuffs that i needed to get done today.
Bless to be blessed. My pastor always taught us from God’s words and I love to do it!
I woke up involuntarily at 3:45 to my poor toddler who fell out of his bed. He was ok but it startled him more than anything else. So I got him back to sleep by 4:45 and figured since my new wake up time is 5 a.m. to just stay up. I’m really feeling the loss of the 1 hour of sleep this morning about now though but plan to plug along with my cooking and chores. I plan to bless my parents with a 40 year anniversary card and gift card I will mail today for their special day on March 18th.
I’m so grateful your son was okay! That’s always scary!
I was up at 4:32am. My goal time has been 4:50, but one of the kiddos needed something at 4:32, so I was up after that. We’re dealing with sickness in our house today…both kids, so I will be doing my best to bless them by making them as comfortable as I can while they mend….oh, and absolutely do my best to not lose patience with them when they get impatient with me or each other b/c they are indeed…sick.
I’m so sorry you’re dealing with sickness! 🙁
LOL – 640 too! I didn’t have teach at the gym so I got to sleep in:)
This morning I was up by 6:23. Although it was a little tough getting up as I stayed up too late also. Yesterday was a hectic day but in a good way as we had family over to visit during the day. So it wasn’t a normal day for us.
I know I have a much less rushed day when I get up early to get a few things done. I am enjoying this challenge so much more than I ever would have thought. Thanks for hosting it.
You’re doing a great job! I’ve been so inspired by your faithful commitment to this challenge!
We got up later than usual this morning too! 6:30 as opposed to 5:15-5:30. Still though, its Spring break so we too should give some grace to ourselves. 🙂
I agree! Give yourself grace!
This morning I was up at 7:40am…..much, much later than intended. My alarm was “set” for 6am. However, it seems that I failed to turn it on last night. Oops. It really threw off my normal morning routine, but I am determined not to let it affect the rest of my day.
Getting up earlier has allowed me to get more done earlier in the day, including getting dinner ready (or at least dinner prep ready) sooner so that I am able to spend more time with my son and husband in the afternoons instead of in the kitchen. Because of this I have been able to bless my son with trips to the library for storytime in the afternoons and visits to his grandparents house and my husband gets more homecooked, healthy meals (and lunches for work) instead of the “I don’t have anything for dinner, let’s get fast food” panic that used to occur way more often than it should.
I love this! Isn’t it amazing what a difference getting up early can make?
THAT story is about changing a generation. Way to go! Thanks so much for taking ACTION!