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.
The Halfway Mark!
Yay! You’ve made it halfway in the Early to Rise Challenge!
I’m so proud of all of you who have been joining me for this challenge. You’ve motivated, inspired, and blessed me with your comments and participation.
And for today, I want you to celebrate your successes. I want you to focus on the progress you’ve made, instead of beating yourself up over where you feel you failed or fell short.
Remember: moving forward — even at a microscopic rate — is still moving forward.
What successes are you celebrating today? I want you to leave a comment today telling us how you’ve succeeded in this challenge, even if it’s just that two mornings this month you got up 15 minutes earlier than usual. Or that you have been more intentional in how you’ve been using some of your mornings.
What Time Did You Get Up This Morning?
I got up at 6:01 a.m. EST (I’m in South Carolina speaking at a conference this weekend) — so that would be 5:01 my time. And I’m going to celebrate that today! 🙂
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!
I forgot to post on Friday! I woke up at 7:23. Much later than usual but I have been non-stop all this week and so tired! I still had plenty of time to have a stress-free morning, which was nice. I enjoyed today’s reading and I can’t believe we’re already halfway! I’m trying not to beat myself up over the past week because it has seemed like a big huge fail. But I still have the other half of the challenge to go and I’m celebrating that I know it will be better!
6:16 am. Even so, only got the blog post done now. I spent Friday doing too many other things – probably a few too many, in fact. But they were all successes!
This challenge is going very well for me. I was ready to rise early. I just didn’t know how to make it happen. So happy you posted this book. Thank you!
I feel like I’ve messed up more than I’ve succeeded in getting up at my target time but like you said, it’s all about progress and I am making progress!
@Carol your not the only one! I get up 15 minutes later than I need to or linger in bed. So if I linger I try to stay awake and pray. Don’t give up! My goal is to be up by 6 a.m. but my hubby gets up at 4:20 and at times I hear and just stay awake a bit longer. Next week is another week and another chance!
Well, I “slept in” this morning until 6. I’m normally an up by 445-500 gal, but the kids have been sick and unfortunately I was up most of the night sick myself (on top of being 24weeks preg). One of the things I do on a normal morning is to take advantage of the time right when the boys get up and are eating breakfast and watching some morning PBS cartoons. It’s a time I know they will occupied for a bit and I can deal w emptying the dishwasher, throwing in a load of laundry or putting something in the crockpot for dinner that night.
Up at 6:30 this morning….staying up too late working on items for my craft show this weekend!! But it’s still better than what I used to do! Small steps in the right direction are better than none at all:-)
Well you have harped on this until I gave in and starting trying to get up earlier myself 🙂 I have done well this week. Despite cursing my alarm (even before it goes off, if I wake up before) roundly, I have been able to pry myself from the bed by thinking about your challenge. If I get right into the shower, by the time I’m done there, everything is right with the world. So thank you, from a reluctant convert.
I woke up at 6:30am, and my goal is 6. I’ll try again on Monday (taking the weekend off getting up early!)
Kate
Oooh! Y’all are making me look bad. At 8pm I was off to church and when I got back my dear hubby who’s ruptured ear drum is on the mend is now suffering from an extremely stiff neck. It’s one thing after another and when I’m doing seeing to his needs I’m in the bed very late. I looked at the clock at six and well, the rest is history.
But it sounds like you have your priorities in order, so that’s what matters most!
I do but I would really like that early me time! I’m not giving up.
I woke up at 5:15 this morning and yesterday morning…a far cry from the usual 6:40 something I roll out of bed to get my son and I ready for school and work by 8 a.m.!
I got up, did laundry, helped my roommate bake brownies for a luncheon, worked-out, packed the book bag, laid out show and tell and clothes, straightened my hair and even had time for us both to eat breakfast at home instead of in the car! That extra hour and a half is doing wonders, even if I am in bed by 9!
I have loved taking this time in the morning to be selfish. It has allowed me to be able to give more to my family throughout the day, without getting annoyed. I have found that I respond to my kids with a more loving attitude, and I don’t fly off the handle as easily. I’m falling into a routine, spending more time in bible study and prayer. Next week I’m bumping my wake up time 15 minutes more to 6. It was amazing to see what I was able to do with the extra 15 minutes I gave myself this week. I usually consider myself to be a self motivated person, but in some areas, like getting up early, I just needed a little extra push. Thanks for starting this challenge. I am better because of it!
I woke up at my new favorite time of 5 a.m. and I am celebrating living my life with intention now. It is amazing at how your perspective on faith, family, and self changes when you carve out the time to enjoy these things. I have read two complete books in the two week challenge: “Rising Early” of course and “Sacred Marriage.” I thought I lost my love for reading when I was forced to do so in college but it turns out that I enjoy reading and like Andy illustrates so well, when you pour into yourself, it is so much easier to pour into others.
I was up before my alarm for this first time in this challenge. I was up by 6:17 which is the earliest so far. I am loving the time to exercise and do a few things online before my family gets up.
I also love reading the comments here, they are so encouraging. Have a great day everyone.
Awake at 4:50 this morning but didn’t get out of bed until 5:50. I went to bed at 8: 20 last night but still feel tired this morning, possibly the results of a stressful week. After resting up this weekend, I am hoping next week to have more productive mornings, as well as early ones.
Up at 5:04am. I am celebrating that I have been much more intentional with my time in the mornings before I leave for work. I’m amazed and very happy that I have completed the 5 tasks that help set my day up for success every week day of this challenge. The results of that simple achievement have been far greater than I would have guessed. I am much less stressed when I get home from work which translates into me having a better attitude, being more pleasant to be around, and actually more productive with my evenings because I am not ‘playing catch up’ on the things I feel I should have done in the morning. Thank you Crystal for posing this challenge! And yay for you getting up so early even with the time difference! 🙂 I find getting up early much more difficult when traveling.
I usually get up at 6:30. We homeschool so we can sleep in. I wake up an hour or so before the kids so I can enjoy a cup of coffee and check my blogs/facebook in peace.
I was up at 6:50am this morning.
I am celebrating the fact that I have been up and productive over an hour earlier than I was two weeks ago! I am also still hoping to accomplish getting to bed earlier (really struggling with this one) and waking up even a little earlier so that I have some quiet time before I have to wake up my son and get him ready for school.
I am so happy to be participating in this challenge. It has been such a blessing for me and my family to have the motivation the challenge has provided. I had just been saying that I wanted to get up earlier a few weeks ago and then this came along. Perfect timing!
I have really struggled this week. But last night I went to bed at 8:30pm and was happy to wake up at 5am this morning!!!!! That is HUGE for me. my goal was 6am. It really does make a difference in my day if I can get up early.
Have a great time at your conference. I know that you will be an inspiration!!!
I was up at 5:30. I showered and dressed, made breakfast, packed hubby’s lunch, made a batch of granola and cleaned up the kitchen, cleaned a bathroom and vacuumed my downstairs by 7:30!
You must be in Greenville this weekend! I only live 18 miles from there but my daughter and her family live in Greenville. We are supposed to have great weather for your visit! Wish I was at the conference to meet you but I retired from homeschooling 4 years ago.
Good morning!
Well, I woke up my committed time yesterday( 6a.m ) and so happy, I did not only extra hour exercise and reading, but also home organizing and cooking and other tasks finished by noon. And this morning, I crawled out from my bed at 8 a.m with sore body…. as you know I did over doing myself.
But anyway, this challenge changed my lifestyle and attitutes so much, made me feel positive even if I failed to my committed time, but still I wake up and go to bed earlier than used to be, exercise more( I should not to try too much, haha ), cook more, go to church on earlier Sunday morning service ( there are two services), read more, walk with dogs longer, strat to make a plan for the day, and so on.
I just need to make a balance for it without feel overwhelming too much. And someday I will master this challenge, I’ve already compromised myself to keep up this attitude for my life. Because now I know this challenge is not only changed me, also I can change others.