Monday August 20
My son woke me up at 4:56 when he started to cry. After I put him back in his bed I went down to make some coffee. Fresh start of the week. My muscles are sore from the garden work this weekend.

Tuesday August 21
Up at 5:00 again. Three full weeks of rising early already. I wonder if the stories about evening people and night owls are myths, maybe your biological rhythm is simple a resonance of your choices of going to bed and waking up. I used to believe firmly in these biological rhythms, but now I think they provided me with a reason not to make a choice. “I can’t change, I’m just built this way…”. Guess what, I’m not

Wednesday August 22
Did it again. It feels so easy now that it truly feels like a habit change. Going to bed early is no problem anymore, I simply feel tired around 23:00 and go to bed. I like the rhythm I’m in now, so I’ll probably adjust my end-goal from 4:30 to 5:00 and stick with my current rhythm. Click to continue »

Monday August 13
The first day of rising at 5:00. Now it’s really dark outside when I wake up. I wonder how I’ll experience the wintertime.

Tuesday August 14
I went to bed too late last night, did not get 6 hours of sleep. Yet waking up was fairly easy, I think this is getting a routine. Did not feel like writing a blog post today, have a very busy day of work ahead of me.

Wednesday August 15
Another night too late in bed on Tuesday, had to do a lot of work for my job at home. When the alarm went off, I didn’t really want to get out of bed, but did it anyway. The morning started with more job-related work. No time for writing blog posts. Tonight early to bed. Click to continue »

Monday August 6:
First day of waking up at 5:30. First thing that I notice that it’s much darker outside when I open the curtains in the living room. Ten minutes later with a nice cup of coffee in my hand, I’m watching the sun paint the sky in beautiful colors. I think it’s been at least 10 years since I last witnessed a sunrise. The colors are definitely different from a sunset, more pinkish. This day starts off with a treat.

Tuesday August 7:
I slept very well. Monday turned out to be a day with low energy levels in the evening. Waking up was very easy again. A vibrating phone under my pillow is much more effective than that loud beeping machine next to my bed. Or is it just that I have to look for the little button to turn it off, instead of that giant Snooze button on the alarm clock? Why do they make that button so large? Click to continue »

Wednesday August 1:
I had gone to bed early the night before (around 23:00). Couldn’t catch sleep. At midnight our son wakes up crying and screaming his lungs out. I head over to comfort him. My sleep wasn’t interrupted as I wasn’t sleeping yet. During the course of the night, he would wake up several times, so no quality sleep for me and my spouse that night. She even said to me that it probably was wiser to postpone rising early a couple of days. That was tempting at that hour of night, but I need to persist. I wake from the vibration of my cellphone under the pillow. I get up and make coffee.

Thursday August 2:
Went to bed early again, but sleep hesitated to come get me. The night was a lot easier, and by the time my pillow started to vibrate, I had rested well. Out of bed again, making coffee. I remember contemplating not to make coffee, Click to continue »

Today is the last day of July, the goal-free month. Tomorrow is August, and the start of one of the biggest habit changes I have ever undertaken. Tomorrow is the first day of adopting the habit of waking up early, I named it the Early Bird Challenge.

In a previous article I wrote about the reasons why I want to be an early bird. There are a lot of benefits to changing, however during the change these benefits are not there yet (certainly not in full effect). So during this month I need determination and support. And to support me during this month, I will join Leo’s August Challenge, over at Zen Habits. And my spouse of course supports me as well, and I empowered her to help me (by being grateful for the occasional poke in the ribs around 5am).

Preparation
Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.
- Alexander Graham Bell

Going cold-turkey is not an option, as my internal clock needs to adjust to the new time-settings. It’s kind of like jetlag, but then the other way around. Click to continue »