Why getting up early?

This is my first month running the Sisyphi Camps. It is truly life-changing for both me and my campers. One of the three subcamps is called the Early Riser Camp. The rule is that campers must personally text me “I’m up” every day before 6 AM. The goal is to get up by 6 AM for 20 out of 31 days in January to reach the “Good” level. I am also doing these challenges myself. So far, I am 7 for 11.

So why get up early? While it might be a strange endeavor, being an early riser can be an insanely helpful hack to make our days productive.

1. By getting up early with the help of an accountability buddy, you fulfill an otherwise difficult task in the morning. It gives you a tremendous psychological boost, telling yourself that you are here to kick butt and take names. That success-based confidence will compound and cascade throughout the day. 

2. It creates a quiet, uninterrupted, golden two hours from 6-8 AM for me to do amazing things, including meditation, exercise, writing, and the most productive bowel movement imaginable. I highly recommend Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning SAVERS (Silence, Affirmation, Visualization, Exercise, Reading, Scribing) routine.

3. To get up early without being a zombie, you need to sleep earlier. Personally, I used to go to bed between 12-1 AM, languishing between useless entertainment and squeezing my pores for sport. 

By being part of the camp, I now go to bed at 11 PM. I am trading in a highly unproductive hour for an equally productive one. The last time this type of one-sided trade happened, Thomas Jefferson bought Louisiana from Napoleon for $15M.

Now, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. For example, I didn’t get up this morning. My wife and I worked until 1 AM last night for our annual family newsletter. I ended up waking up at 7:30 AM. I don’t dare to imagine what I did to my poor clock at 5:50 AM. I’m just glad Siri doesn’t call 9-1-1 to report domestic violence against appliances. Otherwise, I would be in trouble.

But that’s OK. One morning doesn’t make or break me. I’m still on track to be “Good.”