30 Day Challenge to reclaim my mornings

The following post originally appeared on my personal blog, NewWork/NewHustle but I thought I would share a portion of it here as well. 

"I've come to the conclusion that this 30 day challenge will be focused on how to begin my days. I cannot underestimate the importance of protecting that quiet time in the early morning - before my wife/daughter are awake - where I make my coffee and breakfast and spend time alone journaling/reading. That's where I'll set the tone for the day. That's where I'll reclaim my focus."

- I was actually good at this earlier this year but lost my discipline and have become lazy when it comes to protecting my mornings from outside voices such as the news/social media. 

"I can honestly say that setting aside my mornings as a quiet - noise free time was beneficial not only mentally but spiritually. And yes, I still get up early, I still make my coffee - I mean, come I'm a coffee nerd. But instead of quiet time to think/reflect/brainstorm Im watching the news. Im checking my social feeds. I'm doing everything I should not be doing. And in doing so, Im allowing outside voices to dictate how I mentally being my day."

View the post in it's entirety here.  

So, here we go. What's my 30 day challenge? 

1. Be up at 5:30 AM every morning. I like waking up early - around 6AM - but this is very early so we'll see. 
2. No social media or internet for the first hour of each morning. DANG! Not gonna lie, that's going to be a challenge since my instinct is to immediately check that after waking up. But I need to be aware of how much influence that has on my well being as I am just beginning my day. I took this same challenge on at the beginning of the year and I was actually very successful - but as usual - I became undisciplined. So it's time to get back on that and start my days in a more pensive - quiet state of prayer - reflection - journaling - reading. 
3. 150 pushups a day. I like push ups - so cool
4. 50 sit ups a day. I hate sit ups - so not cool
5. Train/workout/run a minimum of 3 times a week. Cool. For the most part. 

UPDATE: Never begin a 30 day challenge on a weekend. The post was published this past Friday - the 26th - and I was hoping to begin these morning routines this weekend. Well, that didn't happen. Which sucks.

My not so welcome friend, insomnia, showed up Friday night only a few hours after posting that. I woke up at 4AM stressed out - figured I would try and work but of course that didn't produce much. I finally fell asleep at 6AM only to be woken up by my daughter an hour later. I did a bit better this morning - woke up at 6AM but checked the news shortly after waking up. 

So, I hate to admit it, but the first two days were a failure.

So, Im adjusting the timeframe for the 30 Days of Hustle to being tomorrow, Monday the 29th. It just makes more sense to start something like this at the beginning of the week.