Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Why are you waking up early?

7 Weeks ago I began waking up 30 minutes earlier than I normally would.  I began to do this week after week, which lead to me getting down to waking up at 3:45 a.m.  The first question people ask is, why are you doing this? The second, what do you do during this time? And third, what time do you go to bed?  Which are legitimate questions, so this post is my response:

In a nut shell; Purpose, Passion, Motivation/Being Hungry to be Successful, Proverbs 6:4-11

To hit a little bit on all of these:

Purpose - Living for a Purpose is what is most important to me and my faith.  I teach a college success strategies course at Virginia Tech and I am always telling my students to live with a purpose because I know when I was a freshmen in college I wasn't, and I am on a mission for them to not go that route as well.  So by telling them each time I have class to focus on their purpose, I came to the realization, am I just saying these things and not acting on them?  Am I talking the talk and not walking the walk.  So I decided it is officially time to start walking my talk, putting my positivity, energy, and drive in my daily life to fulfill my purpose.  Not going to just talk about it, it is time to BE about it!

Passion - I knew if I wasn't truly passionate about living with/for a PURPOSE, then this wouldn't be able to be accomplished.  I started to think about the components of my life I am the most passionate about.  My Faith, my wife/family, my health, my friends, and being a positive influence on others.  So I set out with wanting to wake up early to securely exceed at the things that I am the most passionate about and take advantage of all 24 hours we are given each day. In essence, applying my passions to aid in the ultimate success of my purpose.

Motivation/Being Hungry to be Successful - I feel like most people in this world when they see success they think about a persons job, possessions they own, and truly how financially stable they are.  When I state being hungry for success, this is not what I am referring to.  I am talking about actually being successful in my PURPOSE, and this will eventually lead to ultimate success .  Lets take my wife for example, as I stated earlier, this is a relationship that I am very passionate about, so early in the morning I am working towards becoming the best/greatest husband I can be.  I am not going to sit back and let someone else show me up.  If you truly care about something, then you are going to get out of it what you put into it. And I am on a mission to put as much energy into my marriage with my wife Morgann as I can for us to be successful.

Proverbs 6:4-11 - "Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids...Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! ... How long will you lie there, you sluggard?  When will you get up from your sleep?  A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man."  Motivational?  It is what has motivated me and put procrastination on the back burner!

So what is it that I am actually doing when I wake up four hours before I have to leave for work.  My morning agenda has looked very similar to this pretty much every morning for the last 5 weeks:
Wake up - 3:45 a.m.

Tweet a #risandgrind message on my twitter account @cking1224 at 3:50

Dive into the word of God/devotionals/sermons/prayer for at least an hour or however long I am lead to - till around 4:50 a.m.

From 4:50 to 5:50 a.m. I work on my immediate goals for the day.  (will explain in a later post specifics)

At 6 is when I workout, the workout itself changes daily but I will usually get back home by 6:55

6:55 is when I began making packed lunches for the day for my wife and I, then I get ready for work, have quality time with Morgann for 30 minutes, and then I am out the door by 7:45.

I have no desire at the moment to wake up before 3:45 because I do feel like I am accomplishing what needs to be done for me to pursue my PURPOSE in this amount of time.  I go to bed usually around 9:30 to 10:00 pm.  If it is needed for me to stay up later than this than you better believe I am willing to do it!

So I say all that to say this...
Take a step back and ask yourself, "am I really doing everything I can do to be successful in all aspects of my life?"  If change is necessary then do it and don't look back, BE HUNGRY for your passions and in the end it will make you successful!

BELIEVE YOU ARE HERE FOR A REASON,
YOUR PURPOSE IS GREATER THAN YOUR CHALLENGES!  
(it MUST be)