Yes, I am aware that the new year was actually five days ago.   Each new year holds hope and comes with many new challenges.   Some people make New Years Resolution and most of those resolutions are soon forgotten about.  The last New Years Resolution I made was many years ago.  I made a resolution to not make resolutions, it worked great, its been more than ten years and I never broke that resolution.  I decided this year to challenge myself and people keep asking how my resolution is going.  This is not a New Years Resolution.

The challenge for me is to become an early riser.  Those of you who know me certainly can attest that the night owl is just retiring when most people are getting up.  I tell you now…it will happen.   My inspiration for this challenge came after reading Steve Pavlina’s How to Become and Early Riser, not because the new year was upon us.

I am not following word for word but it was great inspiration.  Typically in the past I would go to bed when I wanted and generally rise in the afternoon sometime.  Most of my work is done after typical business hours anyway so it has never been a problem. But I noticed that I was spending far more time than I really wanted to sleeping.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy sleep.   But, maybe Steve was right, I could have more time if I had a set waking time. I will never have a set bedtime again but a set waking time I might be able to work that in.

I found a time that would be reasonable to my perception.  I discussed the idea with my wife, explaining that I was also going to start exercising as well.   Kristi was very interested in getting up with me to exercise so 6:30am would be the latest she could get up and fit a workout in before work. I did not want it to be on the half hour so 6:00am was agreed upon.  6:00 is very very damned early to me, but it had to be a challenge.  I decided to start on January 2, 2009.  No way I was missing my friend’s party for New Years Eve.

You still think it is a New Years Resolution?  I can see where you might.  To get around this I have merely commited to 30 days(conveniently ends January 31, 2009).  Any of you that followed the link will understand that by this time it will be a habit and I should be able to move on to a new challenge.

A rose by any other name may smell as sweet but, a New Years Resolution by any other name may well get the job done.   If you have a New Years Resolution, good luck!