The 5AM challenge

Last month I decided to take on a 30-day challenge, to get up at 5am.

Today is Day 28 of that challenge. I have had some interesting experiences as a result of taking this on. I've had the experience of having all items on my to-do list completed by 8:30am. I've had the experience of not having to think about what time to set my alarm for the next day because I consistently set it for 5am. I've had the experience of living very long and very full days. I've had the experience of having my sense of time be completely distorted so that things I did the previous day feel like I did them days ago, and things that I did days ago feel like I did them weeks ago.

The idea of doing this challenge was to have the time to do things during the hours of the day when I normally don't do anything. It was not to kill myself by pulling 16 hour days, and during this challenge I did experience days when I did feel the strain in my body. I had days when I got up at 5, did a few basic routine things and then went back to bed for a few more hours. The idea is not to burn myself out, but to stretch myself a little further.

I have two days left in my 30 day challenge. What's next? I've thought about that question. Do I continue the same challenge for another 30 days? Do I raise the bar even higher and start getting up at 4am? Do I continue to stretch myself but ease off a bit, and start getting up at 6am? Do I stop setting my alarm at all for a while and see at what time I wake up naturally?

I've decided that my next step is to continue with another 30 day 5am challenge with one modification. I will continue to get up at 5am from Monday through Friday and get up at 7am on the weekend.