It’s okay to get a little crazy sometimes. Shoot for an extreme and if you’re self-aware you’ll catch the hints your body gives you to change.

The trick is to listen well enough that you catch problems and can adjust before you’ve pushed too far and need to quit.

Thursdays are typically my “Is this change making me go nuts?” questioning day. I hit a nice even stride this past Thursday and will be changing things up again starting Monday morning. This coming Thursday I’ll discuss the past 72 hours with a friend and figure out if I need to change anything in order to finish the week strong.

Sound crazy? It probably does and I haven’t even told you what I’ve been doing! I’ll tell you soon. Some of it, at least. =)

If you want to get something done. If you want to reach a particular goal. If you want to make something happen.

Don’t be afraid to get your crazy on.

We’re here to cheer for you.

For those of you who’ve been wondering about when challenges will start up again, it seems that most would benefit from another early rising challenge. Perhaps after 3 or 4 of them you’ll be dragging your sleepy butts out of bed on time! I’m game.

Image: Source

Becoming an early riser isn’t about trading sleep for productivity. It’s about taking back a part of your life by trading tired evening hours for productive and wakeful mornings.

You probably can’t tell your boss that you’ve decided not to work between 9-11am because you need productive time for yourself and personal projects. You’d be laughed at. What you can do is make a habit of waking early and add hours of productivity to your every morning!

Here are just five of the benefits you’ll enjoy as an early riser:

1. Freedom from distractions -

Whether you have a house full of kids or a phone that never stops ringing, the early morning is the best time to escape the distractions of daily life.

2. More time for personal projects -

If you’ve ever wanted to start a blog, save your marriage, write a novel, get more exercise (one of my early-morning heavy-hitters), or paint your kitchen, do it in the morning. You’ll get more done in an hour of early morning productivity than you could ever hope to accomplish in the evening after a long day of distractions.

3. A change in perspective -

Have you ever gone for a swim in very cold water? At first, the temperature is shocking. Then you become accustomed to the coolness and begin to find it refreshing. Getting up early allows you to approach your life with the same technique. Instead of leaping into your day and stroking furiously for the other side, starting early leaves you with enough time to paddle around a bit and enjoy the process of wakefulness.

4. The Sunrise -

I’m entirely with Leo on this point. I’m usually a mile into my morning walk by the time the sun makes it over the horizon. There is no greater primal joy (except holding one’s child for the first time, perhaps) than experiencing the warmth and light of another new day beginning.

5. Starting the day off right -

When you begin your day by acting in a way that says, “I am going to take care of my body, mind and spirit” you set a precedent for the rest of your day.

So how do you become an early riser? Just follow two simple steps:

1. Read 5 Steps To Falling Asleep Easily and practice the steps each evening at a time that will give you plenty of rest before the start of your day.
2. Subscribe to Primal Stride so you don’t miss upcoming articles with great tips to help you start your day with a spring in your step! We’ve already done one seven-day challenge with an early-riser component. Stay tuned for the next!

If you’re already an early riser, sound out in the comments with something you enjoy about the early morning! (And no, staying up until 5am doesn’t count… although it is fun.)

sunrise

I was looking for information on the role b-vitamins play in metabolic processes when I came across this video:
“Hello? That’s not cool!” Was my first response. Then it hit me: If I hadn’t made changes in my life, I might very well have been headed for my own video about shockingly overweight people. I was immediately inspired to jot down a few things I have going for me in my weightloss adventure:

• I can move freely – I have no physical disability that keeps me from exercising.
• I have the support of close friends – I know I’m not alone nor am I the only one with this struggle.
• I know what to do – I know enough about nutrition that I can focus on what works for me instead of struggling to learn about how things work in general.

It’s easy to look around and find somebody who needs to lose more weight than you or I do. It’s easy to look back on previous failures and use them as an excuse to accept failure again. It’s convenient to blame anything and everything but ourselves for our current state of health.

The truth is, unless you’re in a straitjacket (if you’re reading this and you’re in a straitjacket, it’s okay, most of us hear voices) or being force-fed like a French goose (Actually, I’ve had a fatty liver…awful…water retention to match my belly…no baby though), the only thing stopping you from reaching peak health is you. (Yes, I just indirectly referred to you as a thing. I’m also developing a fondness for parentheses and long sentences)

Stop rolling your eyes. You knew I was going to say that you’re the problem. The cool part is that you also get to be the solution. In fact, you’re the only one who can really help you. Why? Because you choose your actions. You choose when and what to eat. You choose when to exercise and when to rest.  It’s likely that you already know exactly what you need to do in order to achieve better health.

The hard part is acting upon that knowledge and making healthy choices.

Where to start?

I look at this picture and think, "I'll be able to do that soon!"

Find an old notebook. Most of us have at least one half-filled notebook hanging around. Rip out all the used pages. Grab a pen and write at the top of the first page: “Things I have going for me already.”

Continue by listing at least 3 things you have going for you in your fight for better health. You might have strong legs, be adventurous about trying new foods, or know how to laugh at yourself. No matter what your situation is, I know you have things going for you.

Focusing on your strengths is one of the most important tools in bringing about lasting changes.

Now what?  If you haven’t read it already, check out 5 Questions To Ask Before Eating Anything and give the process some thought. My next weightloss post will build upon your list of strengths and my five questions to discuss what I’ve tentatively titled “How to keep a food journal that doesn’t inspire random acts of violence against senior citizens“. Obviously, the title needs work. Goodness, I need work. The reader in the straitjacket needs work. You might need a bit of work, too.

Let’s go to work on us together. What is one of your strengths?

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photo: akunamatata