Productivity Galore!

Like most people the start of the year comes with a flood of motivation to achieve that is typically non-existent for the rest of the year. People sign up for the gym memberships and go to the gym for the month of January yet the attendance tapers as the year progresses. I know, as I used to be an aerobics instructor and saw the numbers surge in Jan and then die off.

Like most years I do a similar thing. My fiancé and I always plan our personal travel for the year on the 1st of January; it is now a tradition for us. At the same time I have also been thinking about what I want to achieve during the year. If you read most books they will say that you will typically have traction for January and then it is anyone’s guess what happens after that.

My surge this year has been actually in February. I have spent a lot of time reading and focusing on what I want to achieve. I’m not old but not young either and it is times like this where you realize that time is ticking and that a third of my life has already gone. What have I done with my life? What do I want to do with my life?

One of the big areas of focus has been self development and I feel my achievements have been good but there is more out there.  Two weeks ago I read the book “The Miracle Morning” by Hal Elrod (Amazon) and it has really made me think about dedicating time to myself in the morning. Fortunately I am a relatively good morning person but this requires dedication to get up just that little bit earlier so that I can get MY things done in the morning. This includes (but is not limited to), silence/meditation, reading, planning, exercising and journaling. All of these things I have wanted to do consistently for years and now I have been doing every day since late January. I have just added blogging to my weekend Miracle Morning so that I will now blog at least twice a week as a baseline.

What’s great about this is that I’m actually accomplishing things that previously would take a lot longer. I have already read three books this year when I average 5 – 10 a year (sad but true), I have three books going at the same time and one I will finish today, I am reflecting about my day in terms of new ideas and what I have learned.  I have also been consistent with the exercise for the past few weeks. Furthermore my morning planning is helping me accomplishing my days tasks.

The ‘me’ time in the morning is making a real difference; productivity galore indeed!