This is part 3 of the series covering my quest to become an early riser. Make sure you check out part 1 and part 2!

In last week’s update, I mentioned that the first week had some success, and some lessons learned. Week two had some big improvements, and I think things are starting to become a bit more of a habit.

This week was a little different. Most days this week I was waking much closer to 5AM; occasionally with the alarm, but mostly just before. While in some ways I do kind of miss the extra half hour I get from getting up at 4:30AM, I think I’ll work on getting 5AM set, and then go from there. However, this week I didn’t have any of the setbacks. The weekend I pushed my wakeup time back to 7AM instead, but had no trouble there, and then this morning, 5AM rolls around I was wide awake, no alarm.

Now that things are running a little more smoothly, what did I change? Not much, really. I’ve tried to listen to myself as to when I’m tired, and if I miss the end of a show, I try to find the last few minutes online somewhere. As many of the networks are now streaming their shows, this is getting easier and easier.

There is another thing I’ve noticed and in some cases, it does go against a lot of advice with regards to changing habits. Many writers recommend focusing on changing only one habit at a time. During week one, that was my focus. However, during week two, I’ve actually added a second habit change. Now, this wasn’t a conscious choice, but more of a fortuitous coincidence. This week I ended up joining a new gym, and getting back in shape has been a goal of mine for some time. So I’ve been work very hard to make it to the gym regularly, really working to try to include this as a regular activity in my schedule. With this extra activity, I’ve found that I’m also sleeping better and waking up less through the night. So even if I’m getting the same six or seven hours of sleep, they seem to be better, and I wake up feeling more refreshed than ever.

So there’s the update for week two! Check back next Monday for week three’s results, and if you’ve got any comments, please feel free to share!

PS. I’m also starting to wonder if my alarm clock has been sneaking an RSS feed or something. After mentioning that it might be time to be replaced due to an odd mix of the radio and buzzer alarms, the problem has miraculously disappeared. Perhaps it knew the writing was on the wall, so to say.