Why I (Used To) Enjoy Mornings

I am a morning person.  I love to get up with the sun, and get my day started early.  Throughout the years I have found that I am the most productive early on, and as the day wears on I start to lose focus.  My body usually has plenty of energy throughout the day, but my mind begins to turn off somewhere around 3:30 in the afternoon, and by 9:00 I am not nearly as sharp as I could be.  Thus, I became a morning person in order to make the most of my day, this is how.

Summer Time

I love the summer; not only for the nice weather, and being able to be outside, but also for the long days.  Living in Montana, we get to enjoy a 5:30 am sunrise and a 9:30 pm sunset, the length of the day makes it so much easier to be productive.

Since during the summer it tends to get really hot in the afternoon, I will often structure my day to do chores and physical activity outside in the morning.  This means cutting the grass, tending the garden, repairs to the house, and anything else that requires me to be outside.  I can enjoy the day before it gets too hot.  When it starts to heat up too much, I head back inside and I fire up the computer.  I can work for a few hours before the mid-afternoon weariness sets in.  If I do it right, I can use the late afternoon and evening to relax knowing that I accomplished a great deal already.

Benefits

So you may wonder where I am going with this.  There are two takeaways here that can help you with your financial journey.

First, having organization to your day will help you be more productive.  This is precisely why I maintain to-do lists.  I know that if the morning is my time to get started on some of my projects, I am less likely to lounge around under the apple tree drinking mimosas and being lazy (although that does sound like fun to be had on occasion).  By organizing what is to be done the night before, I can get up, enjoy 30 minutes of coffee as the day gets started, and then tackle my to-do list.  For those who claim they do better without a list, try it for a week.  I bet you will be much more productive when you have a visual representation of everything that needs to be done.

But productivity is not the only benefit to starting your day early.  Rising early tends to use less energy, and thus help you save money.  By getting up early, you will tend to go to bed earlier.  This means powering down the electronics sooner, and helping to cut your utility bills.  Will you make a fortune? Of course not, but you will cut back on unnecessary expenses.

Wrapping It Up

You may notice that the title says why I used to enjoy mornings.  It is a little misleading.  I still enjoy the mornings, but for an entirely different reason.  I now stay home and take care of my son three days out of the week (he is rapidly approaching a year and a half old).  No longer is there such a thing as a “leisurely” cup of coffee.  Instead, it is sneak sips of coffee while playing legos, dinosaurs, noisy button things, all while grumbling that it is 5:00 am and he is wired.  Of course, it means cramming my work into nap times, and evenings, but I still get to get up and enjoy every morning; even if it’s not “productive.”