Thursday, October 29, 2015

This is it!  Final day of the challenge.  I spent the first hour just soaking it all in and enjoying the peace of the morning.  I took a walk around the office to experience it one more time.  So here are my final thoughts:
• Having the support of my wife was key.  If you don’t have a support network when doing a challenge, it makes it very difficult.
• The peacefulness of 4:30 is quite amazing.  No one is out, so it gives you a chance to just “be”; it is a great time to think and reflect; and yes, a great time to get stuff done.
• Even though I wanted to mix it up and change things, getting into a routine is very important.  My routine would be bedtime at 9:30 pm in order to get up at 4:30.  If I kept this routine (which was most of the time), I had no problem getting up. 
• Although my productivity sky rocketed in the morning, it would be hard to keep this pace.  I would typically hit a wall around 2:30 or 3:00.
• The world wakes up and stirs between 5:30 and 6:00. Don’t know why exactly. 
• I had some great workouts! 
• I need to continue to have small, attainable goals in my life in order to achieve the much bigger life goals that I have.  
• My goals need to be a struggle; I need to continue to push myself.   
• Getting up this early takes a lot of discipline!
I have been asked why I did this.  The primary was I did this for myself:
• I wanted to change/mix it up;
• I wanted a new goal that was going to be hard and take effort; that would make me suffer
• I wanted to change to change my routine
• I wanted challenge the way I viewed the world
• I wanted to experience suffering – working a twelve our day tiresome; if you do this you will suffer. 
So if you have been in anyway inspired, here is the challenge for you:  take on a challenge that will push you.  Change things up! It’s ok to suffer a little.  And then break down this challenge into small obtainable goals.  Perhaps getting up 30 minutes early to run; perhaps read a new book (start with one chapter at a time); or learn something new.  You can do it!
Carpe Diem and make it a great day!
Andy 

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Good morning to you!  We just got back from D.C. and I feel like I have been playing catch up!  It was a great time with lots of family memories, but I happy to be back.  I did a lot of reflecting on the trip, and I can't stress enough how important it is to get away from it all and go on vacation.  It certainly allows your batteries to recharge and refocus.  Biggest thought of the day is to maintain a realistic pace.  Even though I have committed to waking up 21 work days in a row, I can't keep up this pace.  I am litterally working between 50-60 hours per week which is doable, but the time off has allowed me to reevaluate; work is certainly important and I love what I do, but there are other things in life. 

Speaking of which, I had to rearrange my schedule due to traveling and needing to rest the first day back.  So tomorrow will be my offical last day of waking up at 4:30.  I have many thoughts, lessons I have learned, and new challenges I have my eyes on and I will share them all with you bright and early.  Be great today and swing for the fences!



Thursday, October 22, 2015

Good afternoon!  This blog is a little late in the day.  I had to take care of some personal stuff in the morning, and it seems like I have been chasing all day to day.  Just goes to show how even when you wake up early you can still fall behind if you don't have the right structure and discipline to your day. 
I am about to wrap up this challenge.  I will be leaving for Washington D.C. tomorrow and then back late Monday night, so I will be sleeping in to about 6:00 am for the next few days.  I will be sure to make it up - I will wrap up the challenge on Tuesday and final day Wednesday of next week.  Stay tuned for my final wrap up thoughts next week and I will be sure to post some photos of D.C.  It should be a great trip and I am looking forward to it!

Make it a great afternoon!

Andy

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Good morning to you! 
The temperature is starting to drop significantly in Atlanta, and it is making me not want to get up!  I am going into the final stretch my 21 days of waking up at 4:30.  It has been fantastic but I am ready to get back to a more normal work schedule.  I will be sharing some final thoughts (final thoughts on waking up at 4:30 that is) at the end of this challenge.  By the way, I am going to miss Friday of this week and Monday of next due to having to take a trip to Washington D.C. with the family.  But don’t worry - I will make it up the next week. 
Here is what my schedule and plan has looked like and looks like today”
4:30 Wake  Up
5:00 – 5:30 At the office, taking the first 30 min to meditate and reflect
5:30 – 6:00 Cleaned out my email box (this was exhilarating!)
6:00 -7:00 Worked on submissions to different managers and vendor systems
7:00 -7:30 Quick breakfast
7:30 – 8:00 Spent time on work social media (most notably LinkedIn)
8:00 – 9:00 Plan the rest of my morning, connect with coworkers, clients, nurses
9:00 – 10:00 Work with payroll to get everyone paid, follow up clients and candidates
10:00 – 11:00 Market current candidates to different clients that I have and discover new clients
11:00-12:00 Pick up my son from GA Tech, 11:30 meeting and training. 

Have a goal to be great today and hit it out of the park!
Andy

Friday, October 16, 2015

Good morning to you!
Above is a picture of my son Kai.  The only reason I am posting it is that my wife Denisa wanted me to give him a haircut, and I picked a guard for the clippers that was too short.  I had to improvise and gave him a Mohawk.  Denisa wasn’t too thrilled but I think he looks pretty fly.
Here is a thought for you going into the weekend-
When I was a senior in high school, I was co-captain of the basketball team that won the state championship.  On the back of our practice jerseys, our coach (Coach Euler) printed these words underneath each other: Desire, Dedication, Discipline
These action words have had the biggest impact on my professional life so much I think they are the key to any success that I have ever had.  I think of these words as legs of my success tripod.  Standing on their own, they don’t work very well.  But when they are all together, my success rate grows exponentially.
Desire is the first leg.  Before taking on a challenge, I always ask myself, “Andy, how bad you really want this?”  And if I have doubts about my desire, I question if I want it bad enough.  But if I lose sleep over it, if it is constantly on my mind, if I am consumed by it, I know that the odds of my success are quite high.
Dedication is a trickier leg because dedication is hard.  What is dedication?  I think of dedication as my plan.  I try to see the challenge and then break it down to the smallest obtainable goals that I can do at that moment. 
Discipline is probably the hardest leg.  Discipline is the execution of the plan.  It is hard to stay on course and do the plan every single moment of every single day that I have allotted.  It takes a lot of will and a lot of great habits of doing something the right away over and over to get the necessary discipline. 
Hope that you have great day and weekend!  See you on Monday!
Andy

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Good morning!  I hope that you are all doing well.
Still going strong, waking up at 4:30.  I am half way through this challenge and looking forward to the end of it.  Interestingly enough: I am used to getting up this early.  I wake up on my own usually before the alarm clock rings.  The trick is really to get to bed early; I try to be lights out at 9:30.
Over the weekend, Denisa and I wrote a list of our short term and long term goals.  We have done this off and on for the past 15 years (since we have been married) with varying degrees of success.  We have found our most success is when we make a list and then hold each other accountable with a biweekly/monthly meeting to check stuff off and reevaluate what is working and what is not.  We looked at the list we had during the summer, and to my surprise, most of the stuff was crossed off.  The power of lists and goals!  Speaking of which, I made it a goal a few months ago to process some paperwork and it is finally getting taken care of.  I spent this entire morning on it.  As I was doing it, I have been kicking myself on why I didn’t get it done earlier.  It would have been so much easier to take care of it right away!  
So here are my goals for the day –
7:00 – 8:00 Clean up my inbox and check my messages, update social medial
8:00 – 9:00 Meetings, take care of traveler issues with those that are currently with me
9:00 – 10:00 Meet with and review schedules of those that I am mentoring; New job posts
10:00 – 11:00 Job that need to be reposted, recruit for jobs that I find important
11:00 – 12:00 Loose ends, meeting at 11:30
12:00 Lunch
Make it a great day!
Andy

Friday, October 9, 2015

 

 


Good morning!
Just a quick update and weekly wrap up.  The pictures above is of Soliant’s annual 5k run.  I had a great time with co-workers and friends.  This is an event that I have come to look forward to every year.  The event was perfect.  We were blessed with sunshine and warm weather. 
I leave the office every Friday at noon to start my weekend.  I am looking forward to knocking out whatever list/responsibilities I have, and spend time with my wife Denisa and our five kids.  I am optimistic that Denisa will let me squeeze in a nap this afternoon.  I know that you are reading this babe!
Have a great weekend and see you bright and early on Monday!
Andy