If I decide I do want to write a book, decide what it would be about. Jocko willink wake up time professional#I also set a professional goal, which I break down like this: Simply doing a fast hike would not make getting up early every day for a month worth it. That’s why, when I should still be asleep, I’m suffering through this terribly loud Creed song. Jocko willink wake up time full#(My wife would not appreciate me getting up miserably early and hurting myself for the same assignment.) My goal is to get in good enough shape to hike 12 miles in three hours while carrying my backpack full of my camping gear-25 pounds, give or take. The Army requires soldiers to complete the 12-mile hike in three hours while carrying rucksacks that weigh 35 pounds or more. I still filed a story, because the hike was one small part of a three-day event, but it has bugged me ever since. It was the only time I’ve ever had to bail on part of an assignment because I was physically incapable of doing it. After a mile or so, though, I had to give up. It was approximately 897 degrees out, and that was the second day of grueling physical tasks, so I was reasonably confident vomiting would happen. But I wanted to hike alongside them because I thought a scene at, say, Mile 8 of Pfc Johnny-on-the-spot yacking his guts out, wiping vomit from his mouth and then resuming the hike would be awesome. That’s 12 consecutive 15-minute miles, which is fast. Two years ago, I covered an Army team competition that included a 12-mile hike the participants were required to complete in three hours. …the quiet is great, the exhaustion is not, there’s no such thing as too much coffee. I love to hike, and every workout I do is geared toward making my next hike easier. I am here to begin work on the physical part of my “do something you’ve always wanted to do.” I’d say I’m in OK-but not good and certainly not great-shape. Now I’m at the gym, along with three other people whose beds were apparently on fire, and the Creed playing over the speakers is too loud by half, by which I also mean it’s awful that Creed is on at all. I’m shooting for 100 percent now that I’ll be up so early.) I ate breakfast, drank coffee and did my Bible study. I’m always excited to get up and get going on the first day of an assignment, even this one, so waking up wasn’t too bad. It’s 5:19 a.m., and it’s ever so much worse than I thought it would be. Related: 11 Science-Backed Ways to Become a Morning Person DAY 1 First, I need to set the alarm and get to bed. I will also do something, or some things, rather, I’ve never done before. My plan on the eve of this grand adventure is to give up none of that but to spend a few hours beforehand doing… well, at the moment I’m not 100 percent sure what. My typical morning routine involves coffee, Bible study and breakfast, and then playing card games with my kids until I go down to my basement office. For the past four years, I’ve worked from home, which means I get up whenever I want to, sans alarm clock, usually between 6:30 and 7 a.m. I haven’t had a job that required me to be in the office before 9 a.m. It seems important to point out the extent to which getting up at 4:30 a.m. None of those adventures, however, involved choosing to wake up before any sane human otherwise would. In pursuit of stories, I’ve climbed mountains, jumped out of an airplane, talked my way into the backseat of a P-51 Mustang for a flyover before a NASCAR race and dressed up as Santa (twice). But the truth is I’m also a sucker for writing about new experiences. The only legitimate reason I can think of to be out of my bed at 4:30 a.m. Which is not to say I’m looking forward to it. “Let’s get you an alarm clock,” she said. I was hoping for some personal growth, but my choosing to wake up so early would also help pay the bills. But I pointed out that I’m a freelance writer, and taking on weird assignments is part of my job. She seemed poised to ask me to turn it down, which is why I told her in the first place. When I told my wife I was thinking about taking this assignment, she was skeptical of it and the havoc it portended for our household. Who doesn’t want to check off some life goal? But now I’m worried that, in practice, this will surely screw up my life, and most likely, my wife’s life and my two daughters’ lives. The idea sounded sort of romantic when I first thought about it. Related: 8 Morning Secrets of Highly Successful People The goal is, in theory, to become more disciplined in general and do something I’ve always wanted to do but never had the time-to see if Type A early risers and old-fashioned grandparents have been right all along: that the key to success is simply to get started before most people can bear. Tomorrow I’m going to start waking up at 4:30 a.m.
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