Up at 7:15AM!

Last day of the year!

Last chance to tidy up all the loose ends, and then PARTY!!

If At First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again!

Ok, today I woke up at 11AM.

Tomorrow is New Years Eve. Hmm...

Well, I will try again tomorrow, and then if that doesn't work out, I must wake up early anyway on Tuesday morning to have breakfast with my Professor at the Marriott.

Fighting!!

Neuro-Linguistic Programming

"I've been obsessed by that question for my entire life. As I grew up, I saw people who had great riches of all types- great jobs, wonderful relationships, and well-developed physiques. I had to know what caused their lives to be so different from mine and that of my friends. The difference all comes down to the way in which we communicate with ourselves and the actions we take. What do we do when we try everything we can and things still turn out wrong? People who succeed do not have fewer problems than people who fail. The only people without problems are those in cemetries. It is not what happens to us that separates failure from successes. It is how we perceive it and what we do about what "happens" that makes the difference."

(Anthony Robbins, Unlimited Power, p. 37)

Does neuro-linguistic progamming, otherwise known as NLP, work?

Day 3 - 7:15AM

It is minus 12 degrees C outside. Just too cold to wake up. Yet somehow I am up.

Minus 12... Time to go back to Australia... quickly.

Ah.. the Whitsundays, nice!

Don't Eat the Marshmallow... Yet!

Ok, the blurb of this book by Jaochim de Posada talks about a Stanford University experiment on children who were left in a room, each with a marshmallow, and given the choice of eating it then or fifteen minutes later, when they were promised an extra marshmallow as a reward for waiting. The result of the "landmark study" was that the children who held out for the reward had become more successful adults than the children who had gobbled their marshmallows immediately.

Joachim then goes on (with co-author Ellen Singer) to make a 100-page book centering on a rich businessman Jonathan and his chauffeur Arthur and his marshmellows.

The amazing thing about this book was that it was ridiculously expensive (24000 Won, $US 24) yet I bought it anyway because it was hardcover and because the parable in it reminded me fondly of those in The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Classon. Although Classon's book is by far better for being more precise in its guidance and practical yet simple in terms of financial advice, the strong point of Posada's book is that it focuses on the role of the subconscious in success and failure and the repression mechanism (although not explicitly). Thus, it endears itself to those interested in the psychology of success and not just those who think it is just a matter of "getting things done".

The best part of the parable for me was the way Arthur accumulated loads of marshmellows. In fact, I started to do the same thing with Hershey's Nuggets and it is likely to get way expensive.

Still, I guess in 30 days time I can look forward to a blown credit card and an apartment full of Hershey's Nuggets!

If they want a bigger ad, they can pay me for it! (hehe)

Day 2 - 7:00AM

Ah, to wake up to an alarm clock radio blaring at me how President Roh has already solved the real estate bubble in Korea.

Meanwhile, in the real world, I have managed to hit my target on Day 2!

Ok, I feel a bit like Simba the Lion King today, although I wish I had slept more.

Off to Park Seung-Chol today for a head indulgence (I mean hair styling).

How to Become an Early Riser

Here is one view on how to be an early riser. Click link below:

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser/

Basically, Steve is saying that you should wake up at a set time and go to sleep when you are tired.

I would offer two modifications to this advice, based on my experience:

1) You have to do something involving physical exertion during the day to achieve regular tiredness before midnight;

2) Waking up at the same time every day is correct in theory, but it does not work in winter, when you should wake up at a set time which you adjust each month to around 30mins - 1hour before sunrise. (Sunrise times for your city are easy to find on the internet)

Day 1 - 7:20am

I have four alarms going, and somehow that seems to work.

Well, I didn't quite feel like Simba, King of the Jungle...

Anyway, this little gazelle is up and about!

The Lion and the Gazelle

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.

It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning a lion wakes up.

It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.

The moral:It doesn’t matter if you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better be running.

- African Proverb

Benefits of Waking Up Early

I admit it. I was on a 100 day program to become a morning person and only lasted 83 days. Just 17 days to perserve... what was wrong with me?


Alas, it was a case of the sun rising later methinks, so I have decided to give being a morning person another go. This time I am going to allow myself to wake up at least 30 minutes before sunrise during the winter, which means waking up at 7AM every day. During summer and autumn I usually woke up at 5AM!

Anyway, every day I am going to put some new inspiration on this blog to keep me going to achieve the 100 days. And I will continue rewarding myself every week. This time, however, I might try the "marshmallow-resistor" style reward, which would double every week. Since 100 days is a tad over 14 weeks, that is a lot of doubling, so I will have to check out the economics. Maybe if I start with 100 Won for Week 1, then 200 Won for Week 2, etc.

It would then go:

Week 3 - 400 Won
Week 4 - 800 Won
Week 5 - 1600 Won
Week 6 - 3200 Won
Week 7 - 6400 Won
Week 8 - 12800 Won
Week 9 - 25600 Won
Week 10 - 51200 Won
Week 11 - 102400 Won
Week 12 - 204800 Won
Week 13 - 409600 Won
Week 14 - 819200 Won
Week 15 - 1638400 Won = about $1630

What to do with the money? Hmm. Worth thinking about.

Anyway the interesting article for today is attached, and it is about becoming friends with your alarm clock, if that is possible! So click on the link below:

http://credohealth.blogspot.com/2006/04/volume-3-number-22-becoming-friends.html

Back to Morning Person

This blog is designed for the discussion of what it means to be a "morning person", as well as the benefits of such a lifestyle. I look forward to your many contributions and personal experiences.

Thank you