Get Up An Hour Earlier

I'm not suggesting this if you already get up before the birds or before the sun has risen over the horizon or you're naturally an early riser or prefer to be a night owl but if you're wondering how you can get more time in your day (especially if you want some 'me' time or time to exercise), get up an hour earlier.

What time do you usually wake up, do you roll-over and doze for a while or lie in bed reading until you feel ready to get up? If you work for yourself perhaps you feel you can start your working day when you want.

Most of the time I'm not an early bird and prefer to get up at a leisurely pace - usually checking emails while I have breakfast. However, on those occasions when I do get up early, I find I get a whole lot more done. When I was going to breakfast networking meetings, starting off at 7.00am, I'd get home around 9.00am having already felt like I'd done a day's work and I'd still have the whole morning ahead of me.

Now I've started getting up an hour earlier, which gives me the time to either clear the morning's emails, so that I can get on with work at my usual time or I get out for a run, have breakfast and a shower in that extra hour. Making it easier to fit exercise into my day.

You could use this extra time to have some quiet time on your own - shift your working day, so you spend the extra time with the children, organising your admin, filing, housework, getting out into the garden.

How could you use this extra time?