7am.
Street art.
2 proudly broken toes hidden inside my kicks.
Watching the colors of the sky change.
I am bleary-eyed, but suddenly aware that I am walking the streets of the city I have had a long-standing passionate affair with.
These are the days.

I do it to myself.
Last night at 4am,
I chose to park in the 8am street spot that would make my car illegal in 4 hours.
Alarms won’t get me up,
but the thought of a $65 ticket will jolt my half conscious body awake in seconds.

I’m not a morning person.
Maybe you’re not either….
but if I don’t get up by a certain time in the morning,
I wake up feeling like I’m a total loser and have gotten zero accomplished in my entire existence.
Do you do that, too?

On one of the nights where I’m out until sunrise,
my brother/friend, Musician and Poet, Jaye Bartell… this guy:

was talking with me about ideas to make our days better,
and he had these 2 simple tips that made a lot of difference in my last week
that I wanted to share with you guys…

1. Ditch the Electronics for the First 20 Minutes You’re Awake.
I know. Trust me.
That alarm with the snooze button that gets tapped constantly on my broken iPhone?
It also has the Twitter button next to it, and the Facebook button next to it, and the Google Chrome internet next to it.
On the rare day I’m parked legally, my blurry self will instantly jump on Twitter or text in an attempt to wake up.
Since Jaye told me about this – I’ve challenged myself to completely ditch the cell phone and computer for the first 20 minutes of my day, and it’s helped me establish my world and my morning, rather than jumping into a million different people’s thoughts the moment I open my eyes.

2. And Instead…Fill That Time Doing One Thing You’re Passionate About.
What is that thing that you’re passionate about?
Writing? Working out? Building a project? Playing guitar? Going for a quiet walk and taking the world in?
I just started writing in a physical journal for the first time in a long time.
For so long, I figured, well – I write a blog 3 times a week – what more writing do I need to do?
But writing in the morning when I’m first getting up – just for 15 minutes – instead of scrolling through twitter feeds for that same amount of time, has helped me start writing a new song, and capturing important pieces of my dreams that I would have lost otherwise.
Even if you only work on that one thing for 20 minutes….even 15 minutes in the morning….you will be able to rock out the rest of your day knowing that you started your day off doing something you love.

Wanna do a 7 day challenge with me on this?

Jump in on the comments and pledge what YOU want to do in the first 20 minutes of your day.
Are you addicted to the world of social media the second you wake up, too?
Do you have other suggestions on how to start your day off right?
Tell us all.

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