I have a pretty good internal clock, and on most days I will wake up before my alarm. Doesn’t matter if I set the time for 4:30am, 5, or 5:30, most days I’ll wake up about 10 to 20 minutes before my phone’s alarm starts to chime. Usually this is great, I can sneak out of bed without disrupting my wife’s sleep too much.

But sometimes this can be a challenge too. When my body wakes me to at 4:10 because my alarm is set for 4:30, it can be hard to get myself out of bed. When my eyes open and I’m exhausted, I find myself hoping that I’m 2 hours early, so that I can justify going back to sleep just a little while longer.

This morning I’m up 15 minutes early. Meditation is done, daily write just about done. This morning’s exercise will be treadmill for cardio then some push-ups and a quick workout of chest and triceps, because that’s what I feel like doing today… 20 minutes aerobic exercise, listening to an audio book, then 2-3 sets of weights/body weight exercise listening to my workout playlist, and not-quite enough stretching added in. Then my shower and grooming before heading to school to start my work day.

Other than an email check including a daily news report that I subscribe to (the only news I get these days, since I don’t watch tv and minimally use social media), and that’s my usual morning routine… A routine that very often starts with me checking the time a few minutes before my alarm goes off.

Now it’s time to go to Pixabay, to choose a cover photo for this post (I limit the search time to 2-4 minutes), then schedule this post and start my exercise routine. And there is my usual start to my workday.