Blogging when the sun rises

Or how “early rising” given me the strength to do more.

View near my home in the countryside

I never had a good relationship with sleep. My mother says that until the age of 3 i woke up in the middle of the night. I didn’t cry! All i wanted was discussion and songs! It is obvious that i thought sleep was a waste of time.

Nowdays i don’t have this problem anymore, but i usually wake up early. When i sat down and thought about how to be more productive apart from my daily design job, the first thing that came up on my mind was to see which hours of the day were my most productive and built my day schedule upon this.

I forced myself to sleep early enough. I started waking up at around 6 a.m. without any alarm clock. By 6.30 i already had breakfast and a morning shower. After my morning ritual i put on casual clothing (get rid of pijamas when you work from home) and start writing or when i have all my post ideas finished, i spend time planning my next post ideas.

By 8 a.m. i have finished a lot of my personal work and i can go to my office.

City can be calm too

I love both the city’s and the countryside’s early hours. In the city the mood is very strange but lovely. Everyone is in hurry on their way to their jobs, but at the same time they are somehow quite. Although the dusk light is enought to be able to see, the lights are still on, and this is something that adds to the whole atmosphere.

On the other hand early morning hours in the countryside are very different. Everything is peaceful. There is a chill in the air that is so refreshing.

I use to drive away from my city, Athens, on the weekends to spent some quality time at a house we have near the mountain. It’s more than half a mile away from the nearest village, but is far enough for me to have the perfect silent environment.

Eastern Wind

The only thing i change when i’m out of town is something i do right after i wake up. I put on my trekking shows and walk or run outside. The feeling of running on gravel and the smell of the air before the sunrise is something unique. I love to stop my walking and do nothing but breath. My favorite is when the air blows from the east! It’s not so chill and not so hot. At the same time it has an unexplainable wonderful smell.

My favorite time is about 7 a.m. when i have finished my walk and sit down in the front yard, with my laptop a cup of my favorite espresso and my mind full of creativity and peace. Probably it’s the best way to begin your day when you are out of town.

Of course is quite difficult to have a daytime job and enjoy all these goods but if you really want you can have them. These weekend away from Athens are the most productive for my personal blog. This makes my Monday – Friday schedule easier to maintain and gives me time to correct or rethink of my articles before i publish them.

Take advantage of every minute

My main goal is to quit my day job as a web designer. Especially with the financial crisis here in Greece. I don’t mean to give up web design. But to standardize my earnings as much as possible with blogging and sell my designs by my own.

The first thing is to find balance between my personal work and my office work. Small steps at a time are better. It’s better to move one step forward without moving back than make 3 steps without the proper foundation. The point is to be productive and take advantage of every minute of our life.

Blogging in the early hours is not the only way to be productive with it. The only way is to unclutter your mind. Find the best ways for you to clean up your thoughts and try to concentrate.

Try to follow my advices and introduce “early rising” to your everyday life.