How to get an extra 2 hours in your day

Yesterday was my favourite day of the whole year.

(Clock from Modfolk via Apartment Therapy)

A long, lovely Sunday, when the hands of the clock seem suspended. When every time you look at it you get a surprise at how little they've moved.  How it's only 1.30, and it's only 4.00 and wow, it's dark but it's only 6.30...

It's that time of the year, when in the southern hemisphere daylight savings ends.

Daylight savings!  I know that to many people the end of it is a cause for some sadness, but I love the fact that the days, for this first week at least, suddenly seem magically longer!!

That's your first extra hour! (Sorry northern hemisphere, your turn will come!)

(Vinyl lettering available from Simply Stick It)

Last year sometime I read an exciting post by Steve Pavlina, How to become an early riser.

He shared a very simple way to get an extra hour in your day, every day of the year.

Get up an hour earlier!  Not that exciting, until you start to crunch the numbers:

A small amount of extra time each day adds up to significant amounts over the course of a year. 30 minutes a day is 182.5 hours in a year. That’s more than a month of working full-time (40 hours per week). Double it if you save 60 minutes a day, and triple it if you save 90 minutes a day. (Steve Pavlina, How to become an early riser, Part II)

That's some serious time! By getting up earlier you take back the time you would normally have "frittered" away on sleep, and use it to do something more productive.

Exercise, do some study, clean your house, write a blog post...any of the countless things you wish you had more time for, now magically you do!

And there's your second extra hour!

Not quite as easy, and it does take a bit of practice to get yourself into the habit, but Steve helps you with the tricks to get into the swing of it.

I must confess to mixed success with this.  When I'm into it I'm right into it.  Swinging my merry legs out of bed in the morning before my befuddled brain has a chance to think!

When I'm not so into I hit the snooze button thinking, just one more snooze and then I'll get up, which of course I don't until it's too late, and my extra hour is gone.

But I know how good it feels when I do it.  To have that extra time at home in the morning before having to rush out to the day.  To feel like I've accomplished something for myself before I have to accomplish something for "the man".

So, my end of daylight savings, new year's resolution is to put the extra hour we've just gained to good use by tricking my brain into thinking it's getting up earlier while it still feels like it isn't.

Wish me luck...and I wish you luck too!  Let me know if you try this, and what you're doing with your extra hour!

(Pillow cases available from Urban Outfitters)

Have a great, extra long day :)

Jones xx