Seize the Day: Off-Season WLC Skill Practice

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The Off-Season WLC Skill Practices are mini-challenges intended to help you fine-tune different aspects of your health and wellness. Offered between Challenges, these weekly practices address fitness, nutrition, stress reduction, productivity, and personal connection — because health is about far more than food and the gym (and we could all use a little practice).

Get Up 30 Minutes Early Every Day This Week

Simple Instructions:

1. Each day, set your alarm to wake you 30 minutes earlier than normal.
2. Do whatever you would like with your 30 minutes: journal, exercise, meditate, organize, read a book, or even clean the house.
3. If you find a morning routine you enjoy, stick with it for the whole week. But feel free to experiment with something different each morning. You may be surprised what you find to be enjoyable and/or useful, and you may not miss that 30 minutes of sleep at all!
4. This doesn’t mean you should short yourself on sleep this week — if your schedule is tight, then plan to go to bed 30 minutes earlier, as well.

Why Is This Practice Important?

How you begin the day sets the tone for the entire day. It can be hard to “seize the day” and make the most of it if you’ve only allowed yourself the bare minimum to get out the door in one piece — not to mention if you have a troop of little ones, a pet, or other obligations to handle in addition to yourself. Without some wiggle room, it becomes easy to start your day with forgetfulness, stress, and disorganization.

Getting up early is also a great way to get “me-time.” I know many mothers who cherish the time before the rest of the household awakes. It’s the time of day when they get to do exactly what they want and need to do. Imagine you could actually finish that book you’ve been meaning to read or that you don’t have to come home to that pile of unfolded laundry.

Experiment with your thirty minutes. Maybe one morning you try exercising during that time. Another morning, you might journal. And yet another morning, try making a list of what you intend to accomplish with your day. Or simply do “nothing” — go for a walk, sit by the window, or take big deep breaths while you sip your morning coffee.

There is no “wrong” way to use these thirty minutes. But through experimentation, you may find a very “right” way to begin your day.

Becca earned her MFA in Cinema-Television Production at USC’s famed film school, and her first career was as a music editor. Becca found her way to career number two through martial arts. She trained in BJJ and muay Thai and worked with professional MMA fighters, building websites, organizing fight promotions, and producing videos.

In 2005, she became a student at CrossFit Los Angeles where she met WLC co-founders Andy Petranek and Michael Stanwyck. In only a couple years, she became CrossFit Level III Certified, left her entertainment career, and dedicated herself full time to coaching, serving as the Program Director of CFLA and founder of the CFLA CrossFit Kids program. After seven years as a music editor and then eight years as fitness instructor, Becca segued to her current career — full-time editor and writer.