So I'm a little over one week in to Operation Productivity, and things seem to be according to plan. I am writing to you from the darkness of 4:30 AM in Dallas; this morning is a little earlier than "normal" because I have a 7:45 meeting. I've been getting so much more done than I used to just by shifting my schedule back. I wake up in the morning and the first thing I do is either write or read, followed by going for either a jog or a hike. Then I take a shower and get cleaned up, and then take a bit of extra time for breakfast and catch up on my blog feed.

In addition to extra productivity in the morning, I have seen that I am enjoying a few other unintended advantages as well:

1. Energy All Day: I have just had a ridiculous amount of energy all day after waking up by 5:00 everyday. I hardly ever turn things down now out of a lack of energy.

2. Healthy Habits: I have been naturally eating better and getting more exercise as a result of my new habit. I didn't plan to do this; I just find that now that my body is on a more comfortable, consistent sleep schedule, I am not craving the junkfood I have come to know so well over the years.

So far, so good. We'll see where this habit takes me. I'm starting to think I don't want to end this after 30 days like I initially thought I would. This started as an experiment, but it's quickly becoming a life-changing experience.

Does Waking Up Early Actually Promote Success?

Are you a night owl? Do you wonder how someone else can possibly look so awake and full of energy in the early morning, when you are doing your best to drag yourself out of bed? Getting up early has long been extolled as a huge contributor to career and fitness success, so I'm taking 30 days of waking up at 5 AM to change my hibernating ways.

Turns out lots of people have been pushing the 5 AM wakeup time as a catalyst for success for quite awhile. Common-sense financial advisor Dave Ramsey has been saying for years that if a person can make themselves get up by 5 AM every day for a decade or more, they will very likely be highly successful. Lifehack provides tips to help you get into an early-rising routine, as well as some of the benefits of doing so.

On the uncommon occasions that I have to get up before 8 AM to head into work, I notice these people. Over-achievers. The extremely motivated. The "Highly Effective," as Stephen Covey would refer to them. Their clothes send a message of both influence and affluence. They are in fantastic shape. They are bursting with energy and ambition at 7 o'clock. Everything about them screams "I'm in control of my whole world." And I have often wondered, what are they doing that I am not?

Turns out it's pretty simple. Basically, it seems to be an exercise in discipline. In the rare instances that I get the idiot I stare at in the mirror to go to bed at a decent hour, and wake up by 5 AM, I find that I am super-ultra-mega productive all day long. And then that night, I am actually sleepy around 10 PM, which is great, because if I stick to it, it creates this never-ending engine of daily productivity. Based on my experiences with this, I am starting to believe there is less of a distinction between morning people and night owls, and the real difference lies between people with self control, and those without it.

And then I think, "I want to be a person with self control all the time, not just once every couple of weeks." So yesterday morning was day 1 of my 5 AM 30-Day Challenge. Every morning, I am going to get up at the same, dark-and-early hour, and make sure that use that early time productively, either with a workout, writing, budgeting, or something else useful. I hypothesize that this consistency will be very good for me.

Have you made a change to an earlier schedule? How has it affected your career success/fitness/life? Do you think this theory is full of it?

Being Careful What You Wish For Is Not Just A Saying

Ever made a career decision that didn't turn out for the better? Sometimes we think we know exactly what we want, until we get it, and then we realize that it's not at all what we expected. With frequent situational evaluation, you can make sure that you discover these mistakes when they happen, instead of months or years down the line.

A few months ago, I took a job that I thought was going to be near perfect for me. I was doing IT sales for a small, independent firm here in Dallas, and I was excited to finally be in outside sales rather than inside. However I quickly discovered that, while I have a passion for sales, my new industry was not for me. Here's the problem: 98% of the prospects I was chasing either already had sufficient systems in place or operated on such a small scale that they had no need for the products I was selling. I don't like to hard-sell or use pressuring tactics to get people to cave in and buy things they have no legitimate use for, and it was clear to me that this is what I'd have to resort to if I wanted to see any level of success. I knew within 3 days that this role was not for me, and I parted with my company amicably less than 3 weeks later.

Never in my life did I think I would leave a job so fast. I pretty much always give everyone a fair shake. Heck, I even give girls 2 dates to catch my genuine interest, because, hey, everyone has an off night. But ultimately I had to be honest with myself about my long-term career goals, and how spending my time in this position would contribute to them. And the reality was that it wouldn't.

Fast forward to today, 3 months later. I am now working in my previous industry, retail sales of high-performance kitchen equipment and cookware, as a sales manager and culinary coordinator of my store. I am having a blast in my new job, making as much money as I would have in the short-lived position, and gaining a ton of transferrable sales and management training in the process.

There is nothing wrong with second-guessing yourself. Frequent evaluation of the fruits of your decisions is the best way to help you make better ones in the future. Sometimes