I was up at 5am. I got my winter running gear on and went out into the calm pre-dawn darkness with nothing but the stars looking on.

My face felt like it was freezing off, but despite that, it was invigorating to be out so [...]]]> A week ago, I rocked the day!

I was up at 5am. I got my winter running gear on and went out into the calm pre-dawn darkness with nothing but the stars looking on.

My face felt like it was freezing off, but despite that, it was invigorating to be out so early, running without another living soul in sight; with 99% of the neighbors still soundly sleeping in their warm and cozy beds.

It was Saturday morning, after all. Who wakes up at 5am on Saturday anyway? Exactly!

I felt alive, empowered and inspired that morning. I ran for 30 minutes and listened to some personal development audio from Jim Rohn. A powerful way to start the day!

Though a week has slipped by since my last blog post it does not mean I have given up on my goal of installing a new habit of waking up by 5am every day. As will be the case with any challenging goal, there will be setbacks and difficulties along the journey. Isn't that what life is all about?

Indeed, life is about learning to overcome the obstacles that stand between us and the realization of our goals.

If we aren't willing to push though the hard stuff, then we don't deserve to achieve the goal. Be deserving; Be a fighter; Get back in the game!

Clearly these posts are likely going to help me more than anyone else because they incorporate an element of public accountability into this process. Had I never told anyone about my plan to wake up by 5am everyday it would have been so much easier to quit or 'alter the goal' when the going got tough.

Here's the thing: this past week has been the hardest yet, by far, in successfully continuing on with this goal. The sad part is that much of the struggle and difficulty I've faced in relation to it has been preventable or at least minimizable (not a real word). There were too many late nights and too many unproductive mornings.

I've allowed my MBA studies, business demands and other responsibilities to set my schedule rather than consciously taking control and making things happen. I have almost unknowingly given my power away to other things, people or circumstances rather than fully owning myself, my life and my results, be they good or ill.

On one hand, this is normal. It is normal in the sense that plans rarely work out perfectly. Things happen; we're not perfect; we slip up; we get off track.

However, on the other hand, I could see all of this happening and I wasn't actively doing much to change it or to take back control of my life and my schedule. I was just so busy being busy that I didn't put my life on pause long enough to acknowledge the constant reality that it did NOT have to be that way.

Everyone should be able to relate with that struggle on some level. I think a key in all development is 'awareness'. How can we change, improve or stop something if we are totally unaware of it? Awareness is able to lead to conscious changes, planning and re-evaluation of what is really important.

Each week in my Peak Performance calls I talk about the wins, losses, fixes and ah-has from the previous week. It forces me to evaluate the previous week and to focus on the positive and the negative and what I intend to do to make the next week better.

Well, though I had to think a little harder about it this week than I normally do, there were definitely some wins to relate! I watched Forks Over Knives on Netflix about a week ago. It was a very interesting film and it inspired me to take my health to a new level and to follow-through more fully on prior commitments I had made to eat more of a Whole Food Plant-Based diet. It has been awesome to see and feel the direct health benefits from doing that.

Another win from this past week was being interviewed by Ethan Waldman (@ethanwaldman), creator of the Inbox Zero Training Program, and seeing that interview published to the landing page of his training program site. By the way, I highly recommend Ethan's program for anyone who struggles with effectively managing time spent on email.

The funny thing is that the way I found out about the interview video was because my wife sent me a text about it. Even more surprising to me about that was the fact that she didn't know Ethan and also had no idea I had been involved with his program and coaching. As it turned out, he had mentioned me on Twitter once the video was published and my wife had seen that in her feed.

As for areas to improve…I am committed to some 'fixes' for the coming week. I am working on doing some things that will help me to be more focused, consistent and productive. I've identified behaviors and distractions that tend to take me away from my goals and objectives and I am working on doing what is necessary to eliminate or at least minimize them as much as possible.

In this hyper-active Age of Distraction that we live in it is essential to be vigilant and intentional about everything we do, otherwise hours can be wasted on an endless assortment of trivial, inane and unproductive activities….many of which are likely to pertain to technology, social media, gaming, email, texting, or ALL of the above!

The last few days I've been implementing the 'Ivy Lee' approach to personal productivity, as shared by Earl Nightingale in the Lead the Field program. It essentially consists of getting a sheet of paper and writing down the SIX most important things that you need to do tomorrow (or today). After writing them down, prioritize them and then get to work, focusing on one task at a time, and don't move on to the next task until you have completed the preceding one.

The idea is to not allow unnecessary distractions; things not on the list; to take you away from focusing on the top priorities you set for yourself. There are MANY things we can do to eliminate unnecessary distractions. We can turn off phones, turn off the internet, close unused browser windows and programs, clear off the desk, remove anything from our line of sight that does not pertain directly to what we are working on.

The cool part of the Ivy Lee story, as it is told, is that he shared this productivity secret with the head of a large steel company and simply told the executive, who happened to be Charles M. Schwab, to try the method and, if he found it to be beneficial, to send Ivy Lee a check for whatever he felt the idea was worth.

As the story has it, Ivy Lee received a check for $25,000 with a note from Schwab indicating that it had been one of the most profitable and successful ideas on productivity that had ever been taught to him. It was implemented throughout the company and played a dominant role in the company's impressive growth.

Now, that story occurred sometime in the early 1900's and as such, the current value of that $25,000 today would be more than $500,000. Would you think it worthwhile to experiment with a $500,000 idea in your own life? Of course!

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Take Action: Write down the 6 most important things that you would like to get done today (or tomorrow). Then focus on ONE at a time, until it is complete. Let me know what results you experience as you apply this productivity tip. Leave comments below.