What do General Motors CEO Mary Barra, Virgin founder Richard Branson, and Apple CEO Tim Cook have in common?

They all wake up early and hit the ground running!

It’s no coincidence that successful people are often early risers.

Of course, rolling out of bed before dawn takes some getting used to.

The Hour Early Challenge

Challenge yourself to start your day an hour earlier by doing the following:

• Wake up a little earlier each morning.
  Give yourself time to adjust to the early wake up call. Set your alarm ten minutes earlier each morning until you hit the hour mark.
• Say sayonara to the snooze bar.
  Pretend it doesn’t exist. When the alarm goes off, you get up!
• Yes, weekends too!
  You weren’t planning on taking Saturday and Sunday off, were you?
• Get a good night’s rest.
  Getting up early is no good if you’re going to bed late. Ensure you are getting seven hours of sleep.

Of course, how you spend your extra time is up to you.

I love to start my morning off with reading, study and planning.

If you often arrive to work feeling hungry, use the extra hour to make breakfast.

You could also exercise to get your body and mind ready to tackle the day.

Or simply arrive at the office early to focus on work without interruption. Do what’s best to fit your needs.

By utilizing this “found hour of time,” you’ll find it easier to stay on top of tasks, which will lead to less stress throughout the day.

Soon you’ll refer to “getting up an hour early” as simply “the time I get up!”