Uncover the power to achieve an impossible goal. What I learned from getting up at 5am every morning.

There’s a lot out there on how to achieve your goals. I promise this isn’t like anything you’ve ever read.

You know that scene from Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas with Jim Carey when the Grinch is describing how he feels about Christmas? 

 “Hate, hate, hate. Double hate. Loathe entirely!”

Well, I’m slightly odd so don’t judge, but until recently every time I would even think of getting up early in the morning those words (in the perfect Grinch voice might I add) would come into my mind.  I hate, hate, hate. Double hate. Loathe entirely getting up early in the morning!!!! 

Here’s a tip, you shouldn’t ever hate anything that much because what happened to me might happen to you. You will be asked to do it. 

About 18 months ago I started feeling like I needed to get up earlier and devote that time to scripture study and journaling, but it was just a feeling so why in the world would I pay attention to that?  Plus, I was already studying during the day, what was the big deal about getting up at the crack of dawn to do it?

That feeling turned into wondering, turned into nagging, turned in to knowledge, turned into sirens wailing, a big neon sign flashing completely obvious that for some reason the Lord wanted me to get up early.  Not just any early, 5am early.  Heaven help me, literally.

I wish I could say I was one of those people who just does things they are supposed to do without question.  Well, I am if it is something I enjoy.  But if it is a challenge, if it might stretch me to such uncomfortable lengths that I feel I might snap, no thanks.  

I did try to get up at 5 am, for like one day. It was terrible so that ended that. I kept to my mid-morning study and tried to forget about 5 am. 

One day as I was having a beautiful scripture study I came across a scripture with words that jumped out at me with arms waving. Have you been there too?  This was my scripture:

19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

Mosiah 3:19 The Book of Mormon

That last sentence really got me.

Keep in mind that I had decided to forget about getting up at 5am to study so I had no idea why those words decided throw a fit right in front of me. Was there something specific I wasn’t submitting to?  Did I want growth but not effort that might get me there?

I went for a walk and in my ever theatrical way I started to guess at the hardest things the Lord could ever ask of me. I asked myself if I would really be able to say, “Thy will be done” in any situation just as my Savior had.  I pondered, prayed and dramatically imagined the Lord asking me to  go through the most terrible trials imaginable. By the end of my walk I had turned myself into Job from the Old Testament.

Then the Spirit put a different story in my mind. AND if the Spirit laughs I think it was giggling at me.

Remember Naaman in the Bible? The leper and army captain who almost refused the opportunity to be healed because the solution was too simple?  Hello, my name is Amber AKA Naaman. 

So I realized that there was something simple in my life I wasn’t submitting to but I still didn’t know what. I know, I can be a little slow on the uptake. Don’t worry the Spirit interrupted me about 15 minutes later with a loud and clear, “You aren’t getting up at 5am!”

You would have thought it was an excruciating thing I was being asked because I started to cry. Don’t scoff all you weirdos who wake up early every day no problem. Getting up early was a big deal to me. When I had tried before I felt like it turned me into a crazy person. I was so exhausted I couldn’t think straight and my poor kids who received the brunt of my sleep-deprived impatience were begging me to get more sleep.

Plus being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and obeying the Word of Wisdom meant I couldn’t simply get buzzed up on an early morning Latte Grande or whatever your call it. BUT, after that clear schooling from the Spirit I knew however hard it was for me I had to do it.

Now I want to ask you. 

Do you have something in your life you’ve been ignoring?  Something you really wish was just an idea and not something the Lord wants you to do?  Have you been pushing it off, avoiding it, dreading it?  Have you made a feeble attempt to do it and decided that’s enough? 

Sorry, the fact that you are reading this right now might be a clue that it is time to do it!

Want to skip to the the end of the story?  I did it!  I can say I am so grateful for my 5 am mornings of studying, writing and pondering God’s word. Yep, I am now officially one of those weirdos. Do you want to know what is even cooler? I’ve had miracles and “healing” come into my life that I had been seeking but didn’t know how to get there.  I wrote about one of those miracles last week.  Goodness could I have just listened to the solution the Lord was trying to give me in the first place????!!!! Please don’t make my mistakes.

What I want to share with you is HOW I finally accomplished a goal that I had failed at over and over again.  Maybe you are crazy and want to get up earlier too. Maybe there is something else you want to finally achieve. Either way the principles in succeeding are the same and I hope you find some courage here. 

First we need to acknowledge the thing we are supposed to take action on.  How do we do that?  A recap on the principles learned from my silly mistakes can help with that.

How to achieve your goals.

#1 If you have something in your life you’ve been resisting use that as a sure guide that it is exactly what you need to do.

Take courage to humble yourself and submit to the Lord’s will for you.  Here is the same principle in other words…

“The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.”

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

Take a second right now if you want. Stop and think. What gives you those butterflies in your stomach when you think about it? What makes you start questioning your abilities and start doubting yourself?  BINGO! 

#2 Don’t wait for something huge to happen in your life before you take action.

Are you like Naaman and turning away from the small things because they seem too insignificant to produce the outcome you want?  Doing the small things can heal spots in our lives that we didn’t even know needed healing. 

#3 Instead of ignoring the signs, take them as messages from God that He has totally got your back and He will strengthen you in your task.

When the Lord wants us to do something important He often lets us know in different ways until we get the hint. I mentioned earlier that this happened to me but I tried very hard not to see.  Here is one example that the Lord can even have a sense of humor in it.

One day I decided to write all my goals and dreams on a big piece of butcher paper.  No, getting up at 5 am was not one of my dreams. I taped the butcher paper onto the wall right next to my bed so I could look at it morning and night. This was MY solution to achieving everything I wanted. Writing on butcher paper is MUCH easier than getting up at 5 am P.S.

As went to bed that night I felt a twinge of guilt as I set my alarm for 8am. At this point I was in a phase of setting my alarm for 5am but completely ignoring it when it went off and going back to sleep. Stupid. In my guilt I said a little prayer, “Sorry, I’m not going to set my alarm to get up early tomorrow but if you really want me to get up, wake me up whenever you want.”  Can you guess what is coming?  

I was in a nice deep sleep when a noise startled me awake. I grabbed my phone and turned the flashlight on the see what the noise was. I saw that it was the sound of my dream poster falling to the ground. I looked at my phone to see the time sure that I hadn’t been asleep long.  

It was 5:02 am. 

I laughed as I got out of bed, grabbed my poster and headed out for my scripture study.  I won’t admit that after that I still struggled to be consistent. Oops too late. 

But here’s what I had to learn to finally be able to get consistent. 

#4  Know that God is only trying to bless you. 

“If you truly believe the great mission of our Heavenly Father is to exalt and glorify His children and that He knows best how to do it–doesn’t it make sense to embrace and follow His commandments, even the ones that appear difficult?” 

Dieter F. Uchtdorf Living The Gospel Joyful

#5 Life is about changing and becoming. Understand that sacrifice is key to real change. 

“When we overcome our own selfish desires and put God first in our lives and covenant to serve Him regardless of the cost, we are then living the law of sacrifice. The degree of our love for the Lord and for our fellowman can be measured by what we are willing to sacrifice for them. Sacrifice is a demonstration of pure love. When we completely surrender ourselves to the Lord, then He will cause a mighty change in us and we will become a new person, justified, sanctified, and born again with His image in our countenances.”

Russell M. Ballard The Blessings of Sacrifice

The Lord set the ultimate example by sacrificing Himself for us. In my case all the Lord was asking me to sacrifice was sleep but what He gave me in return was so much more, as is usually the case.  After understanding the last two principles something finally flipped in my brain and I had new strength and resolve.

How about you? What is it you need to sacrifice to accomplish your goal, to do what the Lord is asking?

#6 Don’t set your own terms.

Do you think the Lord is going to ask you to do something and give you no direction on how to do it? As you ask and act you’ll be led and His way will work A LOT better than yours.  

When I was first  “trying” to get up at 5am I was still a bit stubborn.  I decided I would only do it Monday- Friday and take breaks on the weekend because “five days is plenty.”   I was horribly exhausted when I did this.  Can you believe I actually googled “how to get up at 5am” instead of just asking in prayer?  Maybe I shouldn’t admit so much about myself.   

When I finally pondered why it wasn’t working for me the Lord’s answer was that I needed to get up at 5am on the weekends as well. Once I agreed to the Lord’s way, things started to click.

What about you?  Have you decided to be “obedient” but only if it is on YOUR terms?  Take some time to think about your action plan when it comes to your goals. Is it YOUR plan or is it the LORD’s?

#7 Going all in is actually easier than going half way. 

This was the final and most important step in success for me. So often we think we are making it easier on ourselves by just dipping our toe in the water. When we decide to jump in we see results faster which propels us forward. 

After I realized I needed to be getting up every day I decided I would do my own experiment of faith. The words “prove me” kept coming to my mind and I finally accepted the invitation. I committed to getting up at 5am without fail every single day for 30 days. I would pretend I loved it. I would stop whining about how hard it was. I would trust the Lord.

You know what? By the end of 30 days I actually did love it, I had no reason to complain and instead had a ton of reasons to thank my Heavenly Father.  My body was able to adjust because of my consistency and the Lord’s grace. I was no longer unbearably tired all the time!! That 30 day experiment is long gone but I am still going strong. In fact, as I write this it is still dark out and the kids are all asleep. 

IT IS TIME!!!  Will you try an experiment of faith?  Will you let the Lord prove that when we do what He asks there are great blessings in store?  Will you try a 30 day “all in” experiment?  

Pray about it. Write down what you know you should be doing. Acknowledge the ways the Lord has tried to communicate His will to you. Ask the Lord for guidance as you determine what you can commit to for 30 days. Journal your journey and I know you will see mercies and miracles.

I’d love to hear how it goes!!!

If you are curious about what I did during my 5am study and why I found it so effective stay tuned! I’ll be writing about that next. 🙂