2 surprising benefits of waking at 5am, 7 days a week

First off, I'm not a morning person by nature. I was once a self-proclaimed night owl like many of you. But, at some point, I realized that the quietness of the mornings and starting work from a place of rest allowed me to be much more productive. I was discussing this with my friend Jeff and he told me how he gets up early seven days a week, so I decided to try it. So far I have been getting up at 5 am every morning for the last 35 days, and I love it.

There are two rather surprising benefits to getting up early every day:

1. I'm happier. I know it sounds crazy, but I'm in a better mood all day long. I'm more patient with my kids; I'm kinder, etc. My wife even mentioned that she has noticed the difference.
2. I sleep better. Before getting up consistently seven days a week, I would sleep terribly most nights. Now I sleep great every night.

There are many more benefits than this, but these two surprised me. I'll write about the other stuff later.