Mr. Joshua Dale Fuller
Journal Entry, June 5, 2025
3:55 AM EST
Getting up early is a huge part of success.
Looking back at the early days of my incarceration, I can remember being astounded by the fact that breakfast was served at 6 O-clock IN THE MORNING. I disliked the fact that there was only a short window of time from the moment the unit officer unlocked the front door to yell “chow”, and the moment when the front door would be locked again for no more outbound traffic. Breakfast was never called on a routine schedule and so if I was not downstairs waiting for the door to open up at least a half hour in advance, there was a good chance I would miss the small window of time allotted for movement across the compound and be locked in the housing unit unable to go eat breakfast.
In those early days of my incarceration, I felt like the idea of getting out of bed to go eat some watered down oatmeal, or some stale brand flakes was not worth the loss of extra sleep and so it became my habit to sleep in every day until the very last moment I was required to report to my job at 7:45 am. In the bible, the book of Proverbs says: “The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth.” This Proverb is a perfect depiction of where where I was at the time of my life. I felt depressed and angry that I had lost everything I loved in life and found it difficult to find purpose in this life behind bars. At that time , I felt like I had not reason to live and so I would lay in bed and waller in my own self-pity. I was that the slothful man written about in the Proverbs and I didn’t even know it.
I am not proud to admit these things about myself, but as I work toward becoming the CEO of my own life, I am learning that it is important to have goals and dreams that exceed the expectations of our “requirements” here in the BOP as well as any other expectations that dictate my schedule and routine. I need to wake myself up early with one thought in my mind: “I am waking up early because I have my own dreams that exceed all other expectations I am the CEO of my own life.”
It is incredible to look back at the past eight years of my incarceration and see the incremental steps of improvement I have taken toward my long term goal of getting up early seven days a week. One of the most inspiring events that helped me take a huge step toward getting up early came as by-product of reading an article in Men’s Journal written about Mark Wahlberg. Although I did not save a clipping of the article I read, (and I wish I would have) it will always remain in my mind. The article talked about Mark’s morning routine of doing pushups at 4 am. Waking up to do pushups? Now that is dedication. That one article became the motivation that pushed me to begin my own morning ritual: The first short term goal I made after reading the article about Mark was to attend breakfast every single morning. Laugh if you would like, but breakfast in Federal Prison is not much of an inspiration to get out of bed. Instead of incentivizing myself with the breakfast food, I challenged myself to take the walk over to the chow hall just to enjoy the fresh morning air.
As of today, I am nearing the last few steps in my long term goal of waking up at three thirty in the morning, seven days a week, to have a morning quite time ritual wherein I work on my personal prosperity plan, study text books, and work on my daily schedule. I am greatly enjoying the benefits of being an early riser and look forward to enjoying all the benefits of being the CEO of my own life by building the habit of rising early.
