Yes, I really am up this early. Why am I up this early? Well, I'm not going back into the hyper-motivation scheme that I've been following as I've already discussed it about 3 times. Instead, I'm going to give you 4 links you need to check out immediately:

Backloggery

Fitocracy

Habitica (formerly HabitRPG)

Udemy - My recommended productivity course

Starting from the top, Backloggery is an excellent site where you can catalog every last game you've ever played, intend to continue playing, own currently, etc. I actually have a page on there as well. The primary focus of the site is not bragging purposes per se, but to become more motivated about trudging through your massive collection. I like to update there from time to time as I get further progress in games.

Fitocracy is a great site for workouts. Now, there are plenty of websites you could go to if you wanted to learn more about working out, so why this site? Well, on Fitocracy, you can track exercises and level up. Leveling up doesn't really do anything, but it is a way of tracking what you've done and earning points, which is enough to motivate some people (myself included). There's also a massive community on there and a bunch of groups to help keep you motivated.

Next is Habitica. This site allows you to put up daily behaviors you would like to maintain, milestone/to-do list goals, and regular habits that you would like to see occur more often. You can also put on demoters if there is a specific behavior you would like to stop doing. What makes this so great is it really is a small RPG that fits around your daily life as you start ticking small boxes here and there to indicate you did something you wanted to do. And as you do so, you level up, get awesome equipment, can customize your character, there are pets and mounts...just all kinds of cool stuff.

And finally is the productivity course I keep going on about. As a side note, if you don't already have accounts to Codecademy, Microsoft Virtual Academy, and Udemy, you're missing out. They're free, you can learn so much, and it's all self-paced. So why am I telling you about all this? Well, first let's start with me.

When I was in college, I really didn't want to do much that was extra-curricular in nature. I didn't care about what kinds of jobs I worked because I figured I would never have to work those types of jobs anymore after I graduated. I also worked out, but very casually and didn't see much in the way of results. In 2005, my wife and I moved to where we live now and I set up a weight room.

I wasn't happy with where my body was going and I wanted to do something about it. I began working out after every shift at work and started tracking my results, but it wasn't enough. In 2006, during her 7th month of pregnancy, I had to clear out all the weight stuff and set up the secondary bedroom as a nursery. I didn't actively seek out alternative methods for working out, so I started gaining weight again, but I DID stumble across Backloggery and started knocking out games left and right.

In late 2007, my job at the time had an on-site workout center and I started using it daily. Unfortunately, that trend stopped when I switched to morning shifts. Even worse, I hadn't actively been tracking anything. In 2010, I was fired for incredibly stupid reasons, but I stumbled across Fitocracy and got Wii Fit. Wii Fit was good for a while, but being told "that's obese" in its cutesy, sarcastic voice got real old real fast.

All the same, I learned more about yoga through Wii Fit and all kinds of interesting exercises from Fitocracy. I got more motivated to work out in general and in 2011, I signed up for my local athletic club. 2011 was a really good year for me, but I got massively sick toward the end of the year. Then in 2012, we had a biggest loser competition and I nearly won due to all my training.

Earlier this year I learned about all these extra training sites and it's helped me to get super motivated in a way that I never anticipated because really, I'm pretty lazy. The one thing that motivates me, however, is stats. The cool part about all these sites is just how much they track on a regular basis for you. Nevermind that each site has a massive community full of people that will try to fervently motivate you as well.

Now I'm actively working on several Microsoft certifications, learning newer and more complicated workout techniques, developing better habits and discipline, and just plain establishing a good routine for myself. If you're at a point in your life where you feel like you could really use a good shot of motivation (and really most of us could), I strongly recommend checking these sites out.